The was one of several major families descended 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 members, including Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Minamoto no Yoritomo, ...

, and numbered among the chief enemies of the

Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of '' shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this perio ...

regents, and later the Ashikaga shogunate. The common ancestor of the Nitta,

Minamoto no Yoshishige was the progenitor of the cadet 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 grandfat ...

(1135–1202), was the elder brother of

Minamoto no Yoshiyasu Minamoto no Yoshiyasu (源義康, 1139 – 1157), also known as Ashikaga Yoshiyasu (足利義康), was a Japanese samurai of the late Heian period. He is known for his participation in the Hōgen rebellion in 1156. He is best known as the founde ...

, the common ancestor of the

Ashikaga clan The was a Japanese samurai Japanese clans, clan and dynasty which established the Ashikaga shogunate and ruled History of Japan, Japan from roughly 1333 to 1573. The Ashikaga were descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, deriving originall ...

. Yoshishige was a landowner in the Nitta District of

Kōzuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered Echigo Province, Echigo, Shinano Province, Shinano, Musashi Province, Musashi and Shimotsuke Province, Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abb ...

in present-day

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked 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 . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

. Yoshishige supported

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

(1147–1199) in the

Battle of Ishibashiyama The was the first in which Minamoto no Yoritomo, who became ''shōgun'' less than a decade later, was commander of the Minamoto forces. The battle was fought on September 14, 1180, in the southwest of present-day Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, ...

of 1180 against the

Taira clan The was one of the four most important Japanese clans, clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period, Heian period of History of Japan, Japanese history – the others being the Minamoto clan, Minamoto, the Fujiwara clan, Fuji ...

. The Nitta clan rose to importance in the early 13th century; they controlled Kozuke Province, and had little influence in

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

, the capital of the

Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yori ...

, because their ancestor,

had not joined his fellow clansmen in the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira clan, Taira and Minamoto clan, Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yori ...

a century earlier. In the 1330s,

Nitta Yoshisada also known as Minamoto no Yoshisada was a samurai lord of the Nanboku-chō period Japan. He was the head of the Nitta clan in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-chō period. He famo ...

led the clan and a number of other

Minamoto was a noble surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility since 814."...the Minamoto (1192-1333)". ''Warrior Rule in Jap ...

vassals against the Hōjō clan

regents In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

. They succeeded, in June 1333, in destroying the Bakufu's buildings in

. The Nitta clan played an important role once again, allying with the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date fam ...

and the Southern Courts, during the Nanboku-cho wars of the late 14th century.

The successive present head of a household

# Nitta Yoshishige #

Nitta Yoshikane Nitta may refer to: Places * Nitta, Sweden, a locality in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County of Sweden * Nitta, Gunma; a.k.a. Nitta, Nitta, Gunma, Japan. A town in the district of Nitta of the prefecture of Gunma in Japan * Nitta D ...

Nitta Yoshihusa Nitta may refer to: Places * Nitta, Sweden, a locality in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County of Sweden * Nitta, Gunma; a.k.a. Nitta, Nitta, Gunma, Japan. A town in the district of Nitta of the prefecture of Gunma in Japan * Nitta ...

Nitta Masayoshi Nitta may refer to: Places * Nitta, Sweden, a locality in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County of Sweden * Nitta, Gunma; a.k.a. Nitta, Nitta, Gunma, Japan. A town in the district of Nitta of the prefecture of Gunma in Japan * Nitta ...

# Nitta Masauji # Nitta Motouji #

Nitta Tomouji Nitta may refer to: Places * Nitta, Sweden, a locality in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County of Sweden * Nitta, Gunma; a.k.a. Nitta, Nitta, Gunma, Japan. A town in the district of Nitta of the prefecture of Gunma in Japan * Nitta Di ...

References

Minamoto clan {{Japan-hist-stub

The successive present head of a household

See also

References