Shimazu clan

Shimazu clan 島津氏
The Shimazu clan mon
Home province	Satsuma Ōsumi Hyūga
Parent house	Seiwa Genji (Minamoto clan)
Founder	Shimazu Tadahisa
Final ruler	Shimazu Tadashige
Current head	Shimazu Nobuhisa
Founding year	12th century
Dissolution	still extant
Ruled until	1947, Constitution of Japan renders titles obsolete

The Shimazu clan (島津氏, Shimazu-shi^?) were the daimyō of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan.

The Shimazu were identified as one of the tozama or outsider daimyō families in contrast with the fudai or insider clans which were hereditary vassals or allies of the Tokugawa clan.

The Shimazu were descendants of the Seiwa Genji branch of the Minamoto. The Shimazu would become one of the families of Edo period daimyō to have held their territory continuously since the Kamakura period, and would also become, at their peak, the wealthiest and most powerful tozama family with an income in excess of 700,000 koku.

The founder, Shimazu Tadahisa (d. 1227), was a son of Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199) with the sister of Hiki Yoshikazu. Tadahisa's wife was a daughter of Koremune Hironobu, descendant of the Hata clan, whose name Tadahisa took at first. He received the domain of Shioda in Shinano Province in 1186 and was then named shugo of Satsuma Province. He sent Honda Sadachika to take possession of the province in his name and accompanied Yoritomo in his expedition to Mutsu in 1189. He went to Satsuma in 1196, subdued Hyūga and Ōsumi provinces, and built a castle in the domain of Shimazu (Hyuga) which name he also adopted.