The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the

Minamoto clan 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 ...

. Its first power base was in

Hitachi Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Ibaraki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Hitachi fudoki''" in . It was sometimes called . Hitachi Province bordered on Shimōsa (Lower Fusa), Shimotsuke, and Mutsu ( Iwase -17 ...

. The clan was subdued by

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 ...

in the late 12th century, but later entered Yoritomo's service as vassals. In 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 ...

, the Satake served as Governor (''

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

(today

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

), under the aegis 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 establi ...

. The clan sided with the Western Army during the Battle of Sekigahara, and was punished by

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 ...

, who moved it to a smaller territory in northern

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

(northern Honshū) at the start of the

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 characte ...

. The Satake survived as lords (

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 nominal ...

) of the

Kubota Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Akita Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Kubota Castle in what is now the city of Akita and was thus also known as the . It was governed for the whole of its his ...

(also known as the Akita Domain). Over the course of the Edo period, two major branches of the Satake clan were established, one ruled the fief of Iwasaki, the other one the fief of Kubota-Shinden. During the Boshin War of 1868–69, the Satake were signatories to the pact that formed the

Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei The was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War. Its flag was either a white interwoven five-pointed star on a black field, or a black i ...

, but after internal debate and a disagreement with the

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of the i ...

, the clan switched sides and joined the imperial forces in subduing the alliance. As with all other daimyō families, the Satake clan was relieved of its title in 1871.

Origins

The Satake clan claimed descent from

Satake Masayoshi was a Japanese samurai of the Heian period. The grandson of Minamoto no Yoshimitsu, Masayoshi was a resident of Hitachi Province. He was killed in battle by Minamoto no Yoshikuni around 1147. Masayoshi was the founder of the Satake clan Th ...

, the grandson of the prominent 11th century warrior

Minamoto no Yoshimitsu was a Japanese samurai lord during the Heian period. He served as Governor of Kai Province. He is credited as the ancient progenitor of the Japanese martial art, Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu and Takeda-ryu. Biography Yoshimitsu was born t ...

."Satake-shi" on Harimaya.com
(accessed 15 August 2008) Yoshimitsu received land in Mutsu Province and Hitachi Province as a reward for his military service, and took up residence at Satake village, in Hitachi. Yoshimitsu willed the territory around Satake village to his son, Yoshinobu. Yoshinobu, in turn, passed it on to his own son, Masayoshi. The Satake clan would remain in Hitachi until they were ordered to move in 1602.Saga, ''Memories of Silk and Straw'', pp. 16-17. In 1106, Masayoshi led a rebellion against Minamoto no Yoshikuni, a power figure in neighboring

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

, but was defeated and killed by Yoshikuni, who followed him back to Hitachi."Ashikaga-shi (Kamakura kubō)" on Harimaya.com
(accessed 19 August 2008). During the Genpei War, Masayoshi's son Takayoshi sided with

Taira no Kiyomori was a military leader and ''kugyō'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan. Early life Kiyomori was born in Heian-kyō, Japan, in 1118 as the first so ...

. The Satake clan was defeated by

in 1180, and its territory confiscated; it was not until nine years later that Yoritomo forgave Takayoshi's son Hideyoshi, and allowed Hideyoshi to become his vassal. Hideyoshi served in the attack on Mutsu Province. The Satake clan later returned to its old territory in Hitachi.

Muromachi and Sengoku periods

In the Muromachi period (1336–1573), the Satake family's heads served as hereditary governors (''shugo'') of

. They were vassals of the

's ''Kamakura-kubō'', the Kamakura-based official who oversaw the Ashikaga shogunate's affairs in the Kantō region. The Satake clan saw a great deal of military service under the Ashikaga banner. In the Sengoku period, the Satake worked toward unifying the often rebellious clans of the Hitachi region under their control.

Satake Yoshishige was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. He was the 18th generation head of the Satake clan. He was renowned for his ferocity in battle; he was also known by the nickname of . Biography Yoshishige (whose rank was Hitachi no suke) was t ...

, family head during the early Sengoku period, was renowned for his ferocity in battle; he was also known by the nickname of . He often fought against the

Later Hōjō clan The was one of the most powerful samurai families in Japan in the Sengoku period and held domains primarily in the Kantō region. Their last name was simply Hōjō (北条) but in order to differentiate between the earlier Hōjō clan with the s ...

, who were extending their power into southern Hitachi. One such encounter was the Battle of Numajiri, where 20,000 men under Yoshishige fought 80,000 Hōjō troops. The Satake won, due in part to the use of over 8600

matchlock A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of rope that is touched to the gunpowder by a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with his finger. Befor ...

rifles by their troops. In 1586 and again in 1589, the Satake also fought 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 ...

at Sukagawa, but were ultimately defeated by forces under the command of Date Masamune. In 1590, under the headship of Yoshishige's son

Satake Yoshinobu was a ''daimyō'' in Sengoku period and early Edo period Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate and the 19th head of the Satake clan and 1st ''daimyō'' of Kubota Domain in Dewa Province. His courtesy title was '' Sakonoeshōshō'', later '' Uky ...

, the Satake clan pledged fealty to

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 ...

during the siege of Odawara.Karino, ''Satake-shi rekidai ryakuji'', p. 7. After the fall of Odawara, Hideyoshi accepted them as vassals, and guaranteed their lordship of a 540,000 '' koku'' swath of territory in Hitachi Province. Having received recognition from Hideyoshi as the ruler of Hitachi Province, Yoshinobu's drive for unifying the province under his rule was strengthened. He brought nearly all of the province under his control, with the exception of the

Tsuchiura is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 138,033 in 60,069 households and a population density of 1123 persons per km2. The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 29.7%. The total area of t ...

and Shimodate areas, the control of which Hideyoshi had assured to the Yūki clan. In 1593, the Satake clan joined in Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, deploying troops to Nagoya Castle in

Hizen Province was an old province of Japan in the area of the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō. It did not incl ...

Edo era

In 1600, the Satake sided with the Western Army at the Battle of Sekigahara, and were discovered to be in secret communication with Ishida Mitsunari, the leader of the Western Army. After the Western Army's defeat by the Eastern forces of

, the Satake clan was allowed to remain where they were in Hitachi but they would be punished by the victorious Tokugawa. The clan's income was severely reduced and in 1602 the clan was ordered to relocate to Kubota, a much smaller fief in northern Japan, where they remained until 1871."Kubota-han" on Edo 300 HTML
(accessed 15 August 2008) Kubota's income level was 205,000 '' koku'', and it was classified as an outside ('' tozama'') daimyō. The income level remained constant throughout its history. The domain often had agricultural crises, which resulted in several peasant uprisings throughout the course of its history. It was also beset by an internal ''

o-ie sōdō O-Ie Sōdō (, "house strife") were noble family disputes within the samurai and aristocratic classes of Japan, particularly during the early Edo period (17th century). The most famous is the '' Date Sōdō'', which broke out among the Date family ...

'' conflict, the , which was brought on by financial issues.

Satake Yoshiatsu was the 8th ''daimyō'' of Kubota Domain in Dewa Province, Japan (modern-day Akita Prefecture), and then 26th hereditary chieftain of the Satake clan. His courtesy title was '' Ukyo-daifu'' and ''Jijū'' and his Court rank was Junior Fourth ...

(better known by his nom-de-plume Satake Shozan), the 8th generation lord of Kubota, was an accomplished artist. Yoshiatsu painted a number of paintings in the Dutch style, and also produced three treatises on European painting techniques, including the depiction of perspective."Akita ranga" on ''Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System''
Accessed 19 August 2008. He was also a student of Dutch studies (''

rangaku ''Rangaku'' (Kyūjitai: /Shinjitai: , literally "Dutch learning", and by extension "Western learning") is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of West ...

'') scholar

Hiraga Gennai was a Japanese polymath and ''rōnin'' of the Edo period. Gennai was a pharmacologist, student of ''Rangaku'', physician, author, painter and inventor well known for his '' Erekiteru'' (electrostatic generator), '' Kandankei'' (thermometer), a ...

, who he had invited up to Akita to advise him on management of the domain's copper mines. It was during Yoshiatsu's lifetime that the of art was born and briefly flourished. The Kubota domain was uncommon in that it contained more than one castle, despite the Tokugawa shogunate's "one castle per domain" rule. The main castle was

Kubota Castle is a Japanese castle in the city Akita, Akita Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Kubota Castle was home to the Satake clan, ''daimyō'' of Kubota Domain, rulers of northern Dewa Province. The castle was also known as or . In the offici ...

, but there were also castles at Yokote and Ōdate, and five fortified estates elsewhere in the domain: Kakudate, Yuzawa, Hiyama, Jūniso, and In'nai.Karino, p. 9. Each of these was given to a senior retainer who ran it as his own small castle town. The senior retainers had personal retainers who resided in these castle towns. Two of the clan elder (''

karō were top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to the ''daimyōs'' of feudal Japan. Overview In the Edo period, the policy of ''sankin-kōtai'' (alternate attendance) required each ''daimyō'' to place a ''karō'' in Edo and anothe ...

'') families serving the Kubota domain were branches of the Satake family. One was the North Satake family (''Satake-hokke''), stipended at 10,000 ''koku''; the other the West Satake family (''Satake-nishike''), stipended at 7200 ''koku''. The North Satake family had its landholdings around Kakunodate, one of the fortified estates mentioned above; the West Satake resided in and had their landholdings around Ōdate. Another ''karō'' family unrelated to the Satake was the Tomura, who held Yokote castle. During its rule over Kubota, the Satake clan was ranked as a family, and as such, had the privilege of shogunal audiences in the Great Hall (''Ohiroma'') of Edo Castle. Though no Satake lord ever held the office of ''

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 Kamak ...

'', the clan (together with many of the other domains of northern Honshū) assisted the shogunate in policing the frontier region of Ezochi (now

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

Boshin war

After the restoration of imperial rule in late 1867, the Boshin War broke out in early 1868, pitting the coalition of southern domains against the forces of the former Tokugawa shogunate. After the city of Edo fell, remnants of the Tokugawa forces retreated northward, and the fighting followed northward. The Satake clan was a signatory to the pact that formed the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, the alliance of anti- Satchō northern domains led by the

. The Satake clan's delegation at Shiroishi, the alliance's headquarters, was led by the clan elder (''karō'') Tomura Yoshiari. However, the Satake had political difficulties with the alliance, which culminated in the murder, in Akita, of a delegation from Sendai on August 21, 1868,Onodera, ''Boshin nanboku sensō to Tōhoku seiken'', p. 193. and the display of the messengers'

gibbet A gibbet is any instrument of public execution (including guillotine, executioner's block, impalement stake, hanging gallows, or related scaffold). Gibbeting is the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of cri ...

ed heads in the Akita castle town. The Sendai delegation, led by Shimo Matazaemon, was dispatched to request the Akita domain to hand over Kujō Michitaka and other officials of the imperial delegation that had been originally sent to the region to gather support for the imperial cause. The Satake then backed out of the alliance and supported the imperial army; eleven days later, on September 1, 1868 the

Tsugaru clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled the northwestern half of what is now Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. The Tsugaru were ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain and its semi-subsidiary, ...

of the neighboring

Hirosaki is a city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. On 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 168,739 in 71,716 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Hirosaki developed as a castle town fo ...

domain followed suit. In response, the pro-alliance domains of Morioka and

Ichinoseki is a city located in Iwate Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. , the city had a population of 114,476 and a population density of 91 persons per km² in 46,375 households. It is currently the second largest city by population in ...

sent troops to attack Kubota.Onodera, p. 194. Kubota forces were hard-pressed to defend their territory, with the result that the alliance troops had made serious advances before the war's end; Yokote Castle was burned, and by October 7, Morioka troops took Ōdate, the last of the Akita domain's castles. In early 1869,

Satake Yoshitaka Satake may refer to: *Satake clan, a Japanese samurai clan originally from Hitachi Province * Satake Corporation, a multinational agricultural equipment maker based in Hiroshima, Japan *Asteroid 8194 Satake *Ichirō Satake (1927–2014), Japanese ...

formally gave up the domain's registers to the imperial government, and was made imperial governor of the Akita domain (''han chiji'').Karino, p. 40. In mid-1869, the imperial government rewarded the service rendered by the main line of the Satake clan, by raising its income by 20,000 '' koku''.Karino, p. 40. The heads of all the Satake clan's branches were relieved of office as

in 1871,Karino, p. 41. and ordered to relocate to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Meiji and beyond

In the Meiji era, Satake Yoshitaka was ennobled with the title of marquess (''kōshaku'').Karino, p. 41.List of Meiji-era Japanese nobility
(accessed 17 August 2008) Satake Yoshisato of Iwasaki received the title of

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 judicia ...

(''shishaku''). The North Satake family received the title of baron (''danshaku''). Yoshitaka's son Yoshinao served in the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

, and fought in the

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and b ...

.Karino, p. 41.

Norihisa Satake is a Japanese politician. A former two-term mayor of Akita City in Akita Prefecture, first elected in 2001, he is currently the Governor of Akita Prefecture after winning election on April 12, 2009. He is the 21st head of the North Satake bra ...

, the current governor of Akita Prefecture, is a descendant of the North Satake branch of the clan.

Family Heads

Kubota

As lord of the

(1570–1633) *

(1609–1672) *

Satake Yoshizumi was the 3rd ''daimyō'' of Kubota Domain in Dewa Province, Japan (modern-day Akita Prefecture), and then 21st hereditary chieftain of the Satake clan. His courtesy title was '' Ukyō-no-daifu'' and ''Jijū'', and later raised to ''Sakon'e-sh� ...

(1637–1703) * Satake Yoshitada (1695–1715) * Satake Yoshimine (1690–1745) *

Satake Yoshimasa Satake may refer to: *Satake clan, a Japanese samurai clan originally from Hitachi Province *Satake Corporation, a multinational agricultural equipment maker based in Hiroshima, Japan *Asteroid 8194 Satake *Ichirō Satake (1927–2014), Japanese ...

(1728–1753) * Satake Yoshiharu (1723–1758) *

(1748–1785) *

(1775–1815) * Satake Yoshihiro (1812–1846) * Satake Yoshichika (1839–1857) *

(1825–1884, last lord of Kubota) * Satake Yoshinao (1854–1893)

Iwasaki

* Satake Yoshinaga (1655–1741) * Satake Yoshimichi (1701–1765) * Satake Yoshitada (1730–1787) * Satake Yoshimoto (1759–1793) * Satake Yoshichika (1787–1821) *

(1802–1856) * Satake Yoshizane (1825–1884; became Satake Yoshitaka, last lord of Akita)Karino, p. 37. * Satake Yoshitsuma (1837–1870) * Satake Yoshisato (1858–1914)

Kubota-Shinden

* Satake Yoshikuni (1665–1725) * Satake Yoshikata (1692–1742)

Notable Retainers

* Makabe Ujimoto (1550–1622) * Onuki Yorihisa (1544–1603) *

Oba Yoshinari Oba or OBA may refer to: * Oba (king), a Bini and Yoruba title for certain royal rulers * Oba (orisha), a spirit who is prominent in various Traditional African religions and Afro-American religions * Ōba, a Japanese surname * ''Oba: The Last Samu ...

Karino, p. 9. * Oba TadanobuKarino, p. 9. * Tomura Yoshikuni (Jūdayū)Karino, p. 9. * Wada Akitame (1532–1618)

Notes

References

"Akita ranga" on ''Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System''
Accessed 19 August 2008.

(accessed 19 August 2008) * * French, Calvin L., et al. (1978). ''Through Closed Doors: Western Influence on Japanese Art 1639–1853''. Rochester, Michigan: Oakland University. * Hoshi, Ryōichi (1997). ''Ōuetsu Reppandōmei''. Tokyo: Chūōkōron-shinsha. * Karino, Tokuzō (1910). ''Satake-ke rekidai jiryaku'' 佐竹家歴代事略. Akita: Karino Sadakichi. (Accessed fro
National Diet Library
17 August 2008) *

(accessed 15 August 2008)
List of Meiji-era Japanese nobility
(accessed 17 August 2008) * McClellan, Edwin (1985). ''Woman in the Crested Kimono''. New Haven: Yale University Press. * Naramoto, Tatsuya (1992). ''Nihon no kassen: monoshiri jiten''. Tokyo: Shufu-to-seikatsusha. * Noguchi, Shin'ichi (2005). ''Aizu-han''. Tokyo: Gendai shokan. * Onodera, Eikō (2005). ''Boshin nanboku sensō to Tōhoku seiken''. Sendai: Kita no mori. * Saga, Jun'ichi (1987). ''Memories of Silk and Straw: A Self-Portrait of Small-Town Japan''. New York: Kodansha International. * Sasaki, Suguru (2002). ''Boshin sensō: haisha no Meiji-ishin''. Tokyo: Chuōkōron-shinsha. *
"Satake-shi" on Harimaya.com
(accessed 15 August 2008) * Yamakawa Kenjirō (1933). ''Aizu Boshin senshi''. Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku shuppankai. * ''Zusetsu: Nihon meijō-shū'' (2003). Tokyo: Gakken.