Takenaka clan
Encyclopedia
Seiwa Genji
The ' were the most successful and powerful of the many branch families of the Japanese Minamoto clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto warriors, including Minamoto Yoshiie, also known as "Hachimantaro", or God of War, and Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate, were descended...
line's Toki
Toki clan
The was a powerful clan that ruled in Japan from the Kamakura period to the Edo period. It descended from Emperor Seiwa by Minamoto no Yorimitsu from the Minamoto clan and used Toki in Mino Province as their hometown...
branch..
The family, with holdings in the Fuwa district of Mino Province
Mino Province
, one of the old provinces of Japan, encompassed part of modern-day Gifu Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Mino Province bordered Echizen, Hida, Ise, Mikawa, Ōmi, Owari, and Shinano Provinces....
, was founded by Iwate Shigeuji, who was the first to take the name Takenaka..
Perhaps most famed during the headship of the strategist Takenaka Shigeharu
Takenaka Shigeharu
, who was also known as Hanbei , was a Japanese samurai during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. He initially served the Saitō clan of Mino province, but later plotted an uprising and took over the Saitō clan's castle at Mount Inaba. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was so impressed by this tactic that he...
(Hanbei), the family became hatamoto
Hatamoto
A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...
under Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
in the Edo era. Takenaka Shigekata
Takenaka Shigekata
was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, later a figure in efforts to colonize Hokkaido. He is also known by his court title, Tango no kami ....
, the family head in the Bakumatsu era, was a famous field commander during the Boshin War
Boshin War
The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
.
A branch of the Takenaka family was until 1634 daimyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of the Takada and then Funai Domains (Bungo province
Bungo Province
was a province of Japan in eastern Kyūshū in the area of Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Buzen Province. Bungo bordered Buzen, Hyūga, Higo, Chikugo, and Chikuzen Provinces.-History:...
), before having its lands returned to the Shogunate.