Yuasa

The Yuasa were a great warrior clan of Kii Province, powerful from the late Heian age through the Nanboku-chō wars. They claimed Fujiwara descent, traditionally from Fujiwara no Hidesato, and held gokenin status under the Kamakura shogunate. The first to bear the place-name as a surname was Yuasa Muneshige, who in the Heiji Disturbance of 1160 aided Taira no Kiyomori returning from a pilgrimage to the Kumano shrines.

Muneshige built the Yuasa-tō, a loose confederation of kinsmen and in-law houses. His maternal grandson, the monk Myōe, founded Kōzan-ji with clan backing and revived the Kegon school.

In the Genkō War of 1331-1333 Yuasa Munefuji fought Kusunoki Masashige at Shimo-Akasaka Castle before submitting to him. During the Nanboku-chō conflict the Yuasa-tō split between the two courts and rapidly declined, the confederation breaking up in the late fourteenth century.