The is a Japanese

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 ...

kin group or

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, mea ...

Ancestors

# Emperor Jimmu # Emperor Suizei # Emperor Annei # Emperor Itoku # Emperor Kōshō # Emperor Kōan # Emperor Kōrei # Emperor Kōgen # Emperor Kaika # Emperor Sujin # Emperor Suinin # Emperor Keikō #

Yamato Takeru , originally , was a Japanese semi-legendary prince of the Yamato dynasty, son of Emperor Keikō, who is traditionally counted as the 12th Emperor of Japan. His name written in kanji can vary, in the '' Nihon Shoki'' it is spelled 日本武尊 ...

Emperor Chūai , also known as was the 14th legendary Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Both the ''Kojiki'', and the ''Nihon Shoki'' (collectively known as the ''Kiki'') record events that took place during Chūai's alleged l ...

Emperor Ōjin , also known as (alternatively spelled 譽田別命, 誉田別命, 品陀和気命, 譽田分命, 誉田別尊, 品陀別命) or , was the 15th (possibly legendary) Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. No firm da ...

# Wakanuke Futamata no Kimi # Ohohoto no Kimi # Ohi no Kimi # Ushi no Kimi # Emperor Keitai #

Emperor Kinmei was the 29th Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 欽明天皇 (29) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)pp. 34–36 Brown, Delmer. (1979) ''Gukanshō,'' pp. 261– ...

Emperor Bidatsu was the 30th Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')敏達天皇 (30) retrieved 2013-1-31. according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession. The years of reign of Bidatsu start in 572 and end in 58 ...

# Prince Oshisaka #

Emperor Jomei was the 34th emperor of Japan,Kunaichō 斉明天皇 (34)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Jomei's reign spanned the years from 629 through 641. Traditional narrative Before Jomei's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne ...

# Emperor Tenji # Prince Shiki #

Emperor Kōnin was the 49th emperor of Japan, Emperor Kōnin, Tahara no Higashi Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession. Kōnin's reign lasted from 770 to 781. Traditional narrative The personal name ...

Emperor Kanmu , or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 桓武天皇 (50) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Kanmu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the s ...

# Emperor Saga # Emperor Ninmyō # Emperor Montoku # Emperor Seiwa # Prince Sadazumi #

Minamoto no Tsunemoto was a samurai and Imperial Prince during Japan's Heian period, one of the progenitors of 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 ...

# Minamoto no Mitsunaka #

Minamoto no Yorinobu was a samurai commander and member of the powerful Minamoto clan. Along with his brother Yorimitsu, Yorinobu served the regents of the Fujiwara clan, taking the violent measures the Fujiwara were themselves unable to take. He held the title, pas ...

# Minamoto no Yoriyoshi # Minamoto no Yoshiie # Minamoto no Yoshikuni #

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 ...

# (Ashikaga) Minamoto no Yoshikiyo # (Hirosawa) Ashikaga Yoshizane # (Ashikaga) Hosokawa Yoshisue

History

The clan was 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 f ...

, a branch of the Minamoto clan, and ultimately from Emperor Seiwa himself, through the Ashikaga clan. It produced many prominent officials in the Ashikaga shogunate's administration. In the Edo period, the Hosokawa clan was one of the largest landholding ''

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

'' families in Japan. In the present day, the current clan head

Morihiro Hosokawa is a Japanese politician and noble who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1993 to 1994, leading a coalition government which was the first non- Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government of Japan since 1955. After a funding scandal in early 1994, h ...

, has served as

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan ( Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of S ...

Muromachi and Sengoku eras

Ashikaga Yoshisue, son of Ashikaga Yoshizane, was the first to take the name of Hosokawa. Hosokawa Yoriharu, a Hosokawa of the late Kamakura period, fought for the Ashikaga clan against 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 ...

. Another,

Hosokawa Akiuji was a '' samurai'' general in the service of the Ashikaga Northern Court, during Japan's Nanboku-chō period. Life In 1338, he was sent by Ashikaga Takauji to assist in the defence of the Kuromaru, a fortress belonging to ''Kanrei'' Shiba Taka ...

, helped establish the Ashikaga shogunate. The clan wielded significant power over the course of the Muromachi (1336–1467), Sengoku (1467–1600), and

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 character ...

s, moving, however, from Shikoku, to Kinai, and then to

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

over the centuries. The clan was also one of three families to dominate the post of Kanrei (Shōgun's deputy), under the Ashikaga shogunate. One such individual was

Hosokawa Yoriyuki was a samurai of the Hosokawa clan, and prominent government minister under the Ashikaga shogunate, serving as Kyoto Kanrei (Shōgun's Deputy in Kyoto) from 1367 to 1379. The first to hold this post, he solidified the power of the shogunate, as ...

. At the beginning of the Ashikaga's rule, the Hosokawa were given control of the entirety of Shikoku. Over the course of this period, members of the Hosokawa clan were Constables (''

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 ...

'') of Awa, Awaji, Bitchū, Izumi, Sanuki, Settsu, Tanba, Tosa, and

Yamashiro Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai. It overlaps the southern part of modern Kyoto Prefecture on Honshū. Aliases include , the rare , and . It is classified as an upper province in the '' Engishiki''. Yamashiro Province included Kyot ...

s. A conflict between

Hosokawa Katsumoto was one of the Kanrei, the Deputies to the Shōgun, during Japan's Muromachi period. He is famous for his involvement in the creation of Ryōan-ji, a temple famous for its rock garden, and for his involvement in the Ōnin War, which sparked th ...

, the fifth Kanrei, and his father-in-law

Yamana Sōzen was originally before becoming a monk. Due to his red complexion, he was sometimes known as ''Aka-nyūdō'', "the Red Monk". He was one of the ''daimyōs'' who fought against Hosokawa Katsumoto during the Ōnin War in Heian-kyō. Biography Yam ...

, over the shogunate's succession, sparked the

Ōnin War The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. '' Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era during which the war started; the war ended during the Bun ...

, which led to the fall of the shogunate and a period of 150 years of chaos and war, known as the

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 ...

. Following the fall of the Ashikaga shogunate, which was based in Kyoto, control of the city, and thus ostensibly the country, fell into the hands of the Hosokawa clan (who held the post of Kyoto Kanrei – Shōgun's deputy in Kyoto) for a few generations. Katsumoto's son,

Hosokawa Masamoto was a deputy-'' shōgun'' of the Hosokawa clan of Japan, and son of Hosokawa Katsumoto. Masamoto was appointed to this rank during 1486. For a brief period this title was lost by Hatakeyama Masanaga but was regained in time. When Ashikaga Yo ...

, held power in this way at the end of the 15th century, but was assassinated in 1507. After his death, the clan became divided and was weakened by internecine fighting. What power they still had, however, was centered in and around Kyoto. This gave them the leverage to consolidate their power to some extent, and came to be strong rivals with the Ōuchi clan, both politically, and in terms of dominating trade with China. The Hosokawa remained in Kyoto for roughly one hundred years, fleeing the city when it was attacked by

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 ...

. Another division of the clan whom many have believe had extinct is the Saikyū clan ( 細九氏).

Edo period

Samurai_Lord_Palanquin_Norimono_with_Hosokawa_Kuyo-mon

The Hosokawa of Kokura (later Kumamoto) became the "main" line of the Hosokawa clan during the Edo period. Hosokawa Gracia, the wife of Hosokawa Tadaoki, was one of the most famous samurai converts to Christianity; she was also the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide. The Hosokawa sided with

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 fello ...

against

Ishida Mitsunari Ishida Mitsunari (, 1559 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the ...

during the decisive

Sekigahara Campaign The Sekigahara Campaign was a series of battles in Japan fought between the Eastern Army aligned with Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western Army loyal to Ishida Mitsunari, culminating in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. The conflict was sparked ...

, and thus were made '' fudai'' (inside) ''daimyō'' under 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 ...

. They were given Higo Province, with an income of 540,000 ''

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 ...

'', as their '' han'' (fief). Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the third lord of Kumamoto, was the patron of the artist and swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. File:Statue of Hosokawa Tadatoshi.jpg, Statue of Hosokawa Tadatoshi within Suizen-ji Jōju-en. File:Hosokawa clan.jpg,

Mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...

of the Hosokawa clan. File:Hidari mitsudomoe.svg,

of Miyamoto Musashi born in Ōhara-chō province of Mimasaka. File:Tokugawa shogunate.jpg,

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 ...

. Though the Hosokawa domain was far from the capital, on Kyūshū, they were among the wealthiest of the ''daimyōs''. By 1750, Higo was one of the top producers of rice, and was in fact counted as a standard by the Osaka rice brokers. The domain suffered from serious economic decline after that, as most domains did, but the sixth lord, Hosokawa Shigekata (1718–1785, r. 1747–1785) instituted a number of reforms which turned the situation around. He also founded a Han school, Jishūkan, in 1755. In later years, it produced many scholars such as Yokoi Shōnan. In 1787, the main family line descended from Tadatoshi became extinct with the death of the 7th lord, Shigekata's son Harutoshi (1758–1787; r. 1785–1787). He was succeeded by his distant cousin Narishige, the sixth Lord of Udo (1755–c1835, r. 1787–1810) a direct descendant of Tadatoshi's younger brother Yukitaka (1615–1645). In 1810, Narishige abdicated his title in favor of his elder son Naritatsu (1788–1826, r. 1810–1826), who succeeded as the ninth lord of Kumamoto. Naritatsu died without an heir in 1826, and was succeeded by his nephew Narimori (1804–1860, r. 1826–1860), the son of Naritatsu's younger brother Tatsuyuki (1784–1818), who was the seventh lord of Udo. Following the death of Narimori in 1860, his elder son Yoshikuni (1835–1876, r. 1860–1871) succeeded him as the eleventh and final ruling lord of Kumamoto. There were four major branches of the Hosokawa clan in the Edo period, each of which held the title of ''

''. Another two branches of the family, under the Nagaoka surname, served the Hosokawa of Kumamoto as '' karō''. The residence of one of those families, , is still extant, and is a Tangible Cultural Property of

Kumamoto Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to the northeast, M ...

Boshin War

During 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 1868–69, the Hosokawa of Kumamoto, Kumamoto-Shinden, and Udo sided with the imperial government. Its forces took part in the

Battle of Aizu The Battle of Aizu (Japanese: 会津戦争, "War of Aizu") was fought in northern Japan from October to November in autumn 1868, and was part of the Boshin War. History Aizu was known for its martial skill, and maintained at any given time a st ...

and the Battle of Hakodate, among others.

Meiji and beyond

Following the abolition of the feudal class in 1871, the Hosokawa clan and its branches were made part of the new nobility in the

Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

. The head of the main family line (Kumamoto) was given the hereditary title of marquis (''kōshaku''), while the heads of the secondary branches became viscounts (''shishaku''); the titles became obsolete in 1947. The present head of the main family line,

, former

, is a descendant of the Hosokawa of Kumamoto.

Key Genealogies

Main Branch

# Hosokawa Yoshisue # Hosokawa Akiuji (adopted) # Hosokawa Kimiyori # Hosokawa Kazuuji (1296–1342) # Hosokawa Kiyouji (d.1362) #

# Hosokawa Yorimoto (1343–1397) # Hosokawa Mitsumoto (1378–1426) # Hosokawa Mochimoto (1399–1429) # Hosokawa Mochiyuki (1400–1442) #

# Hosokawa Sumiyuki (1489–1507) #

Hosokawa Sumimoto was a samurai commander in the Muromachi period during the 16th century of Japan. Sumimoto was one of the few sons of Hosokawa Yoshiharu and an adopted son of Hosokawa Masamoto, who was the Kanrei of the Ashikaga shogunate. His roots was the Ho ...

Hosokawa Takakuni Hosokawa Takakuni (, 1484 – 17 July 1531) was the most powerful military commander in the Muromachi period under Ashikaga Yoshiharu, the twelfth ''shōgun''. His father was Hosokawa Masaharu, a member of the branch of the Hosokawa clan. His c ...

# Hosokawa Tanekuni (1508–1525) #

Hosokawa Harumoto was a Japanese '' daimyō'' of the Muromachi and Sengoku periods, and the head of the Hosokawa clan. Harumoto's childhood name was Sōmei-maru (聡明丸). He was born to Hosokawa Sumimoto, another renowned samurai of the Muromachi era. Early ...

# Hosokawa Ujitsuna (1514–1564) # Hosokawa Akimoto (1548–1615) # Hosokawa Motokatsu (1561–1628) # Hosokawa Yoshimoto Kumamoto (Became Main Branch) #

Hosokawa Fujitaka , also known as , was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. Fujitaka was a prominent retainer of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last Ashikaga shōgun. When he joined the Oda, Oda Nobunaga rewarded him with the fief of Tango and went o ...

# Hosokawa Tadaoki # Hosokawa Tadatoshi #

Hosokawa Mitsunao was a Japanese '' daimyō'' of the early Edo period. His childhood name was Rokumaru (六丸). Family * Father: Hosokawa Tadatoshi * Mother: Chiyohime (1597–1649) * Wife: Shojōin, daughter of Karasuma Mitsukata * Concubines: ** Seitai-in ** ...

# Hosokawa Tsunatoshi (1643–1714) # Hosokawa Nobunori (1676–1732) # Hosokawa Munetaka (1716–1747) # Hosokawa Shigekata # Hosokawa Harutoshi (1758–1787) # Hosokawa Narishige (1755–1835) # Hosokawa Naritatsu (1797–1826) # Hosokawa Narimori (1804–1860) # Hosokawa Yoshikuni (1835–1876) – Last ruling Lord of Kumamoto # Hosokawa Morihisa, 1st Marquis (1839–1893) (created 1884) # Hosokawa Morishige, 2nd Marquis (1868–1914) # Hosokawa Moritatsu, 3rd Marquis (title made obsolete in 1947) (1883–1970) # Hosokawa Morisada, titular 5th Marquis (1912–2005) #

, titular 6th Marquis (born 1938) #

Morimitsu Hosokawa is a Japanese potter. Biography Hosokawa was born in Tokyo in 1972 as the son of Morihiro Hosokawa, the former Prime Minister of Japan. He was raised in Kumamoto. After studying at junior high school, he went to the United States where he st ...

, heir (born 1972)

Branches

Kumamoto-Shinden (Takase) *Hosokawa Toshishige (1647–1687) *Hosokawa Toshimasa (1672–1715) *Hosokawa Toshiyasu (1701–1749) *Hosokawa Toshihiro (1716–1767) *Hosokawa Toshiyuki (1750–1781) *Hosokawa Toshitsune (1754–1805) *Hosokawa Toshikuni (1784–1810) *Hosokawa Toshichika (1788–1844) *Hosokawa Toshimochi (1808–1864) *Hosokawa Toshinaga (1829–1901) *Hosokawa Toshisuke *Hosokawa Teruko (1937–) *Hosokawa Kendi (1960–) *Hosokawa Sachiko (1990–) Udo *

Hosokawa Yukitaka was a Japanese samurai in the Sengoku period. 細川行孝
at ''Nihon jinmei daijiten''
Hosokawa Tatsuhiro (1755–1835) *Hosokawa Tatsuyuki (1784–1818) *Hosokawa Tatsumasa (1804–1860) *Hosokawa Yukika (1811–1876) *Hosokawa Tatsunori (1832–1888) *Hosokawa Yukizane (1842–1902) Hitachi-Yatabe"Hosokawa-shi (Yatabe hanshu-ke)"
(ret. 27 Sept. 2008) *Hosokawa Okimoto (1564–1619) *Hosokawa Okimasa (1604–1643) *Hosokawa Okitaka (1632–1690) *Hosokawa Okinaga (1658–1737) *Hosokawa Okizane (1687–1728) *Hosokawa Okitora (1710–1737) *Hosokawa Okiharu (1737–1794) *Hosokawa Okinori (1759–1837) *Hosokawa Okitatsu (1798–1855) *Hosokawa Okitsura (1832–1907) *Hosokawa Okitsugu *Hosokawa Okiharu