Sōma

The Sōma were a warrior family who held the northern Hamadōri coast of Mutsu. Sōma Morotsune received lands there after joining Minamoto no Yoritomo's campaign against the northern Fujiwara in 1189; his descendants supported the Northern Court in the fourteenth century.

Pressed by Date Masamune, Sōma Yoshitane submitted to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 the family briefly lost its lands, but Yoshitane's son Toshitane became lord of Sōma Nakamura in 1602; the clan rebuilt Nakamura Castle in 1611.