Tanegashima clan

The Tanegashima of Tanegashima (Tane Island) claimed descent from Taira Kiyomori (1118-1181), one of whose great-grandsons is supposed to have been sheltered by Hôjô Tokimasa. This great-grandson adopted the name Hôjô Tokinobu and was afterwards established on Tanegashima, to the south of the coast of Satsuma province. Tokinobu's descendants carried the name Tanegashima (though they maintained the Hôjô family crest) and became long-time retainers of the Shimazu house. Tanegashima was the site of Japan's first contact with Europe, when the Portuguese vessel Fernand Mendez Pinto was forced ashore there by weather in 1543. They brought with them guns, which were afterwards nicknamed 'Tanegashima'.

References

• Initial text from Sengoku Biographical Dictionary (Samurai-Archives.com) FWSeal & CEWest, 2005