Asakura clan

The is a Japanese samurai kin group.

History

The clan claims descent from Prince Kusakabe (662–689), who was the son of Emperor Tenmu (631–686). The family was a line of daimyō (feudal lords) who, along with the Azai clan, opposed Oda Nobunaga in the late 16th century. Nobunaga defeated the Asakura at the Battle of Anegawa in 1570; the family's home castle of Ichijōdani was taken in 1573. Asakura Nobumasa (1583–1637), nephew of Asakura Yoshikage, was allied with Toyotomi Hideyoshi and with Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1625, he was granted the Kakegawa Domain (25,000 koku) in Tōtōmi Province. In 1632, he was implicated in a plot, causing him to be dispossessed and banished to Koriyama, where he died.

Clan Heads

• Asakura Toshikage (1428–1481)
• Asakura Ujikage (1449–1486)
• Asakura Sadakage (1473–1512)
• Asakura Takakage (1493–1546)
• Asakura Yoshikage (1533–1573)

Retainer

• Asakura Norikage (1477–1555)
• Asakura Kageaki (1529–1574)
• Asakura Kagetake (1536–1575)
• Asakura Kagetsura (d.1570)
• Asakura Nobumasa (1583–1637)
• Maeba Yoshitsugu (1524–1574)

References

Further reading

• Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.
• Turnbull, Stephen (2002). 'War in Japan: 1467-1615'. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.