Ishikawa

The Mutsu Ishikawa were a Seiwa Genji clan. Minamoto no Arimitsu took command after his father Yorito fell at Kuriyagawa, and in 1063 received Ishikawa district; he built Miashi castle and took the district's name. The clan married into the Oshu Fujiwara of Hiraizumi, though a branch backed the Fujiwara against Yoritomo in 1189 and lost its lord.

In 1333 an Ishikawa lord joined Nitta Yoshisada at Inamuragasaki; under Muromachi the clan navigated Oshu's courts and fought in the Yuki war of 1440. They entered the Date orbit in the Sengoku age: in 1563 Harumitsu adopted Date Harumune's son Akimitsu.

In 1590 Akimitsu dared not join Hideyoshi's Odawara campaign for fear of Date Masamune; the Oshu settlement attainted him, granting his lands to Gamo Ujisato, and retainer Mizoi Yoshinobu burned the castle and killed himself. The Ishikawa then served Date, were enfeoffed at Kakuda with twelve thousand koku in 1598 and headed the Date ichimon, reaching twenty-one thousand koku under the Tokugawa.