Kobayakawa clan

The emblem (mon) of the Kobayakawa clan

Kobayakawa clan (小早川氏, Kobayakawa-shi) was a samurai clan of Japan's Sengoku period, whose holdings were in Kyūshū, the southernmost of Japan's main islands. Members of the Kobayakawa family served under the Mōri clan, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Close allies with the Kikkawa family, the Kobayakawa fought alongside the Kikkawa, Mōri, Toyotomi, and Ōtomo clans against the Shimazu, for control of Kyūshū at the end of the 16th century; they were awarded Chikuzen Province as their fief following the Shimazu's defeat, but the clan came to an end only a few decades later when Hideaki died without a successor.

Clan members of note

• Kobayakawa Kagehira (??-1237)
• Kobayakawa Tōhira (??-1244)
• Kobayakawa Hirohira
• Kobayakawa Okikage (1519-1541)
• Kobayakawa Takakage (1532–1596)
• Kobayakawa Hideaki (1577–1602)

References

• Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Sansom, George (1961). "A History of Japan: 1334–1615." Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
• Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.