Nabeshima clan

Nabeshima clan 鍋島氏
Home province	Hizen
Parent house	Shōni clan
Titles	Various
Founder	Nabeshima Shigenao (Shōni Shigenao)
Founding year	Late 15th century

Nabeshima clan (鍋島氏, Nabeshima-shi^?) is a Japanese samurai kin group.

The clan controlled Saga Domain from the late Sengoku period through the Edo period.

The Nabeshima clan was a cadet branch of the Shōni clan and was descended from the Fujiwara clan. In the late 12th century, Fujiwara no Sukeyori, a descendant of Fujiwara no Hidesato in the 9th generation, received the title of Dazai Shōni (equivalent to that of vice-governor of the military government of Kyūshū) from Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo, and the title became the family name.

The clan played an important role in the region as early as the Muromachi period, when it helped suppress opposition to the Ashikaga shogunate's control of Kyūshū. It did not take the name Nabeshima, however, until the late 15th century, when Shōni Shigenao established himself at Nabeshima in Hizen province (today part of Saga City, Saga prefecture). Later, in the Sengoku period (1467-1603), the Nabeshima were one of a number of clans which clashed over the island. The Nabeshima sided with the Ryūzōji clan against the Ōtomo clan, though this ultimately ended in failure and the death of Ryūzōji Takanobu at the 1584 battle of Okita Nawate. Several years later, however, the Nabeshima recovered power and prominence by aiding Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his 1587 invasion of Kyūshū; Nabeshima Naoshige was granted the region of Saga as his fief, as a reward for his efforts. Naoshige also contributed to Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea in the 1590s.

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