Capture of Satake Clan Castle

Date: October 7, 1868 • Location: Yuzawa-shi, Japan

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1868.

Ōdate, the last castle of the Satake clan in Japan's Tōhoku region, was captured during the Boshin War.

The Satake clan was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. Its first power base was in Hitachi Province. The clan was subdued by Minamoto no Yoritomo in the late 12th century, but later entered Yoritomo's service as vassals. In the Muromachi period, the Satake served as Governor (shugo) of Hitachi Province, under the aegis of the Ashikaga shogunate. The clan sided with the Western Army during the Battle of Sekigahara, and was punished by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who moved it to a smaller territory in northern Dewa Province at the start of the Edo period. The Satake survived as lords (daimyō) of the Kubota Domain. Over the course of the Edo period, two major branches of the Satake clan were established, one ruled the fief of Iwasaki, the other one the fief of Kubota-Shinden.