Toki clan

The Toki claim descent from Minamoto no Yorimitsu and the Seiwa Genji.[1]

As governors of Mino Province during the Muromachi period, Toki was the seat of the Toki clan.[2]

The Toki founded Zen Buddhist temples, including Shōhō-ji[3] and Sōfuku-ji in the city of Gifu.

Minamoto no Mitsunobu, a fourth generation descendant of Yorimitsu, was installed in Toki; and he took the name[1] Toki Yorisada, whose maternal grandfather was Hōjō Sadatoki, shikken of the Kamakura shogunate, fought against the Southern Dynasty with Ashikaga Takauji.

From the Muromachi period to the Sengoku period, the Toki clan ruled Mino Province. Toki Yasuyuki was shugo (governor) of Mino, Owari and Ise.[3] When shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had tried to take Owari from him, Yasuyuki refused and fought for two years (1389–1391).

Toki Shigeyori sided with the Yamana clan during the Ōnin War and, in 1487, invaded the southern part of Ōmi Province. The principal line of the Toki lost their possessions in 1542 during the civil wars that decimated Mino Province. Toki Yorinari (then governor of Mino) was defeated by Saitō Dōsan.[4]

Toki Sadamasa (1551–1597) earned distinction fighting in the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu's army. In 1590, he was named head of Sōma Domain (10,000 koku) in Shimōsa Province). Sadamasa's son Toki Sadayoshi (1579–1618) was moved in 1617 to Takatsuki Domain (30,000 koku) in Settsu Province. In 1619, his descendants were transferred to Soma; in 1627 to Kaminoyama Domain in Dewa Province; in 1712 to Tanaka Domain in Suruga Province; and finally, from 1742 to 1868 in Numata Domain (35,000 koku) in (Kōzuke Province).[1]

The first six clan heads lived in Kyoto and Settsu Tada before receiving the Mino province. The next seven clan leaders lived in Toki. Starting with Toki Yorisada, the clan heads were also the shugo of Mino Province.