260px, Sarada Tōshō-gū The , also known as Nitta-no-shō, was a vast ''

shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...

'', or landed estate dating the from

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

which existed in

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 ...

(present-day

Gunma Prefecture is a 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 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima ...

) from the late

into the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

. It was the home territory of the

Nitta clan The was one of several major families descended from the Seiwa Genji, and numbered among the chief enemies of the Hōjō clan regents, and later the Ashikaga shogunate. The common ancestor of the Nitta, Minamoto no Yoshishige (1135 – 1202 ...

, which played an important role in the

Kemmu restoration The was a three-year period of Imperial rule in Japanese history between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period from 1333 to 1336. The Kenmu Restoration was an effort made by Emperor Go-Daigo to overthrow the ruling Kamakura Shogunate a ...

which overthrew 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 ...

and subsequent wars of the

Nanboku-chō period The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, ''Nanboku-chō jidai'', "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Mur ...

. In the year 2000, eleven sites connected with the Nitta-no-shō within the city of

Ōta, Gunma is a Cities of Japan, city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 224,358 in 109,541 households, and a population density of 1300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Ōta is located ...

were collectively designated a National Historic Site of Japan.

Overview

In 1108 AD,

Minamoto no Yoshikuni was son of famous samurai Minamoto no Yoshiie and an ancestor of the Ashikaga and Nitta clans. Yoshikuni was the samurai who first implored the spirit of the Iwashimizu Shrine to start living in this bamboo grove and he built the shrine in hon ...

obtained rights to a large territory in Kōzuke Province which had been devastated by the eruption of

Mount Asama is an active complex volcano in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The volcano is the most active on Honshū. The Japan Meteorological Agency classifies Mount Asama as rank A. It stands above sea level on the border of Gunma and Nagano ...

. This territory was on the left bank of the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the Kantō ...

and extended for the entirety of ancient Nitta County, and much of Sai County,

Sari County Sari County ( fa, شهرستان ساری) is in Mazandaran province, Iran. The capital of the county is the city of Sari A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * as, শ� ...

, and a portion of Hanzawa County in

Musashi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, S ...

. In modern terms, this corresponds to all of the area of the cities of Ōta, Isesaki and

Midori Midori (みどり, ミドリ, , , ) is the Japanese word for "green" and may refer to: Places * Midori, Gunma * Midori-ku, Chiba * Midori-ku, Nagoya * Midori-ku, Sagamihara * Midori-ku, Saitama * Midori-ku, Yokohama People Given name * Mi ...

. Yoshikuni had already laid claim to a similar vast estate, Ashikaga-shō in

Shimotsuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''SHimotsuke''" in . Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Hitachi Province, ...

in 1142. In 1157, Yoshikuni, together with this son

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 ...

nominally donated this estate to the Buddhist temple of Kongoshin-in which had been established by

Emperor Toba was the 74th Emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 鳥羽天皇 (74)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Toba's reign spanned the years from 1107 through 1123. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Chr ...

and to the court noble Fujiwara no Tadamasa, and accepted the title of "steward". This had the effect of converting the estate into an autonomous tax-free ''shōen'' completely independent of outside control. Yoshishige's armed retainers continually expanded the borders of his estate at the expense of his weaker neighbors, and his descendants took the surname of "Nitta" after the name of the manor. Despite the death of

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 ...

in the early

and the rise of 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 establ ...

, a branch of the Nitta clan continued to rule parts of the territory under the surname of "Iwamatsu" until they sided against

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

at the Siege of Odawara in 1590. The eleven sites covered under the National Historic Site designation are: # Enfuku-ji temple precincts # Junisho Jinja precincts # Sōji-ji temple precincts # Chōraku-ji temple precincts #

Serada Tōshō-gū The is a Shinto shrine located in the city of Ōta Gunma Prefecture, Japan. It enshrines the deified first Shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu. In the year 2000, it was one of the eleven sites connected with the Nitta-no-shō w ...

# Meiō-in temple precincts # Ikushina Jinja # Sorimach Yakushi temple precincts # Eda residence ruins # Shigeno water source # Yatagami water source

References

External links

Ota City official site

Ota Tourism official site
{{in lang, ja Ōta, Gunma History of Gunma Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links