Hienuki

The Hienuki were a warrior clan of northern Japan who held Hienuki district in Mutsu province on the Kitakami river. Their founder was said to have served Minamoto no Yoritomo and received the district after the Oshu campaign of 1189, though the clan first appears in documents in the 1330s.

In the Nanboku-cho wars it backed the Southern Court, then the Shiba, the Northern Court's tandai of Oshu, and suffered Nanbu Masanaga's attacks in 1340 and 1341. In the Waga disturbance of 1435 and 1436 its castles fell and it accepted Nanbu overlordship.

In 1555 the lord Terutoki visited Kyoto, presented gold to Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru and received the character ‘teru’ for his name. The last lord Hirotada lost his lands after missing Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Odawara campaign of 1590; he joined the Waga-Hienuki rising of 1591, fled after its defeat and died, while his descendants later served the Date of Sendai.