The was a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

clan which was one of the most powerful of the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

(1336-1467); at its peak, members of the family held the position of Constable (''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'') over eleven

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

. Originally from

Kōzuke Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered by Echigo, Shinano, Musashi and Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . Under the '' Engishiki'' classification system, Kōzuke was r ...

, and later centered in

Inaba Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Tottori Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Inaba bordered on Harima, Hōki, Mimasaka, and Tajima Provinces. The ancient capital, and the castle town, were at Tott ...

, the clan claimed descendance from the

Seiwa Genji The is a line of the Japanese Minamoto clan that is descended from Emperor Seiwa, which is the most successful and powerful line of the clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto warriors, including Minamoto no Yoshiie, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the fo ...

line, and from

Minamoto no Yoshishige was the progenitor of the Nitta branch family of the Minamoto samurai clan, who fought alongside the Minamoto in the Genpei War. He is also known as Nitta Tarō and Nitta Yoshishige. His father was Minamoto no Yoshikuni and his grandfather Mina ...

in particular. The clan took its name from the village of Yamana in present-day

Gunma Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 Square kilometre, km2 (2,456 Square mile, sq mi). Gunma P ...

. They were valued retainers under

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

, and counted among his ''

gokenin A was initially a vassal of the shogunate of the Kamakura and the Muromachi periods.Iwanami Kōjien, "Gokenin" In exchange for protection and the right to become '' jitō'' (manor's lord), a ''gokenin'' had in times of peace the duty to protect ...

''. The Yamana were among the chief clans in fighting for the establishment of the

Ashikaga shogunate The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669. The Ashikaga shogunate was establi ...

, and thus remained valued and powerful under the new government. They were Constables of five provinces in 1363, and eleven a short time later. However, members of the Yamana clan rebelled against the shogunate in the Meitoku Rebellion of 1391 and lost most of their land.

Yamana Sōzen was originally before becoming a monk. Due to his red complexion, he was sometimes known as ''Aka-nyūdō'', "the Red Monk". He was one of the ''daimyōs'' who fought against Hosokawa Katsumoto during the Ōnin War in Heian-kyō. Biography Yam ...

(1404 – 1473), likely the most famous member of the clan, would regain these lands in 1441. Through all of this the clan managed to somehow retain a great degree of reputation and power within the shogunate government; along with the Hosokawa and

Hatakeyama clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Originally a branch of the Taira clan and descended from Taira no Takamochi, they fell victim to political intrigue in 1205, when Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, first, and his father Shigetada later were killed in battle ...

s, they served as agents of the shogunate in resolving various disputes. Sōzen would then become embroiled in a conflict with

Hosokawa Katsumoto was one of the Kanrei, the Deputies to the Shōgun, during Japan's Muromachi period. He is famous for his involvement in the creation of Ryōan-ji, a temple famous for its rock garden, and for his involvement in the Ōnin War, which sparked the 1 ...

over naming the shōgun's successor; this conflict grew into the

Ōnin War The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. '' Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era during which the war started; the war ended during the Bun ...

, which destroyed much of Kyoto, and led to the fall of the shogunate and beginning of the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

. In the end this cost the Yamana much of their former influence and land. By the end of the 16th century, the Yamana had been reduced to holding the better part of

. That area would be retained by the Yamana even until the end of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

Notable clan members

* Yamana Yoshinori – founder of the Yamana clan. *

Yamana Tokiuji Yamana may refer to: * Yamana, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia * Yamana clan, a Japanese clan * Yamana Gold, a Canadian-based gold mining company operating in South and Central America * Yahgan people in Chile and Argentina * Yahgan language Yahgan o ...

(late 14th century) – fought in the Nanboku-chō Wars, first for the shogunate, and then against it. * Yamana Tsunehisa (early 15th century) – ''shugo'' of Bingo province *

(1404–1473) – played a crucial role in sparking the outbreak of the Ōnin War. *

Yamana Koretoyo Yamana may refer to: * Yamana, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia * Yamana clan, a Japanese clan * Yamana Gold, a Canadian-based gold mining company operating in South and Central America * Yahgan people in Chile and Argentina * Yahgan language Yahgan or ...

– Sōzen's son, fought against his father in the Ōnin War *

Yamana Suketoyo was a Japanese samurai and commander of the Sengoku period. He was the last head of the Tajima Yamana clan. Yamana clan was the Shugo of the Tajima. He owned Ikuno Silver Mine and started full-scale development. Yamana clan's home castle ''K ...

Yamana Toyokuni was a Japanese samurai and commander of the Sengoku period. He was the head of the '' Inaba Yamana clan'' and Shugo of the Inaba. In 1574, Toyokuni allied with Amago Katsuhisa for attempt an invasion to captured Tajima and Inaba provinces ...

(1548–1626) – defeated by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

in 1580.

Popular culture

Yamana is a playable nation in ''

Europa Universalis IV ''Europa Universalis IV'' is a 2013 grand strategy video game in the '' Europa Universalis'' series, developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to '' Europa Universalis III'' (2007). The game was re ...

''. In Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film ''

The Hidden Fortress is a 1958 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' adventure film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It tells the story of two peasants who agree to escort a man and a woman across enemy lines in return for gold without knowing that he is a general and the woman is a pr ...

'', the Yamana clan serve as the antagonists to the

Akizuki clan The Akizuki clan (秋月氏, ''Akizuki-shi'') is a Japanese noble family. In the Sengoku period, the Akizuki clan was led by a samurai lord (大名 ''daimyō'') in the Akizuki domain on the island of Kyūshū. From the Meiji period to the end of ...

. ''The Hidden Fortress'' anachronistically placed the Yamana clan adjacent to the Akizuki clan. However, Akizuki was based in Kyushu, while Yamana was in central

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island se ...

, north of Edo.

Notes

References

*Frederic, Louis (2002). ''Japan Encyclopedia''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. *Sansom, George (1961). ''A History of Japan: 1334–1615''. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. *Turnbull, Stephen (1998). ''The Samurai Sourcebook''. London: Cassell & Co. Japanese clans Nitta clan {{Japan-clan-stub

Notable clan members

Popular culture

See also

Notes

References