Hatakeyama clan

The Hatakeyama clan (畠山氏) was a Japanese samurai clan. Originally a branch of the Taira clan and descended from Taira no Takamochi, they fell victim of political intrigue in 1205, when Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, first, and his father Shigetada later were killed in battle by Hōjō forces in Kamakura. After 1205 the Hatakeyama came to be descendants of the Ashikaga clan, who were in turn descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and the Seiwa Genji branch of the Minamoto clan.

History
The first family being extinct in 1205, Ashikaga Yoshizumi, son of Ashikaga Yoshizane, was chosen by Hōjō Tokimasa to revive the name of Hatakeyama. He married Tokimasa's daughter, the widow of Hatakeyama Shigeyasu (the last Hatakeyama of the first branch), and inherited the domains of the Hatakeyama (1205). Thus the new family descended from the Minamoto (Seiwa Genji).

The clan was an ally of the Ashikaga shogunate against the (Imperial) Southern Court during the wars of the Nanboku-chō period, and was rewarded by the shogunate with the hereditary position of shugo (Governor) of the provinces of Yamashiro, Kii, Kawachi, Etchū, and Noto, at the end of the 14th century. During the 15th century, the members of the Hatakeyama clan held, although not exclusively, the title of kanrei (Shogun's Deputy), holding great influence over the Imperial Court at Kyoto. Around 1450, there was a split in the clan, and the internal conflict weakened the clan as a whole, causing it to lose the position of kanrei to the Hosokawa clan. This split began with a feud between Hatakeyama Masanaga and Hatakeyama Yoshinari over succession to the position; it quickly grew, as each side gained allies, and was one of the sparks that ignited the Ōnin War.

Nevertheless, the Hatakeyama maintained enough strength and unity to become some of Oda Nobunaga's chief adversaries in Kyoto, a hundred years later.

Selected clan members of note

 * Hatakeyama Naomune
 * Hatakeyama Shigetada (1165–1205)
 * Hatakeyama Motokuni – became Kanrei in 1398
 * Hatakeyama Yoshinari – rival with Masanaga for Kanrei in 1467
 * Hatakeyama Masanaga – rival with Yoshinori for Kanrei in 1467
 * Hatakeyama Takamasa (? – 1576)
 * Hatakeyama Yoshitsugu (1552–1585)