Kaneko

The Kaneko were a warrior house of Kanmu Heishi descent, an offshoot of the Murayama party of Musashi. Ienori, grandson of Taira no Yoritō, settled at Kaneko in Iruma and took its name. His son Ietada won distinction in the Hōgen and Heiji wars and became jitō of Nii in Iyo. His great-grandson Hiroie moved there in the thirteenth century and built Kaneko Castle.

During the Nanboku-chō wars the district was contested by the Kōno and Hosokawa, and the Kaneko eventually became Hosokawa vassals. In the Sengoku period Motoie became the district's effective ruler and allied with Chōsokabe Motochika.

In 1585, during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Shikoku, Motoie fell fighting Kobayakawa Takakage's Mōri army at Nonoichigahara. Kaneko Castle fell, ending some three hundred and thirty years of Kaneko rule in Nii.