Shimazu clan

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  • Japanese: 島津家 (Shimazu-ke)

The Shimazu, who may have been descended from the Koremune clan, were founded by Shimazu Tadahisa (d.1227), who was appointed as military commander of southern Kyushu by Minamoto Yoritomo in 1187. It was once believed that Shimazu Tadahisa was an illegitimate child of Minamoto no Yoritomo, a story that has largely been abandoned since the end of the Edo Period.

The Shimazu were splintered into two contending factions following the death of Shimazu Sadahisa (1265-1351) and remained fractured into the Sengoku Period. Building on the efforts of his father Shimazu Takahisa, Shimazu Yoshihisa managed to take much of Kyushu by 1587 but was forced back by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The Shimazu remained a powerful house through the end of the Edo Period, controlling Satsuma han, with a kokudaka of 770,000 koku, the second-largest of any domain (han). Members of the family continued to be powerful and influential in government and business from the Meiji period onwards, through the 20th century and today.

Prominent Members of the Shimazu clan[1]

Prominent Branch and Retainer Families

In 1712/11, family head Shimazu Yoshitaka reorganized the status hierarchy of the Shimazu retainer families. The top-ranking group of retainer families, known as the ichimon-yonke (一門四家), were the Kajiki, Shigetomi (Echizen) Shimazu, Imaizumi Shimazu, and Tarumizu Shimazu clans.[4]

Directly below them was a group of families known as the daishinbun (大身分), lower in status than the ichimonke, but still above the Shimazu karô ("House Elders," also known as kokurô, or "Domain Elders") The daishinbun included the Shimazu Saemon clan (also known as the Hioki Shimazu), the Shimazu Suo clan (Hanaoka Shimazu), and the Hongô clan (Shimazu Chikugo clan, or Miyakonojô Shimazu), with the Shimazu Tosho clan (Miyanojô Shimazu) being added to the group later.[4]

Other prominent Shimazu retainer families included the Ijûin, Kabayama, and Niiro clans.

References

  1. ↑ Kaiyô kokka Satsuma 海洋国家薩摩, Kagoshima: Shôkoshûseikan (2010), 58-59.
  2. ↑ The Sôshû family was considered one of the chief branch families of the Shimazu lords of Satsuma
  3. ↑ 相州家, not to be confused with the Shimazu Sôshû family (総州家) mentioned above.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Miyakonojô to Ryûkyû ôkoku 都城と琉球王国, Miyakonojô Shimazu Residence (2012), 28.
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