Buzen Nagano

The Buzen Nagano were local lords of Buzen in northern Kyushu, based at Nagano. Family records name their founder as Taira no Yasumori, who came as governor in 1157, built a castle at Nagano and took its name. Thirteen generations ruled for nearly four hundred and thirty years.

In the Sengoku period the clan was driven from its lands to Umagatake Castle in the wars between the Ōtomo and the Mōri. After the Ōtomo defeat at Mimi-gawa in 1578 it joined Akizuki Tanezane and Takahashi Mototane in asserting independence. It later submitted to Kuroda Yoshitaka, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi lodged at Umagatake in 1587.

With Buzen granted to the Kuroda, the Nagano scattered as retainers of Kobayakawa Takakage, Tachibana Muneshige and Katō Kiyomasa. Some branches ended in the Osaka campaigns; others survived as ascetics of Hiko-san or sake brewers in Kokura.