Tachibana clan (samurai)
The Tachibana family was a Japanese noble family, of particular importance and power as kuge (court nobles), and later as a samurai clan based in Kyūshū. They were among the top kuge families in the Heian period (794-1185), along with the Fujiwara, Taira, and Minamoto; later, in the Sengoku period (1467-1603), the family were daimyō (feudal lords) of Tachibana castle in Chikuzen province. The family claimed descent from Agata no Inukai no Michiyo, wife of Prince Minu, who was bestowed the name Tachibana in 708, in return for services rendered to the court. The lineage, however, may go back even further, to Tajima Mori, a Korean who, according to legend, introduced oranges, called tachibana in Japanese, to Japan in the first century CE[1].
Kuge
Quite powerful in the Nara and Heian periods, members of the Tachibana family often held high court posts within the Dajō-kan (Ministry of State), most frequently Sadaijin (Minister of the Left). However, as the Fujiwara, and later the Taira and then the Minamoto each respectively gained power over the course of the period, the Tachibana were eclipsed.
Samurai
For a time, the Tachibana served as loyal retainers under the Ōtomo clan, regularly battling the Shimazu, rivals to the Ōtomo. The first significant head of the Tachibana clan was Tachibana Dosetsu. Following Dosetsu's death, his daughter Tachibana Ginchiyo succeeded him as the head of the Tachibana . She married Tachibana Muneshige five years later, and passed the clan leadership on to him.
Tachibana Muneshige, a vassal of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who fought for him in the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598), would be the first Tachibana daimyō of the Edo period. Granted the han (fief) of Yanagawa (Chikugo province, 120,000 koku) by Hideyoshi, he fought against the Tokugawa during the decisive Sekigahara Campaign, and was dispossessed of his holdings when the Tokugawa shogunate was established. He proved his loyalty, however, to the shogunate in 1611, and was granted a fief in Mutsu province, far from Kyūshū. The family would hold this fief, the Tanakura Domain, worth 20,000 koku, from then on.
Significant members of the Tachibana family
- Tachibana Muneshige (1567-1642)
References
- ^ Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
