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The Nitobe Family History

    The Nitobe Family traces its history to the beginning of the Kamakura Era and to Shimousa, an area in the southern part of Chiba Prefecture. Tsunehide Chiba served Yoritomo Minamoto, and helped Minamoto win the battles that allowed him to become shogun.  In recognition of those efforts, Minamoto granted Chiba a new fief of Nitobe, Takaoka, and Aoya (Tochigi Prefecture) in the Shimotsuke area.  Five generations later, Sadatsuna Chiba changed the family name to Nitobe.

 Over the next few hundred years, the family suffered a series of battle losses (and losses of land) and was forced to move to the northern part of Japan.  At the beginning of the Edo Era, the family became a vassal of the Nanbu Family.

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1F - Bushou Corner

"Danna no Mae"

This photograph shows the Danna no Mae property of  Nitobe Family (also known as Yasuno-mura) in Hanamaki City, now the site of the Hanamaki Nitobe Memorial Museum.