The Toki clan (土岐氏 Toki-shi) was a powerful clan that ruled in Japan from the Kamakura period to the Edo period. It descended from Emperor Seiwa by Minamoto no Yorimitsu from the Minamoto clan (Seiwa genji)[1] and used Toki in Mino Province as their hometown.[2] The family adhered to Zen Buddhist beliefs and founded many temples, including Shōhō-ji, which contains the Gifu Great Buddha, and Sōfuku-ji in the city of Gifu.
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Minamoto no Mitsunobu, a fourth generation descendant of Yorimitsu, was the first to settle in Toki. It was he who named and started the Toki clan. Toki Yorisada, whose maternal grandfather was Hōjō Sadatoki, shikken of the Kamakura shogunate, fought against the Southern Dynasty with Ashikaga Takauji.
From the Muromachi period to the Sengoku period, the Toki clan ruled Mino Province. Toki Yasuyuki was shugo (governor) of three provinces: Mino, Owari and Ise.[3] When the shogun had tried to take Owari from him, Yasuyuki refused and fought for two years (1389–1391).
Toki Shigeyori sided with the Yamana clan during the Ōnin War and, in 1487, invaded the southern part of Ōmi Province. The principal line of the Toki lost their possessions in 1542 during the civil wars that decimated Mino Province, when Toki Yoshiyori (then governor of Mino) was defeated by Saitō Dōsan. Toki Sadamasa (1551–1597) lost his father at the age of two and was carried to Mikawa Province. At the age of 14 he entered in Tokugawa Ieyasu's army. In 1590, he was named daimyo of Sōma (Shimōsa Province) and revived the former glory of the Toki. In 1868, at the end of the Tokugawa period, his descendants were daimyo of Numata (Kōzuke Province).
The Toki are also famous for their cadet branches: the Asano, Hida, Ikeda, Akechi and Takenaka clans.
The Toki clan, originating from Emperor Seiwa, made powerful samurai core families from generations to generations known as Seiwa Genji. Below is a list of rulers of the Toki clan. The first six rulers resided in Kyoto and Settsu Tada before receiving the Mino province. The second seven rulers were just heads of the clan resided in Toki; however, starting with Toki Yorisada, the rulers also served as the shugo of Mino Province.