The Daidōji clan (大道寺氏) were a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

kin group in the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)
"Daidōji," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 4
retrieved 2013-5-3.

History

The Daidōji were descendants of the Taira.

Daidōji Masashige was a Japanese samurai and commander of the Sengoku period. He was one of the most important vassals of the Go-Hōjō clan. In 1590, when Siege of Odawara began, Matsuida Castle Masashige was defending was surrounded by Toyotomi's large army, ...

was the governor of

Suruga Province was an old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu, Kai, Sagami, Shinano, and Tōtōmi provinces; and was bordered by the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay to the south. Its abbrevia ...

with an annual income of 180,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

''. In 1590, his forces were defeated by Maeda Toshiie. In 1591, Masahige killed himself (''

harakiri , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese Kanji#Readings, kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their Bushido, code of honour but was also practised b ...

''). The Daidoji clan is one of the

Japanese clan This is a list of Japanese clans. The old clans (''Gōzoku'') mentioned in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki lost their political power before the Heian period, Heian Period, during which new aristocracies and families, ''Kuge'', emerged in their place. ...

s. Its origin is considered to be Daido-ji Temple of present Ujitawara-cho, Tsuzuki County, Kyoto Prefecture. The Daidoji family was believed to have moved to Senbon Shaka-do Temple of

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. The Daidoji clan who had served the

Owari domain The was a feudal domain of Japan in the Edo period. Located in what is now the western part of Aichi Prefecture, it encompassed parts of Owari, Mino, and Shinano provinces. Its headquarters were at Nagoya Castle. At its peak, it was rated at ...

was originally a vassal of the Gohojo clan. After the fall of the

Hojo clan Hojo or Hōjō may refer to: Hojo or HoJo: *Howard Johnson's, a U.S. chain of restaurants and hotels *A nickname for Howard Johnson *A nickname for Howard Jones *A nickname for Howard Jones *MGR-1 Honest John, the first nuclear-capable missile ...

, Daidoji Shigenao, the second son of

who worked as the top at Kawagoe-jo Castle and governed 180 thousand koku crop yields, served the Maeda clan of Kaga Province and then began to serve

Matsudaira Tadayoshi was the fourth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu with his concubine Saigo-no-Tsubone. His Childhood name was Fukumatsumaru (福松丸). When his mother died, he and his brother were adopted by Acha no Tsubone (1555-1637). His full brother, Tokugawa Hid ...

with two thousand Goku crop yields. Matsudaira Tadayoshi was the fourth son of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

and had been given 490 thousand koku crop yields in Owari Province. When Shigenao served Tadayoshi, he lived in the castle in

Kiyosu is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 69,687 in 29,477 households, and a population density of 4,017 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kiyosu is located in far western Aichi P ...

, and in the vicinity of the site of his residence is still called

Aza Daidoji Aza or AZA may refer to: Places *Aza, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality *Azadkənd, Nakhchivan or Lower Aza, Azerbaijan *Aza, medieval name of Haza, Province of Burgos, Spain *Aźa, a Tibetan name for the Tuyuhun kingdom *Aza, a Hebrew roman ...

, Kiyosu-machi],

Kiyosu City is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 69,687 in 29,477 households, and a population density of 4,017 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kiyosu is located in far western Aichi Pr ...

, Aichi Prefecture. After Tadayoshi's death, although Owari was given to Ieyasu's ninth son

Tokugawa Yoshinao was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Biography Born the ninth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu with his concubine, Okame no Kata. His childhood name was Gorōtamaru (五郎太丸). While still a young child, he was appointed leader of ...

, Shigenao continuously served Yoshinao. After the Siege of Osaka, 500 koku crop yields were added, and he had 2500 koku in all.

Notable clan leaders

* Daidōji Shigeoki *

References

Japanese clans {{Japan-clan-stub