Satake's story began here in Hitachiota ~ July 2026 ~

The Kanto Plain is vast, but as you reach northern Ibaraki Prefecture, the mountains of the Abukuma Mountains come into view. The Satake clan, though of Minamoto lineage, were reluctant to submit to Yoritomo during the Genpei War, and resisted to the end, holed up on Mount Nishikanasa. Although their castle eventually fell due to betrayal by their allies, they later distinguished themselves in the Oshu War and were incorporated into the Kamakura Shogunate system. Currently, the Nishikanasa Shrine stands on the site of the castle, and although the mountain is just over 400 meters high, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the mountains of northern Hitachi from the main shrine at the top of the mountain, reached by climbing a steep slope.

This castle was maintained for a long time by the Satake clan as a fortified outpost. It served as a place to take refuge when their main castle, Ota Castle, was surrounded by a superior enemy.

The Satake clan's family crest features a fan with a moon on it, but during the Oshu War, they raised the same white flag (indicating the Minamoto clan) as Yoritomo, which was confusing. It is said that Yoritomo instructed them to raise a fan above the white flag, and that's how it all began. In May, I toured Akita City and visited historical sites of the Satake clan from the Edo period, but I felt that this was only a partial understanding of the Satake clan, so I visited their birthplace this time. After the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), the Satake clan was ordered by Tokugawa Ieyasu to relocate to Akita, but they ruled Hitachi for 470 years, which is much longer than the 270 years they ruled during the Edo period.

During the Later Three Years' War, Yoshimitsu (Yoriyoshi's third son), who served under Minamoto no Yoshiie (Yoriyoshi's eldest son), had sons who became the ancestors of the Satake (Hitachi Minamoto clan) and the Takeda (Kai Minamoto clan), respectively. Both the Satake and Takeda adopted place names in Hitachi and settled there for a time, but Yoshikiyo was exiled to Kai by the imperial court due to troubles with neighboring local lords and acts of violence in the provincial government's territory, thus leaving Hitachi. Yoshinari's maternal grandfather was Taira no Kiyomoto (Hitachi Taira clan), and he inherited territories in northern Hitachi, with his descendants establishing their own powers in the area. In Japan, regardless of whether one is a court noble or a samurai, inheritance by female relatives has been common since ancient times. The Taira clan was an indigenous local power that had been rooted in the Kanto region for more than 200 years, and the Kanto Plain was also home to descendants of Fujiwara no Hidesato, who contributed to the suppression of Taira no Masakado, but Yoshinari drove a wedge into Hitachi, where the Minamoto clan had been slow to act.

The marriages between the Minamoto and Taira clans began when Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, who distinguished himself in the Former Nine Years' War, married the daughter of Taira no Naokata, the head of the Taira clan. The three brothers Yoshiie, Yoshitsuna, and Yoshimitsu, and their descendants, can be seen as the result of these marriage joint ventures between the Minamoto and Taira clans. At this time, Yoriyoshi was given the land and residence of Kamakura by Naokata, and thereafter Kamakura became a sacred place for the samurai government.

Initially, the Satake clan was based at Masaka Castle in Satake-go, but Yoshinari's grandson, Takayoshi, seized Ota Castle, which then became the main castle of the Satake clan until they moved to Mito after Hideyoshi's pacification of Oshu. Masaka Castle now only has a small gate and fence, and is mostly farmland (private property), so it is not in a state where it can be easily visited.

Nearby is Satake-ji Temple, the 22nd temple on the Bando Thirty-Three Kannon Pilgrimage. Its founding dates back to the 10th century, and the Satake clan protected it as a place of prayer for generations. I visited this temple 13 years ago when I was on a pilgrimage to the Kannon temples, and the lanterns that had collapsed in the earthquake at that time have now been beautifully restored. What struck me as a little odd was the presence of signs prohibiting photography on the temple grounds, placed all over the place. It seems that even the main hall, which is designated as an Important Cultural Property and is located outdoors, cannot be photographed, and I wonder what the reasoning behind this decision was. At that time, the small Jizo statues lined up in front of the hall wore red hoods, but they have now been removed.

The Satake family's ancestral temple is Shōshuji Temple, located in the northern part of Hitachiōta City. After the war, 13 stupas and gravestones that were scattered around the temple grounds were gathered and arranged, but it seems that it is unknown who they belong to. Many of the stupas were made during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods and are presumed to belong to the Satake family. After the Battle of Sekigahara, Satake Yoshinobu went directly to Akita without stopping in Hitachi, and during the Edo period, the area became the territory of the Mito Tokugawa family, one of the three main branches of the Tokugawa clan, so it may have been difficult for the Satake to be directly involved. In the first half of the Edo period, transfers of domains were commonplace, and along with them, there were cases where ancestral temples were moved or continued to be protected as ancestral temples, but after the transfer of domain, this temple left the hands of the Satake clan and the shogunate handed over the temple's land.

There is also the grave of Sassa Munekiyo, famous as "Sukesan" in the Mito Komon series. Lord Mito Mitsukuni spent the last ten years of his life in this area, where he built a retirement residence (Nishiyama-so) and worked on compiling the Dai Nihon Shi (Great History of Japan). It seems that Kakusan also served Lord Mitsukuni in this area, where he later served as the director of the Shokokan (historical research institute). The grave is covered with weeds and no flowers are placed in it, so perhaps there are no descendants. He was a member of the Sassa family who resisted Toyotomi Hideyoshi along with Shibata Katsuie, and after submitting to him, became the lord of Higo Province, but was held responsible for a local uprising and committed seppuku (ritual suicide).

I enjoy exploring medieval mountain castles, and Kume Castle, belonging to the Satake Kita family, is a formidable fortress built with a magnificent layout. Its strategic design, linking deep valleys with several mountaintops, was highly impressive. Even though it belonged to a branch family, it certainly left a strong impression as a Satake castle.

I parked my car in the parking lot at the foot of the mountain and was walking towards the main keep via Kashima Shrine halfway up when an elderly man who was maintaining the path with a brush cutter called out to me, and we chatted for a while. He told me that he had been maintaining the hiking trails of the castle for a long time and had even put up clear signs indicating the route. He suggested that I descend into the V-shaped valley before reaching the main keep and visit the other enclosures, but I was quite out of breath and sweating profusely, and I was also eager to see the main keep as soon as possible, so I politely declined. Many mountain castles are difficult to walk through, so I really admire these volunteers.

After the Satake Kita family was transferred to Akita, they received territory in Kakunodate, a small castle town that still preserves its beautiful streetscape. Kakunodate is famous for its weeping cherry trees, which were brought from Kyoto, and the saplings donated by Semboku City nine years ago seemed to be growing well.

Governor Satake of Akita Prefecture, who hails from the Kita family, served four terms for 16 years before retiring last year.

The main castle, Ota Castle, is based on a long, narrow hilly terrain sandwiched between the Genji River and Sato River, tributaries of the Kuji River. A primary school now stands on the site of the main enclosure, and it is difficult to trace its former appearance after the castle was abolished under the "One Castle Per Province" decree (1615). However, the view from Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine, built at the southern end of the castle grounds, allows one to imagine the castle's convenience and advantages.

The company was founded by Yoshihito Satake, who was adopted into the Uesugi clan as a son-in-law from the Kanto Kanrei (governor of the Kanto region), and established a branch shrine of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura. Like many other clans, the Satake clan also experienced many internal conflicts, and in particular, the Yamairi branch family, who opposed Yoshito's adoption into the family, continued to fight with the main family for 100 years. The Sengoku period arrived in the Kanto region even earlier than the Onin War, and warfare continued between the Kamakura Shogunate and the Kanto Kanrei family, but the balance was broken by Hojo Soun's (Ise Sozui's) invasion of Izu and Odawara.

Satake Yoshikiyo, the head of the Satake clan, managed to quell the internal conflicts within the family despite facing difficulties. Subsequently, thanks to the support of successive extraordinary clan heads, Hideyoshi confirmed their 540,000 koku domain in Hitachi, and Yoshinobu moved his base to Mito to balance the expanded territory. It is easy to understand the difficult decision Yoshinobu was forced to make at Sekigahara. While the conflict between Tokugawa Ieyasu and Uesugi Kagekatsu was one thing, the Satake clan, bordering Ieyasu's territory which was five times larger, was likely preparing for a return to an era of warring states depending on the outcome of Sekigahara, while also preparing for the southward advance of the untrustworthy Date and Mogami clans. They must have been thinking about how to act flexibly. The result was a punitive reduction of their territory to Akita, but considering the frequent confiscation of tozama daimyo in the early Edo period, it seems that the possibility of remaining in Mito was extremely low. In addition to its rice yield, Akita also made significant economic contributions from its mining resources and its connection to the Kitamae-bune trading ships. Furthermore, given its history, it did not have excessive loyalty to the Tokugawa family and was able to withdraw from the Ouetsu Alliance.

At Baba Hachimangu Shrine, it is explained that Minamoto no Yoriyoshi stopped by during his campaign in the Former Nine Years' War to pray for victory, and that a branch shrine of Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine was established there by Yoshimitsu. Yoriyoshi's descendants (Yoshiie and Yoshimitsu) have a roughly preserved family tree, and the families that rose to power as daimyo during the Meiji Restoration were the Hosokawa (a branch of the Ashikaga clan), the Nanbu and Ogasawara (branchs of the Kai Genji clan), and the Satake, but among them the Satake are said to be the closest to the main lineage. Considering that the Satake clan and Ota Castle have overcome numerous crises of extinction, one cannot help but feel a sense of blessing. It appears that preparations for the summer festival are underway.

I visited the park on the high ground on the western bank of the Ota Castle hill, which is the site of the former residence of Lord Tokugawa Mitsukuni, and Kyushōji Temple, where he enshrines the spirits of his mother and grandmother. His grandmother was Oman-no-kata, a concubine of Ieyasu, and the birth mother of Yorinobu, the lord of the Kishu domain, and Yorifusa, the lord of the Mito domain. Mitsukuni built the temple as a memorial temple for his birth mother, Oku-no-kata, but it was moved from a nearby location after the Meiji Restoration.

The tombstones of both individuals are placed side by side, a testament to Lord Mitsukuni's affection for them.

The distance from Hitachiota to Mito is about 20km, and this area is a mix of historical sites related to the Joso Taira clan, the Satake clan, and the Mito Tokugawa family. I was already exhausted after climbing just three mountain castles this time, but I would like to reconsider my pace and revisit Hitachi Province from a different perspective.