Asakura

The Asakura were a samurai family associated with Echizen Province, where they later ruled from Ichijōdani Castle. In 1471 they displaced the Shiba as military governors in part of Echizen.

Asakura Yoshikage inherited Ichijōdani in 1548 and sheltered people fleeing warfare around Kyoto. Allied with the Azai, he lost to Oda Nobunaga at Anegawa in 1570. Nobunaga took Ichijōdani in 1573; betrayed, Yoshikage was forced to kill himself. His nephew Nobumasa received Kakegawa in 1625, but lost it and was exiled in 1632.