Nakashima Masatoki (中島正時)
Masatoki NAKASHIMA (year of birth unknown - January 22, 1612) was a warrior during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, went by the name of Shirozaemon and a son of Masayoshi NAKASHIMA.
Career
The Nakashima clan claimed they had descended from Mitsuyuki YAMANA. According to a biography handed down through the Nakashima family, the family was founded by Sanjuro Yukiyasu (died in April 1441), a son of Mitsuyuki YAMANA. It is said that the family moved to Kugami, Kono no Kori (present Iwami Town) by the head of the family Yoshichiro Masaoshi, several generations after Yukiyasu. As this transmission lacks a supporting evidence, it is not considered much credible. It is supposed that the family was descended from a local proprietor of a land, acting as a local military leader. It is said that the family lived in Nakashi-jo Castle in Kugami in Inaba Province in the days of his father Yoshichiro Masayoshi, and expanded influence by taking advantage of a conflict started between Takanobu TAKEDA and the Yamana clan, a military governor, in the Eiroku era. When Masatoki succeeded his father, he changed the family name from Yamana to Nakashima and became a vassal of Toyohiro YAMANA, the lord of Dochiku-jo Castle. In December 1580, Masatoki was granted the lands of Kugami, Uji and Ono in Kono no Kori by Toyohiro YAMANA in recognition of his loyal service since he joined the vassals, but ironically, after Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI took Tottori-jo Castle in the next year, he lost the lands and became a wandering warrior, and died in December 1611. Masatoki's descendants returned to the farm in Kugami and the family continued as a local distinguished family and squire.