Speaking to the Future Series
Daimyo of the Middle Ages and the Hosokawa Family

The Hosokawa clan of the middle ages were warriors, descendent from the Ashikaga clan whose military government, the Muromachi shogunate, held power from 1392 to 1573. The Hosokawa took their name from Hosokawa village in Nukata, Mikawa province, where they resided during the Kamakura period (1192-1333).

Throughout the Muromachi period (1392-1573), successive generations of the Hosokawa clan served under the Ashikaga as shogunal deputies and were deeply involved in politics. Branches of the Hosokawa clan prospered as smaller family units, which included the Keicho lineage of shogunal deputies as well as the Tenkyu and Oshu lines and the governing families of the Awa and Izumi provinces.

During the turmoil of the late middle ages, as the Muromachi shogunate fell and the warlords Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu rose consecutively to power, Hosokawa Fujitaka (also known as Yusai) emerged from the Izumi province line to ensure the survival of the Hosokawa family. Fujitaka's son Tadaoki (also known as Sansai), meanwhile, laid foundations for the Hosokawa to prosper as feudal lords, or daimyo.

This exhibition provides a portrait of the Hosokawa clan during the middle ages through a selection of historical texts. It also features calligraphy and historical documents which, with a focus on Fujitaka and Tadaoki, illustrate how the cultivation of the Hosokawa family influenced the warrior class in early modern times, and convey the value which the Hosokawa proudly ascribed to both military and cultural achievements. Also on display are historical texts preserved by daimyo families from the turbulent time of Fujitaka and Tadaoki, inviting comparison of the Hosokawa family and its contemporaries.

The special exhibition, The Lineage of Culture -The Hosokawa Family Eisei Bunko Collection, currently open in the Heiseikan, offers further insight into the nature of the Hosokawa family during the middle ages to early modern times.