Ashina

The Ashina were a Taira-descended warrior house sprung from the Miura clan of Sagami, taking their name from Ashina in Miura district, where their castle stood. The Aizu line began when Miura Yoshiaki's seventh son Sawara Yoshitsura received Aizu for his part in the Ōshū campaign of 1189; his grandson Mitsumori first took the name Ashina.

The clan peaked under Ashina Moriuji, but his death in 1580 opened a succession crisis: his adopted heir Moritaka was murdered in 1584, the infant Kameōmaru died two years later, and the house adopted Ashina Yoshihiro, son of the Satake lord Yoshishige.

In 1589 Date Masamune crushed Yoshihiro at the Battle of Suriagehara and overran Aizu. Yoshihiro fled to Hitachi and became a Satake retainer; his line ended with the child Sentsurumaru, while the retainer branch Hariu revived the Ashina surname in 1676.