Ogasawara

The Ogasawara were a Seiwa Genji family who traced their line to Takeda Yoshikiyo; his great-grandson Nagakiyo was the first to take the Ogasawara name, and his descendants built up holdings across most of Shinano Province. The clan served as shugo governors of Shinano through the Kamakura and Muromachi periods.

Ogasawara Sadamune joined Nitta Yoshisada in overthrowing the Hōjō at Kamakura in the fourteenth century and later became a general under Ashikaga Takauji. The family founded the Ogasawara-ryū, whose schools of archery, horsemanship and ceremony helped codify warrior etiquette.

After the Sengoku upheavals Ogasawara Hidemasa entered Tokugawa Ieyasu's service in 1590 and recovered the clan seat at Fukashi Castle, later called Matsumoto. Under the Tokugawa the Ogasawara ranked as fudai daimyō, with the senior branch ruling Kokura Domain in Buzen from 1632.