Rokkaku

The Rokkaku were a samurai clan of southern Ōmi Province, descended from the Sasaki clan of the Uda Genji line. In the thirteenth century Sasaki Yasutsuna took the name Rokkaku from his residence near the Rokkaku-dō hall in Kyoto, and his line kept the post of shugo of Ōmi.

When the Kamakura shogunate fell in 1333 clan head Rokkaku Tokinobu backed the Rokuhara deputies before surrendering. The family later joined Ashikaga Takauji and the Northern Court, ruling Ōmi from Kannonji Castle under the Muromachi shogunate.

The Ōnin War of 1467 to 1477 began its decline, though Rokkaku Sadayori and Yoshikata strengthened domain rule, opened a free market in 1549 and issued the house code Rokkaku-shi shikimoku in 1567. Oda Nobunaga defeated the clan in 1568 and Shibata Katsuie crushed its remaining forces in 1570; its descendants served the Tokugawa as kōke.