Shimazu clan

• 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. 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. Though they supported Ishida Mitsunari in 1600, the Shimazu remained a powerful house until the end of the Edo Period. 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.

Selected Members of the Shimazu clan

• Shimazu Tadahisa (1179-1227), 1st gen. head of the Shimazu
  • Shimazu Tadasue, Tadahisa's half-brother by a different father, & progenitor of the Wakasa Shimazu
  • Shimazu Tadatsuna, son of Tadahisa, & progenitor of the Echizen Shimazu
  • Shimazu Tadatoki (1202-1272), son of Tadahisa, 2nd gen. head
    • Shimazu Tadatsugu, son of Tadatoki, & progenitor of the Yamada clan
    • Shimazu Tadatsune, son of Tadatoki
      • Tadatsune's sons Shimazu Tadamitsu (progenitor of the Machida clan) and Shimazu Toshitada (progenitor of the Ijûin clan)
    • Shimazu Hisatsune (1225-1284), son of Tadatoki, 3rd gen. head
      • Shimazu Hisanaga, son of Hisatsune, & progenitor of the Izaku clan
      • Shimazu Tadamune (1251-1325), son of Hisatsune, 4th gen. head
        • Shimazu Suketada, son of Tadamune, progenitor of the Hongô clan (Miyakonojô Shimazu)
        • Shimazu Sukehisa, son of Tadamune, progenitor of the Kabayama clan
        • Shimazu Tokihisa, son of Tadamune, progenitor of the Niiro clan
        • Shimazu Tadamitsu, son of Tadamune, progenitor of the Sata clan
        • Shimazu Tadauji, son of Tadamune, progenitor of the Izumi clan
        • Shimazu Sadahisa (1269-1363), son of Tadamune, 5th gen. head
          • Shimazu Yorihisa, son of Sadahisa, progenitor of the Kawakami clan
          • Shimazu Munehisa, son of Sadahisa
          • Shimazu Morohisa (1325-1376), son of Sadahisa, shugo of Satsuma province, progenitor of the Shimazu Sôshû family
            • Shimazu Korehisa (1347-1407), son of Morohisa
              • Korehisa's sons Shimazu Morihisa, Shimazu Tadatomo, Shimazu Hisateru
          • Shimazu Ujihisa (1328-1387), son of Sadahisa, 6th gen. head, shugo of Ôsumi province, progenitor of the Ôshû Shimazu family (the main lineage of the Shimazu lords of Satsuma)
            • Shimazu Motohisa (1363-1411), son of Ujihisa, 7th gen. head
              • Shimazu Morikuni, son of Motohisa, aka Chûô-oshô, chief priest of Fukushô-ji
            • Shimazu Hisatoyo (1375-1425), 8th gen. head

References

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