Shiba Clan - History

History

The clan claimed descent from the Minamoto Yasuuji and the Seiwa-Genji.

Shiba Ieuji was the son of Shiba Yasuuji who established the clan name at the end of the 13th century.

The Shiba were based in Mutsu Province, which occupied the north of Honshū. The clan also inherited the governorship of Owari Province in present-day Aichi Prefecture.

Shiba Takatsune (1305–1367) expanded the role of the clan when he sided with Ashikaga Takauji (1305–1358) in the skirmishes against the Emperor Go-Daigo in 1335. With the establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate Takauji awarded the office of shugo governor of Echizen and Wakasa provinces to Takatsune.

Shiba Yoshimasa (1350–1410), son of Takatsune, held the office of kanrei from 1379 to 1397 during the Ashikaga shogunate. The office of kanrei was continued by his son Shiba Yoshishige (1371 – 1418) and grandson Shiba Yoshiatsu (1397 – 1434).

The clan held influence and territory in the provinces of Echizen Province and Owari Province to which they were governors during the Sengoku period.

The Shiba fell into factional dispute by the mid-1400s and were unable to make a transition to Sengoku-daimyo and lost Echizen to the Asakura in the 1470s. The feud within the Shiba clan and with other clans was one cause of the Ōnin War (1467–1477). The succession process was enacted by Asakura Toshikage, who took their power via usurpation. By the year 1550 the Shiba were represented by Shiba Yoshimune of Owari Province, a figurehead behind which the Iwakura branch of the Oda clan had ruled. His domain was Kiyosu Castle.

Shiba Yoshikane (d. 1572) was the son of Shiba Yoshimune. When Yoshimune was killed in the year 1554 by Oda Nobutomo the clan effectively came to an end.