Kobayakawa Clan
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Kobayakawa Clan
The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Taira clan. Their holdings were in the Chūgoku region. They were a powerful clan during the Sengoku period but were disbanded during the Edo period after the Battle of Sekigahara. However, the Kobayakawa clan was restored by the Mōri clan during the Meiji period and granted a title of baronage in the new nobility. In addition, the Kusai clan of Takehara which is a branch of the Kobayakawa were granted a rank of nobility. Origins The Kobayakawa clan descend from the Kanmu-Heishi branch of the Taira clan (平氏) who are descendants of the 50th Emperor of Japan, Emperor Kanmu. The son of Taira no Tsunemune (平常宗), Nakamura Munehira (中村宗平) founded the Nakamura clan (中村氏) of Sagami Province. His first son became the next head of the Nakamura while his second son, Dohi Sanehira (土肥実平), founded the Dohi clan (土肥氏). Once again Sanehira's first son continued the Dohi clan while his second so ...
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Mon (emblem)
, also , , and , are Japanese emblems used to decorate and identify an individual, a family, or (more recently) an institution or business entity. While is an encompassing term that may refer to any such device, and refer specifically to emblems used to identify a family. An authoritative reference compiles Japan's 241 general categories of based on structural resemblance (a single may belong to multiple categories), with 5,116 distinct individual . However, it is well-acknowledged that there exist a number of lost or obscure . The devices are similar to the badges and coats of arms in European heraldic tradition, which likewise are used to identify individuals and families. are often referred to as crests in Western literature, the crest being a European heraldic device similar to the in function. History may have originated as fabric patterns to be used on clothes in order to distinguish individuals or signify membership of a specific clan or organization. By the 1 ...
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Emperor Kanmu
, or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 桓武天皇 (50) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Kanmu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the scope of the emperor's powers reached its peak. Traditional narrative Kanmu's personal name (''imina'') was .Brown, p. 277
He was the eldest son of Prince Shirakabe (later known as ), and was born prior to Shirakabe's ascension to the throne. According to the , Yamabe's mother, Yamato no Niigasa (later called

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Kobayakawa Hidekane
was a Japanese samurai, the ninth son of Mōri Motonari. His mother was Motonari's concubine, Nomi no Ōkata (乃美の方). Originally he was named Mototsuna and given to Ōta Hidetsuna but later his childless half-brother Kobayakawa Takakage took him as his adopted son. After this he changed his name to Motofusa. When he became one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's hostages for some years and granted to use a kanji from Hideyoshi's name, he changed his name again to Hidekane. He married Ōtomo Sōrin's daughter Maxentia (Katsurahime) and converted to Catholic Christianity with the baptized name Simao Findenao (シマオ・フィンデナオ). After the Sekigahara Campaign, Hidekane changed his family name back to Mōri, to avoid shame caused by his stepbrother Kobayakawa Hideaki. He died young at 35 years old. Hidekane was known of his gunnery skill, and Tachibana Muneshige's sworn brother. Together with him and other Toyotomi loyalists, Hidekane participated in Siege of Ōtsu T ...
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Kobayakawa Hideaki
(1577 – December 1, 1602) was the fifth son of Kinoshita Iesada and the nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was gained the rank of ''Saemon no Kami'' (左衛門督) or in China ''Shikkingo'' (執金吾) at genpuku and held the court title of ''Chūnagon'' (中納言), Hideaki was also called ''Kingo Chūnagon'' (金吾中納言). Biography He was adopted by Hideyoshi and called himself ''Hashiba Hidetoshi'' (羽柴 秀俊). He was then again adopted by Kobayakawa Takakage, becoming ''Kobayakawa Hidetoshi'' (小早川 秀俊). He then renamed himself ''Hideaki'' (秀秋) after Takakage's death. Shortly after the Battle of Sekigahara, he renamed one last time to ''Kobayakawa Hideaki'' (小早川 秀詮). During the Battle of Keicho he led reinforcements to rescue Ulsan Castle from the Ming army. Fighting on the front line with a spear, he managed to capture an enemy commander and broke the siege. However, Hideyoshi saw the danger of a reckless charge by the general commandi ...
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Mōri Motonari
was a prominent ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) in the western Chūgoku region of Japan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. The Mōri clan claimed descent from Ōe no Hiromoto (大江広元), an adviser to Minamoto no Yoritomo. Motonari was called the "Beggar Prince". He was known as a great strategist who began as a small local warlord (''jizamurai'') of Aki Province and extended his clan's power to nearly all of the Chūgoku region through war, marriage, adoption and assassination. Sandwiched between the powerful Amago and Ōuchi clans, Motonari led his clan by carefully balancing actions and diplomacy. Eventually, Motonari succeeded in defeating both and controlled the entire Chūgoku region. In his later years, he crushed the Ōtomo clan of Bungo Province in Kyūshū. Motonari ruled from Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle, the clan's main bastion since the early 14th century. His descendants became lords of the Chōshū Domain. Early life Mōri Motonari was born on April 16, ...
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Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands. Kyushu has a land area of and a population of 14,311,224 in 2018. In the 8th-century Taihō Code reforms, Dazaifu was established as a special administrative term for the region. Geography The island is mountainous, and Japan's most active volcano, Mount Aso at , is on Kyushu. There are many other signs of tectonic activity, including numerous areas of hot springs. The most famous of these are in Beppu, on the east shore, and around Mt. Aso in central Kyushu. The island is separated from Honshu by the Kanmon Straits. Being the nearest island to the Asian continent, historically it is the gateway to Japan. The total area is which makes it the 37th largest island in the world. It's slightly larger than Taiwan island . ...
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Shimazu Clan
The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contrast with the '' fudai'' or insider clans which were hereditary vassals or allies of the Tokugawa clan. History The Shimazu were descendants of the Seiwa Genji branch of the Minamoto. The Shimazu would become one of the families of Edo period ''daimyō'' to have held their territory continuously since the Kamakura period, and would also become, at their peak, the wealthiest and most powerful Tozama daimyō family with an income in excess of 700,000 ''koku''. The founder, Shimazu Tadahisa (d. 1227), was a son of ''Shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199) with the sister of Hiki Yoshikazu. Tadahisa's wife was a daughter of Koremune Hironobu, descendant of the Hata clan, whose name Tadahisa took at first. He received the domain of Shioda i ...
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Ōtomo Clan
was a Japanese samurai family whose power stretched from the Kamakura period through the Sengoku period, spanning over 400 years. The clan's hereditary lands lay in Kyūshū. Origins The first family head, Ōtomo Yoshinao (1172–1223), took the name from the Ōtomo territory in Sagami Province. The clan claims descent from Emperor Seiwa (850-881) through the Seiwa Genji lineage of the Minamoto clan. Although the clan genealogy claims Yoshinao to be an illegitimate son of Minamoto no Yoritomo, it has been concluded that he was in fact a descendant of the Fujiwara clan. History Following the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate in 1185, Yoshinao were granted the post of Constable (''Shugo'') of Bungo and Buzen Provinces in Kyūshū. As the Ōtomo were one of the major clans of Kyūshū, along with the Shōni and the Shimazu, they had a central role in organizing efforts against the Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281. They also played an important role in the ...
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Kikkawa Clan
The was a prominent samurai clan of Japan's Sengoku period. The most famous member of the clan is likely Kikkawa Motoharu (1530-1586), one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's generals, who was adopted into the family. Along with the Kobayakawa clan, the Kikkawa played an important role in Hideyoshi's Kyūshū Campaign (1586-7), and later became daimyō in Izumo province and Iwakuni after that. Origins The founder of the clan, Kikkawa Tsuneyoshi (吉川経義), was a son of Irie Kageyoshi (入江景義). The Irie clan descends through the Kudō clan from the Southern House of the Fujiwara clan. The family takes the name from a place called Kikkawa in Irie no sho domain, in Suruga province. Tsuneyoshi distinguished himself in the search and seizure of Kajiwara Kagetoki and gained a territory in Fukui no sho, in Harima Province. He then distinguished himself in the Jokyu War and became the jito of Oasa no sho in Aki Province In 1550, Kikkawa Okitsune was murdered by a conspiracy of Mori M ...
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Council Of Five Elders
The Council of Five Elders (Japanese: :jp:五大老, 五大老, ''Go-Tairō'') was a group of five powerful feudal lords (Japanese: 大名, ''Daimyō'') formed in 1598 by the Regent (Japanese: 太閤 ''Sesshō and Kampaku, Taikō'') Toyotomi Hideyoshi, shortly before his death the same year. While Hideyoshi was on his deathbed, his son, Toyotomi Hideyori, was still only 5 years old and as such Hideyoshi needed to create the council in order to ensure his heir would be able to succeed him after coming of age. They also acted as advisers for the Go-Bugyō, Five Commissioners (Japanese: 五奉行 ''Go-Bugyō)'', which had also been established by Hideyoshi to govern Kyoto and the surrounding areas. Creation of the Council Leading up to the creation of the council Hideyoshi had been slowly changing in demeanor as the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98), invasions of Korea (in attempt to conquer both Korea and China) were failing. Hideyoshi himself had not joined the Korean Cam ...
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Mōri Terumoto
Mōri Terumoto (毛利 輝元, January 22, 1553 – June 2, 1625) was a Japanese ''daimyō''. The son of Mōri Takamoto, and grandson and successor of the great warlord Mōri Motonari, he fought against Oda Nobunaga but was eventually overcome. He participated in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Korean Campaign (1592) and built Hiroshima Castle, thus essentially founding Hiroshima. Early life and rise Môri Terumoto was born 'Kotsumaru' in 1553. However, in 1563, his father, Mori Takamoto, suddenly died, Kotsumaru was selected as his heir. In 1564 at what appears to have been an early manhood ceremony, Kotsumaru took the name Terumoto (Teru coming from the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru) and assumed command. In 1566, the Môri's traditional rival, the Amago clan, had been destroyed, and Motonari had left instructions that the clan be content with what it had and forego expansionist adventure. To a greater or lesser extent, Terumoto followed his late grandfather's instructions. Aside from ...
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Kobayakawa Takakage
was a samurai and daimyō (feudal lord) during the Sengoku period and Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the third son of Mōri Motonari who was adopted by the Kobayakawa clan and became its 14th clan head. He merged the two branches of the Kobayakawa, the Takehara-Kobayakawa clan (竹原小早川氏) and Numata-Kobayakawa clan (沼田小早川氏). He became an active commander of the Mōri army and he with his brother Kikkawa Motoharu became known as the “''Mōri Ryōkawa''", or “''Mōri's Two Rivers''" (毛利両川). As head of the Kobayakawa clan, he expanded the clan's territory in the Chūgoku region (western Honshū), and fought for the Mōri clan in all their campaigns At first he opposed Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi but later swore loyalty and became a retainer of Hideyoshi who awarded him domains in Iyo Province on Shikoku and Chikuzen Province on Kyūshū, totalling 350,000 ''koku''. Hideyoshi gave him the title ''Chûnagon'' also appointed him to the Cou ...
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