Kita

Kita district lay in Iyo, around the country ruled from Ōzu Castle beside the Hiji River. The Utsunomiya family held the castle in the fourteenth century and remained a major local presence until the conflicts of the sixteenth century. After Hideyoshi's conquest of Shikoku in 1585, a succession of lords governed the castle and its surrounding territories.

In 1587 Toda Katsutaka received lands in Uwa and Kita. Tōdō Takatora and Wakizaka Yasuharu subsequently contributed to the development of Ōzu as an early modern castle centre. In 1617 Katō Sadayasu arrived from Yonago with an assessed domain of sixty thousand koku, including lands in Kita and other districts. The castle used the river as part of its defences, with inner and outer moats separating its enclosures and samurai residences. Through the Edo period, this fortified administrative centre anchored the Katō family's authority over its share of the district.