Chōsokabe

The Chōsokabe were a local lord family of Nagaoka in Tosa Province on Shikoku, claiming descent from the immigrant Hata clan. During the Nanboku-chō wars their eleventh head Nobuyoshi fought under Hosokawa Akiuji against Southern Court forces, earning estates that laid the clan's foundations.

In 1508 the head Kanetsugu was killed by neighboring lords, and his orphaned son was raised by Ichijō Husaie before returning in 1518 as Chōsokabe Kunichika to restore the house. Kunichika's son Motochika defeated the Ichijō in 1575 to unify Tosa. By 1585 he had conquered most of Shikoku, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion forced him to surrender all but Tosa.

After Motochika's death in 1599, the next head Morichika joined the losing western army at Sekigahara in 1600 and was dispossessed. He was executed after the Siege of Osaka in 1615, ending the clan as a daimyō house.