Kobayakawa

The Kobayakawa took their name from Kobayakawa gō in Sagami Province, where local lords of that name appeared in the Nara period. The warrior house was founded in the Kamakura period by Kobayakawa Tohira, son of Dohi Sanehira. It gained the stewardship of Numata manor in Aki; sons of the third head Shigehira founded the Numata and Takehara branches.

Mōri Motonari placed his son Takakage into the Numata headship. With the Kikkawa, the house became one of the Two Rivers of the Mōri. Takakage served Toyotomi Hideyoshi as one of the Five Elders and received Chikuzen after the Kyūshū campaign of 1587.

Takakage died in 1597 and was succeeded by Hideaki, Hideyoshi's nephew. At Sekigahara in 1600 Hideaki's switch to the Tokugawa side helped decide the battle, but he died heirless in 1602 and the house was attainted.