the Nose clan (能勢氏)
The Nose clan was a taishin ryoshu (noble land owner) in Settsu Province (Hokusetsu region). They claimed to have followed MINAMOTO no Yorimitsu line of Seiwa-Genji (Minamoto clan).
Nose' is written in several patterns of kanji such as '能瀬,' '野瀬,' '能世.'
Their family crest has several designs such as 'kiritake yahazu juji (cross of bamboo and nock), Shishi-Botan (lion and peony).
Origin
The Nose clan follows Settsu Genji having MINAMOTO no Kunimoto, a great-great-grandson of MINAMOTO no Yorimitsu as their ancestor, while they are said to have been the descendant of Takayori NOSE, the third son of MINAMOTO no Yorimori, the successor of Tada-Genji (according to the description from "Sonpi Bunmyaku," Kunimoto's descendants were based in Tajiri and Takayori's were in Kuragaki).
Lying next to Tada, which was the home to the Minamoto clan since the time of MINAMOTO no Mitsunaka, the Nose region is considered to have been closely related to the Minamoto clan and according to the local and the Nose clan's tradition, MINAMOTO no Yorikuni, the eldest son of MINAMOTO no Yorimitsu, first entered this place and exploited it
However, no historical material that associates Yorikuni with Nose has been found by now, so Kunimoto, who is said to be the direct ancestor of the Nose clan, was a figure who lived from the late to the end of the Heian period.
However, Akira OTA stated they only assumed the name of Settsu Genji and had actually been the descendant of the lord of the manor in Nose District in ancient times. The family tree showing that the Nose clan is a descendant of Takayori NOSE is not corroborated or the lineage of MINAMOTO no Kunimoto is not clear because it has other family trees and traditions.
The Nose clan during the Kamakura and Northern and Southern Courts period
During the Kamakura period, descendants of Kunimoto became gokenin (immediate vassal of the shogunate) and on an entry dated April 28, 1195 of "Azuma Kagami (The Mirror of the East)," the names of 'Nose hogandai' and his cognate, 'Awa hogandai' are listed among soldiers who accompanied the group on a trip to memorial service for Shogun family at Todai-ji temple. Then in the Jokyu war while many samurais in the Kinai region (provinces surrounding Kyoto and Nara) such as Korenobu OUCHI, the shugo of Settsu Province and his cognate Mototsuna TADA joined the army on the Kyoto side and were defeated, the Nose clan are said to have been on the side of the Shogunate.
During the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan), they were said to fight on the side of the Northern Court, but that is not clear because they were said to belong to the genealogy of Yorisada TADA, who was a busho (Japanese military commander) on the Southern side (Japan). Yorisada TADA, a loyal subject to Emperor Godaigo became mokudai (deputy provincial governor) in Settsu Nose village and after Takauji ASHIKAGA's estrangement, he moved from place to place to fight on the side of the Southern Court, but killed himself in Bizen Province when his army was in an inferior position, and after that, his son Yorinaka NOSE served Takauji.
the Muromachi and Sengoku (civil war) period
During the Muromachi period being enrolled on the hokoshu (or banshu; the shogunal military guard), the Nose clan became gokenin (immediate vassal of the shogunate) and grew into a powerful local lord in Settsu Province. Furthermore, they acted as vassals of the Hosokawa clan (Keicho family), Settsu no kami and when they fought against the East squad on the side of Katsumoto HOSOKAWA in the Onin War, Yorihiro NOSE and his son Yorimitsu NOSE were killed.
During the Sengoku period (Japan), based at Maruyama-jo Castle in Nose (Nose-gun, Settsu Province), they extended power making Akutagawa-yama Castle, Imasato-jo Castle on their own. However, they are said to have taken a no cooperative stance toward Nobunaga ODA because they were attendants to the Shogun, so at the Honnoji Incident in 1582 Yoritsugu NOSE supported Mitsuhide AKECHI and after Mitsuhide was destroyed by Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI Yoritsugu was forced from Nose and hid in Bizen Province, which was associated with his ancestor Yorisada TADA.
After that, for traveling and living cost in Kyoto the land of Nose was given to the Shimazu clan, who had surrendered to Hideyoshi
After Hideyoshi died, according to the tradition of the Nose clan, Yoritsugu, who had hidden himself for a long time, is said to have been called by Ieyasu TOKUGAWA through his younger brother Priest Kongo-in at To-ji Temple, and small scale as it was, he revived the Nose clan in 1599. Then during the Battle of Sekigahara, which took place the following year (1600), he fought on the side of the East Squad and after the battle he successfully regained his former territory when he was given the land totaling 5400 koku in Nose which was seized from the Shimazu clan, who had been on the side of the West Squad.
After the Edo period
During the Edo period Yoritsugu served Ieyasu as hatamoto (direct retainers of the bakufu), and his descendants branched into several families, each continuing as hatamoto. Also, Maruyama-jo Castle, that had been a residential castle for the Nose clan for generations, was replaced with Jio jinya (residence for small clans) in the territory in Nose, which continued to be ruled by the Nose clan until the end of Edo period. Their chigyo (enfeoffment) was increased during the Edo period and at the end of the Edo period total Chigyo fief amount of fourteen cognate families was said to be more than 13,000 koku including branch families.
There is a graveyard for the Nose family in the precincts of Seifu-ji Temple, which is their family temple.