Tsugaru clan

Tsugaru
Hirosaki Castle, Edo-era seat of government for the Tsugaru clan
Home province	Kai Province
Parent house	Minamoto clan, Nanbu clan
Titles	Various
Founder	Minamoto no Mitsuyuki
Final ruler	Tsugaru Tsuguakira
Current head	Yoshitaka Tsugaru
Founding year	13th century
Dissolution	still extant
Ruled until	1873 (Abolition of the han system)
Cadet branches	See below

The Tsugaru clan (, Tsugaru-shi^?) was a Japanese samurai clan originating in northern Japan, specifically Mutsu Province (the northeast coast of Honshū). A branch of the local Nanbu clan, the Tsugaru rose to power during the Azuchi–Momoyama period. It was on the winning side of the Battle of Sekigahara, and entered the Edo period as a family of lords (daimyo) ruling the Hirosaki Domain. A second branch of the family was later established, which ruled the Kuroishi Domain. The Tsugaru survived as a daimyo family until the Meiji Restoration, when Tsugaru Tsuguakira of Hirosaki and Tsugaru Tsugumichi of Kuroishi were relieved of office. Their extended family then became part of the new nobility in the Meiji era.

The Tsugaru clan initially claimed descent from the Kawachi Genji branch of the Minamoto clan; in later years, this claim of origin would change to the Konoe family, which was a branch of the Fujiwara clan. It was first known as the Ōura clan (大浦氏, Ōura-shi^?), a branch family of the Nanbu clan, which ruled sections of northern Mutsu Province. Relations between the two families soured after the Ōura declared their independence from the Nanbu in 1571, during the headship of Ōura Tamenobu. He had been vice-district magistrate (郡代補佐, gundai hosa^?) under the Nanbu clan's local magistrate Ishikawa Takanobu; however, he attacked and killed Ishikawa and began taking the Nanbu clan's castles. Tamenobu also attacked Kitabatake Akimura (another local power figure) and took his castle at Namioka. The Ōura clan's fight against the Nanbu clan, under Nanbu Nobunao, would continue in the ensuing years. In 1590, Tamenobu pledged fealty to Toyotomi Hideyoshi; Hideyoshi confirmed Tamenobu in his holdings. As the Ōura fief had been in the Tsugaru region on the northern tip of Honshū, the family then changed its name to Tsugaru.