So clan

The Sô kamon.

• Japanese: 宗家 (Sou-shi)

The Sô clan, based on Tsushima since the Kamakura period, were the traditional intermediaries in Japan-Korea relations.

After playing a role in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Korean Invasions in the 1590s, Sô Yoshitoshi, reaffirmed as Lord of Tsushima han by the Tokugawa shogunate, worked to restore relations with Korea, and eventually succeeded. Twelve official Korean embassies visited Japan between 1607 and 1811. Though only holding an official kokudaka of 100,000, the importance of the Sô clan / Tsushima han in maintaining relations with Korea was of great significance for Edo period Japan.

In the Bakumatsu period, the Sô stood in support of the shogunate, and against the sonnô ("Revere the Emperor") movement.

Members: Sô Yoshishige and Sô Yoshitoshi (Yoshitomo)

References

• "Sô-ke" 宗家. Edo daimyô hyakka 江戸大名百家. Bessatsu Taiyô 別冊太陽. Spring 1978. p28.