Tamura clan

Tamura
Family name
Modern-day map of Iwate Prefecture; the city of Ichinoseki, which contains the Tamura clan's former territory, is highlighted in red.
Pronunciation	Tamura
Region of origin	Japanese

The Tamura clan (田村氏, Tamura-shi^?) was a Japanese samurai clan which rose to prominence in the Sengoku period. It was part of the fighting in Mutsu Province (northern Honshū). The Tamura became part of the Date clan through intermarriage, and despite the family's abolishment in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, it was revived in the Edo period as an independent family of daimyo closely connected to the Date of Sendai.

Origins

The Tamura clan claimed descent from Sakanoue no Tamuramaro.^[1] According to the family record, Tamuramaro's great-great-grandson was the first to assume the Tamura surname.^[1] Their holdings were in northern Japan, in southern Mutsu Province.

Sengoku period

In 1504, the Tamura clan moved from Moriyama to Miharu Castle. As a defense network, the clan set up its retainers in forty-eight subsidiary castles and outposts in the area.

The Tamura line was abolished by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590, in punishment for Date Masamune's lateness to the Siege of Odawara.^[1]

Edo period

In the Edo period, the Tamura clan ruled the Ichinoseki Domain, a small domain in the middle of the Sendai domain's northern half.^[2] It was founded by Tamura Takeaki, who was a great-grandson of Date Masamune. Takeaki's father Tamura Muneyoshi was born into the Date clan but allowed to revive the Tamura name.^[1]

Ichinoseki domain forces took part in the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei's attack on the Akita Domain in the late summer of 1868.^[3]

In the Meiji era, the former Tamura lord of Ichinoseki, Tamura Takaaki, was created viscount in the new nobility system.^[4]

Family Heads

Main line (Ichinoseki)

As lord of Iwanuma Tamura Muneyoshi (1637-1678) Tamura Takeaki (1656-1708) As lord of Ichinoseki Tamura Takeaki (1656-1708)

Tamura Nobuaki (1670-1727) Tamura Muneaki (1707-1755) Tamura Murataka (1737-1782) Tamura Murasuke (1763-1808) Tamura Muneaki (1784-1827)

Tamura Kuniaki (1817-1840) Tamura Kuniyuki (1820-1857) Tamura Yukiaki (1850-1867) Tamura Kuniyoshi (1852-1887) Tamura Takaaki (2nd) (1858-1922) Admiral Tamura Hiroaki

Notable retainers

Tamura Kiyomichi Tamura Kiyoyasu Tamura Akinaga Tamura Shigeaki Tamura Shigetoki Hashimoto Akinori

Tsuneha Mitsusada Tsuneha Kiyoshige Tsuneha Sadayuki Ogoshi Akimitsu Niida Nobumasa Nakatsugawa Chikamune Gunji Toshiyoshi

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} (Japanese) Tamura-shi on Harimaya.com (13 Aug. 2008).
2. ^ Onodera, Eikō (2005). Boshin Nanboku sensō to Tōhoku seiken (Sendai: Kita no Mori), p. 134.
3. ^ Onodera, p. 194.
4. ^ Koyasu Nobushige (1880), Buke kazoku meiyoden vol. 1 (Tokyo: Koyasu Nobushige), p. 21. (Accessed from National Diet Library, 13 August 2008)

References

• Koyasu Nobushige (1880). Buke kazoku meiyoden 武家家族名誉伝 Volume 1. Tokyo: Koyasu Nobushige. (Accessed from National Diet Library, 13 August 2008)
• Onodera, Eikō (2005). Boshin Nanboku sensō to Tōhoku seiken. Sendai: Kita no Mori.
• (Japanese) Tamura-shi on Harimaya.com (accessed 13 August 2008).