Naka

Naka lies in the coastal plain of Hyūga, where Sadowara Castle was a stronghold of the Itō family. Their conflict with the Shimazu culminated in a disastrous defeat at Kizakibaru in 1572, and the Itō were driven from Hyūga five years later. The Shimazu took Sadowara, which became the seat of a branch domain. Its lords governed parts of Naka and neighbouring Koyu under the Tokugawa settlement.