Togashi

The Togashi were a military house of Kaga Province who claimed descent from Fujiwara no Toshihito. They held the hereditary post of Kaga-no-suke; Togashi Yasuie, the barrier keeper portrayed in the Noh play Ataka and the kabuki Kanjinchō, is also considered a member of the clan.

In the Kamakura period they served under the Rokuhara deputies in Kyoto. Togashi Takaie was named shugo of Kaga in 1335, though the post passed to the Shiba until Mitsunari recovered half the province in 1414 and his kinsman Mitsuharu reunited it.

The house's rule ended in 1488, when Togashi Masachika was overthrown at Takao Castle by the Kaga Ikkō-ikki, a league of warrior-monks and peasants. Later heads were kept as figureheads or died in battle: Harusada was killed by the ikki in 1570 for allying with Oda Nobunaga, and Yasutoshi fell in battle in 1574; his survivors served the conquerors of Kaga as minor retainers.