The was one of several major families descended from the
Seiwa Genji
The is a line of the Japanese Minamoto clan that is descended from Emperor Seiwa, which is the most successful and powerful line of the clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto warriors, including Minamoto no Yoshiie, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the fo ...
, and numbered among the chief enemies of the
Hōjō clan regents, and later the
Ashikaga shogunate
The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669.
The Ashikaga shogunate was establi ...
. The common ancestor of the Nitta,
Minamoto no Yoshishige
was the progenitor of the Nitta branch family of the Minamoto samurai clan, who fought alongside the Minamoto in the Genpei War. He is also known as Nitta Tarō and Nitta Yoshishige.
His father was Minamoto no Yoshikuni and his grandfather Mina ...
(1135 – 1202), was the elder brother of
Minamoto no Yoshiyasu
Minamoto no Yoshiyasu, also called Ashikaga Yoshiyasu (源 義康/足利 義康, 1127 – 1157) was a samurai of the late Heian period. He is known for his participation in the Hōgen rebellion in 1156. He is best known as the founder of the Ashika ...
, the common ancestor of the
Ashikaga clan
The was a prominent Japanese samurai clan which established the Muromachi shogunate and ruled Japan from roughly 1333 to 1573.
The Ashikaga were descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, deriving originally from the town of Ashikaga ...
. Yoshishige was the a landowner in the Nitta District of
Kōzuke Province
was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered by Echigo, Shinano, Musashi and Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Kōzuke was ran ...
in present-day
Gunma Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 Square kilometre, km2 (2,456 Square mile, sq mi). Gunma P ...
. Yoshishige supported
Minamoto no Yoritomo
was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...
(1147 – 1199) in the
Battle of Ishibashiyama of 1180 against the
Taira clan
The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...
.
The Nitta clan rose to importance in the early 13th century; they controlled Kozuke Province, and had little influence in
Kamakura, the capital of the
Kamakura shogunate
The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459.
The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Y ...
, because their ancestor,
Minamoto no Yoshishige
was the progenitor of the Nitta branch family of the Minamoto samurai clan, who fought alongside the Minamoto in the Genpei War. He is also known as Nitta Tarō and Nitta Yoshishige.
His father was Minamoto no Yoshikuni and his grandfather Mina ...
had not joined his fellow clansmen in the
Genpei War
The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...
a century earlier.
In the 1330s,
Nitta Yoshisada
was a samurai lord of the Nanboku-chō period Japan. He was the head of the Nitta clan in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-chō period. He famously marched on Kamakura, besieging ...
led the clan and a number of other
Minamoto
was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during th ...
vassals against the Hōjō clan
regents
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...
. They succeeded, in June 1333, in destroying the
Bakufu's buildings in
Kamakura.
The Nitta clan played an important role once again, allying with the
Date clan
The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5.
History
The Date family was founded ...
and the Southern Courts, during the
Nanboku-cho wars of the late 14th century.
The successive present head of a household
#
Nitta Yoshishige
#
Nitta Yoshikane Nitta may refer to:
Places
* Nitta, Sweden, a locality in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County of Sweden
* Nitta, Gunma; a.k.a. Nitta, Nitta, Gunma, Japan. A town in the district of Nitta of the prefecture of Gunma in Japan
* Nitta ...
#
Nitta Yoshihusa Nitta may refer to:
Places
* Nitta, Sweden, a locality in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County of Sweden
* Nitta, Gunma; a.k.a. Nitta, Nitta, Gunma, Japan. A town in the district of Nitta of the prefecture of Gunma in Japan
* Nitta ...
#
Nitta Masayoshi Nitta may refer to:
Places
* Nitta, Sweden, a locality in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County of Sweden
* Nitta, Gunma; a.k.a. Nitta, Nitta, Gunma, Japan. A town in the district of Nitta of the prefecture of Gunma in Japan
* Nitta ...
#
Nitta Masauji Nitta may refer to:
Places
* Nitta, Sweden, a locality in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County of Sweden
* Nitta, Gunma; a.k.a. Nitta, Nitta, Gunma, Japan. A town in the district of Nitta of the prefecture of Gunma in Japan
* Nitta ...
#
Nitta Motouji Nitta may refer to:
Places
* Nitta, Sweden, a locality in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County of Sweden
* Nitta, Gunma; a.k.a. Nitta, Nitta, Gunma, Japan. A town in the district of Nitta of the prefecture of Gunma in Japan
* Nitta ...
#
Nitta Tomouji
#
Nitta Yoshisada
was a samurai lord of the Nanboku-chō period Japan. He was the head of the Nitta clan in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-chō period. He famously marched on Kamakura, besieging ...
See also
*
Nitta Yoshiaki (died 1337), son of Nitta Yoshisada, fought for Emperor Go-Daigo, against the Ashikaga at the end of the Kamakura period. He was one of the chief generals at the fortress of Kanagasaki, which fell to the Ashikaga; Yoshiaki was killed, and Prince T ...
- son of Yoshisada
*
Nitta Yoshioki - son of Yoshisada
*
Nitta Yoshimune
was the third son of Nitta Yoshisada, and a commander of loyalist (Imperial) forces during the Nanbokuchō Wars.
In April 1352, Yoshimune led a force from Echigo Province to contribute to the loyalist efforts to drive the Shōgun, Ashikaga Taka ...
- son of Yoshisada
*
Wakiya Yoshisuke
also known as , (1305–1340) was the brother of Nitta Yoshisada in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-chō period, capturing Kamakura with his brother from the Hōjō clan in ...
- brother of Yoshisada, and founder of a branch family of Nitta, called
Wakiya
References
Minamoto clan
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