Kikuchi

The Kikuchi were a great warrior house of Kyushu, ruling Kikuchi district in Higo Province from the late eleventh century. Founder Noritaka, a Dazaifu official claiming Fujiwara descent, retired there in 1071 and built the castle town from which the family took its name. Its men helped repel the Toi raiders of 1019, and Takefusa won fame against the Mongol landings of 1274 and 1281.

In the Genpei War the sixth head Takanao backed Minamoto no Yoritomo and was executed after Dan-no-ura in 1185. In 1333 Taketoki attacked the Hōjō at Hakata on Emperor Go-Daigo's secret orders, but was betrayed by the Ōtomo and Shōni and beheaded; his sons Takeshige and Takemitsu fought on for the Southern Court, losing at Tatarahama in 1336 but crushing the Shōni at Ōboharu in 1359.

Hard pressed by shogunate general Imagawa Sadayo, the house declined; its Sengoku succession crises ended as the Ōtomo of Bungo absorbed Higo and Ōtomo Sōrin destroyed the last Kikuchi lord in 1554.