Yamana clan

The Yamana kamon.

The Yamana of Inaba Province were descended from Minamoto Yoshishige (d.1202), whose son Yoshinori took the name Yamana. They became a very powerful shugo family in the Muromachi Period, thanks in large measure to the efforts of Yamana Tokiuji (d.1372), a staunch Ashikaga supporter. Under the leadership of Yamana Michitoyo (Sozen, 1404-1473), they were at the heart of the decade-long Ônin War, a conflagration that, in the end, cost the Yamana much of its former influence and land. By the early 16th Century, the Yamana had been reduced to holding the better part of Inaba Province, though they would retain a place there until the end of the Edo Period.