Itō

The Itō were a branch of the Kudō clan of the Southern House of the Fujiwara, named for the Itō Manor in Izu Province. Kudō Suketsune's men killed Kawazu Sukeyasu in 1176, and Suketsune was himself cut down by Sukeyasu's sons, the Soga brothers, in 1193.

In 1335 Itō Sukemochi moved to Hyūga at Ashikaga Takauji's command, founding the Hyūga Itō. They fought for the Northern Court and spent centuries contesting the province with the Shimazu. The eleventh head Yoshisuke held forty-eight castles around Sadowara, but defeat by Shimazu Yoshihiro at Kizaki in 1572 and an invasion in 1577 drove the clan out.

His son Suketaka guided Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Kyūshū campaign of 1587 and recovered the family lands, which became the 50,000-koku Obi Domain. The Itō ruled Obi, confirmed by the Tokugawa after Sekigahara, through the Edo period.