Shimazu no Sho (Shimazu Manor) (島津荘)
Shimazu no Sho (Shimazu Manor) was a large manor located in southern Kyushu from the Heian period to the first part of the Kamakura period. It was the territory of the Sekkan-ke (the families which produced the Regent and the Chief Adviser to the Emperor). It was the largest manor in Japan.
Location
South-central Hyuga Province, Osumi Province and Satsuma Province. Modern-day south-central Miyazaki Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture.
Size
More than 8,000 cho (approximately 79,336,000 square meters) at its peak.
Origin
Shimazu Manor was developed in 1026 by Dazai no Daigen (director of the local government office in the Kyushu region) TAIRA no Suemoto and dedicated to Kanpaku (chief adviser to the Emperor) FUJIWARA no Yorimichi.
Feudal Lord
Head Family
Sekkan-ke (FUJIWARA no Yorimichi > FUJIWARA no Tadazane > FUJIWARA no Taishi > FUJIWARA no Tadazane > FUJIWARA no Motozane > TAIRA no Seishi > FUJIWARA no Motomichi)
Lord of the Manor
Sekkan-ke Steward (FUJIWARA no Nariko) > Kofuku-ji Temple > Ichijo-in Temple
Administrator
Powerful families such as the Taira clan, Tomo clan and Fujiwara clan
Demise
In 1186, the Kamakura bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) appointed Tadahisa KOREMUNE (Tadahisa SHIMAZU) to administer the manor as jito (manager and lord of manor). After Tadahisa was briefly overthrown in a conflict with the Hiki clan, the manor was reinstated and became an economic base of the Shimazu clan of Sengoku daimyo (Japanese territorial lord in the Sengoku period).