The was a cadet branch of the Takeda clan of Kai Province, some members of whom rose to positions of importance within the administration of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

in mid-

Edo 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 characteriz ...

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 ...

. According to the genealogy of the Takeda clan, Yonekura Nobutsugu descended from Minamoto no Kiyomitsu, also called Takeda Kiyomitsu. In the late Heian period, he settled in Koiwasuji Yonekura, Yatsushiro district, Kai Province and called himself 'Yonekura'. According to "Koyo Gunkan" (record of the military exploits of the Takeda family), Yonekura Shigetsugu was the 'Ashigaru Taisho' (General of the Foot Soldiers), and he died at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575. Yonekura Harutsugu was the eldest son of Shigetsugu. He was given the character of 'Haru' by Takeda Harunobu (Shingen). On April 28, 1569, he died at the second Battle of Satta Toge. Yonekura Tadatsugu succeeded the family estate after the death of his elder brother Harutsugu. He was the leader of the Mukawashu warriors troop. When the Takeda clan was destroyed in 1582,

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

prohibited the former retainers of the Takeda clan from being employed by him, so he hid his younger brothers in Kiriyama, Totomi Province on the advice 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 ...

. In the same year, when the Tenshojingo War broke out, he was recruited by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and played an active role in the battle against the Hojo clan. In 1584, he received a property in Kai province, and after the Battle of Ueda (1585) he was given additional properties, and in 1590, he was transferred to Hachigata (Musashi Province). Yonekura Yoshitsugu died at the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

. (1637–1699) was favored by ''

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'' Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, and rose rapidly through the ranks until he reached the post of '' Wakadoshiyori'' in 1696. The additional revenues provided by this office qualified him to join ranks of the ''

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 ...

'', and he became the first lord of

Kanazawa Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871.

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 ...

. He was subsequently transferred to

Minagawa Domain Minagawa (written: ) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese sport wrestler *, Japanese writer *, Japanese video game artist, designer and director *, Japanese voice actress *, Japanese rhythmic gymnast *, Japane ...

in Kōzuke Province. His line died out with his grandson {{nihongo, Yonekura Masateru, 米倉昌照, (1683-1712), but a son of his relative

Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu was a Japanese samurai of the Edo period. He was an official in the Tokugawa shogunate and a favourite of the fifth shōgun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. His second concubine was Ogimachi Machiko, a writer and scholar from the noble court who wrote ...

, descending from the Takeda and the Mukawashu, was selected to inherit the family name, taking the name Yonekura Tadasuke and was transferred back to Musashi-Kanazawa Domain in 1722. During the

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji govern ...

, the 8th (and final) ''Daimyō'',

Yonekura Masakoto was the 8th and final ''daimyō'' of Mutsuura Domain in southern Musashi Province, Honshū, Japan (modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture) during the Bakumatsu period. Biography Yonekoto Masakoto was the 6th son of the 7th ''daimyō'' of Mutsuura Dom ...

, sided with the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

in the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. After the

abolition of the han system The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...

, he became a

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

(''shishaku'') under the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ' ...

'' peerage system.

References

* Papinot, Edmond. (1906) ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon''. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaish
..Click link for digitized 1906 ''Nobiliaire du japon'' (2003)
Japanese clans 1689 establishments in Japan 1873 disestablishments in Japan