Sagara

The Sagara were a samurai house of Fujiwara descent through the Kudo lineage, named after the Sagara manor in Totomi Province. In 1193 the head Yorikage moved to Taragi in Higo, and in 1205 his son Nagayori became steward of Hitoyoshi, beginning the family's long rule in southern Higo.

They fought for the Kamakura shogunate in the Jokyu War of 1221, which their plum blossom crest is said to commemorate. During the Nanboku-cho wars the clan split between Taragi and Hitoyoshi; Sadayori's Hitoyoshi branch prevailed, and in 1448 Nagatsugu united Kuma, Yatsushiro and Ashikita.

Haruhiro issued the Sagara house laws in 1555. Pressed by the Shimazu, the Sagara submitted in 1581, and after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Kyushu campaign their holdings were reduced to Hitoyoshi, which they ruled throughout the Edo period.