are a historical

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 clan.

Overview

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the clans of Sasaki-rokkaku were combined, the clans were spread out between South Eastern Asian islands and the head of the clan left Japan and eventually moved to the United States. The current head of the combined Sasaki-Rokkaku clans lives in the US and is not of Japanese descent. The Sasaki-rokkaku Clans may have left do to rising tensions between ultranationalist organizations and clan interests abroad after fall of the Japanese Empire. ( Uda Genji)

History

They are descended directly from

Emperor Uda was the 59th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 宇多天皇 (59)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Uda's reign spanned the years from 887 through 897. Traditional narrative Name and legacy Befo ...

(868–897) by his grandson Minamoto no Masazane (920–993) ( Uda Genji), but were adopted by 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 foun ...

. Minamoto no Nariyori, great-grandson of Masazane, is the first who took the name of Sasaki from his domain in

Ōmi province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countrie ...

(now Shiga). Hideyoshi (1112–1184), descendant of Minamoto no Nariyori, lost his parents young and became an orphan. He was adopted by

Minamoto no Tameyoshi was head of the Minamoto clan during his lifetime, and son of Minamoto no Yoshichika, son of Minamoto no Yoshiie. He led the Minamoto in the Hōgen Rebellion. Tameyoshi is also known as . Though he was most famous for his involvement in the H� ...

(then head of the Seiwa Genji). He participated to the Hōgen war (1156) in which his father

was killed, and the Heiji war (1159) with his (adoptive) uncles, brothers, nephews, cousins and clansmen. After his brother

Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123 – 11 February 1160) was the head of the Minamoto clan and a general of the late Heian period of Japanese history. His son Minamoto no Yoritomo became ''shōgun'' and founded the Kamakura shogunate, the first shogunate in the history of ...

was killed (1160), and the defeat of the

, he went North to ask

Fujiwara no Hidehira was the third ruler of Northern Fujiwara in Mutsu Province, Japan, the grandson of Fujiwara no Kiyohira. During the Genpei War, he controlled his territory independently of the central government; however, he was the official imperial governor f ...

of Mutsu province to give him shelter, but stopped at Shibuya (Sagami province) and remained at that place for 20 years. When his nephew

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 ...

rose in revolt against the

Taira 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 i ...

, he with his four sons sided with him (1180). He was killed during 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 ...

(1180-1185) at the battle of Ōhara (1184) in Ōmi province fighting 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 ...

. His descendants received from their Seiwa Genji cousins the title of ''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'' (governor) of Ōmi and other provinces, which they kept until the 16th century

Sengoku Period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

wars. He is the ancestor of the Sasaki, the

Rokkaku Rokkaku ( ja, 六角, "six corners" or "hexagon") can refer to several things: * Rokkaku Chuu (市立六角中学校), a fictional school that appears on ''The Prince of Tennis'' *Rokkaku clan, a clan of samurai * ''Rokkaku dako'', a type of six-co ...

, the Amago, the Kyōgoku and the

Kuroda Kuroda (written: lit. "black ricefield") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese painter * Akinobu Kuroda 黒田明伸, Japanese historian * Chris Kuroda, lighting designer and operator for the band Phish and J ...

clans. In 1868, at the end of the

Tokugawa period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterize ...

: * The Kyōgoku were ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of

Marugame is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 108,541 in 46101 households and a population density of 970 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Marugame is located in north-ce ...

and

Tadotsu 270px, Shorinji Kempo head dōjō is a town located in Nakatado District, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 22,124 in 10365 households and a population density of 270 persons per km². The total area of the ...

Sanuki Province was a province of Japan in the area of northeastern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Sanuki''" in . Sanuki bordered on Awa to the south, and Iyo to the west. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō system, ...

, Toyooka in

Tajima Province was a province of Japan in the area of northern Hyōgo Prefecture. Tajima bordered on Tango and Tanba to the east, Harima to the south, and Inaba to the west. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō system, Tajimao was ...

, and

Mineyama Domain Mineyama Domain may refer to: * Mineyama Domain (Tango) (峯山藩), in Tango Province of Edo period Japan * Mineyama Domain (Echigo) Mineyama Domain may refer to: * Mineyama Domain (Tango) file:京極家墓所（常立寺：京都府京丹� ...

Tango Province was a province of Japan in the area of northern Kyoto Prefecture. Tango bordered on Tanba to the south, Tajima to the west, and Wakasa to the east. Its abbreviated form name was . It was also referred to as or . In terms of the Gokishichi ...

.Iwao, Seiichi ''et al.'' (2002)
''Dictionnaire historique du Japon,'' p. 1704.
/ref> A branch of the Kyōgoku was ranked among the 26 families which were permitted to fill the office of '' kōke''.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric ''et al.'' (2002)
''Japan Encyclopedia,'' p. 547.
/ref> * The Kuroda were ''daimyō'' of Fukuoka, and of Akizuki (Chikuzen province). * The Rokkaku had the rank of ''Kōke''. There existed a certain Sasaki Shrine where Sasaki Yamagimi, a warlord, worshiped the god of ancestor's spirit. Following the middle of the Heian period (794 - 858), the shrine was used to worship the tutelary god of the Sasaki clan. It is said that through this, the " Ōmi-Genji Festival" is held every year on October 10 in respect of the Sasaki clan. One member of note amongst the Sasaki clan is none other than

Sasaki Kojiro Sasaki () is the 13th most common Japanese surname. Less common variants are 佐咲, 佐佐木 and 笹木. Notable people with the surname include: Overview *, Japanese figure skater *, Japanese alpine skier *, Japanese idol and singer *, Japane ...

, the famous swordsman and rival of

Miyamoto Musashi , also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...

. The favorite technique of Kojiro was his "Tsubame Gaeshi" (Turning Swallow Cut), in which he attempted to use on Musashi throughout their duel. It is also known that the Sasaki clan apparently was a political obstacle to that of the Hosokawa, and the defeat of Kojiro would be a political setback to his religious and political foes.

Genealogy

Bold designates a master. The "〇" mark is a person who participated in

's rising in arms. ∴

(867-931) ┃ Prince Atsumi(893-967) ┃ Minamoto no Masazane(920-993) ┃ Sukenori(951-998) ┃ Nariyori(976-1003) ┃ Noritsune(1000-1058) ┃ Tsunekata ┃ Tametoshi ┃

Sasaki Hideyoshi was a samurai member of the Minamoto clan, who fought in the Hōgen and Heiji Rebellions and in the Genpei War. He was the adopted son of Minamoto no Tameyoshi since age thirteen. Overview Sasaki fought under Minamoto no Yoshitomo in the Hō ...

(1112–1184) ┣━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━┳━━━━━┓ 〇 Sadatsuna 〇 Tsunetaka 〇 Moritsuna 〇 Takatsuna Yoshikiyo ┏━━━━━━┳━━━━━┳━━━━━┫ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┣━━━━━┓ Hirotsuna Sadashige

Hirosada (floruit, fl. c. 1819-1863) was the most prolific Osaka-based designer of ukiyo-e woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock prints during the late Edo period. Like most producers of —prints originating in the Osaka and Kyoto regions—he specializ ...

Nobutsuna Takashige Kaji Nobuzane Shigetuna Masayoshi Yasukiyo ┏━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━━━╋━━━━━━━━┓ ┏━━━━━┳━━━━━┫ Shigetsuna　 Takanobu　 Rokkaku Yasutsuna　 Kyogoku Ujinobu Yoriyasu　 Yoshiyasu　 Muneyasu

Overview

History

Genealogy

See also

References

Sources