The was a noble samurai family in feudal Japan which controlled the han

Han (Japan)

The or domain was the name of the estate belonging to a warrior in Japan after the 17th century. The fiefs of the daimyos of the samurai class of Japan during the Edo period were called han.-Edo period:...

(fief) of Hiroshima

Hiroshima Domain

Hiroshima Domain was a han, or feudal domain, of Edo period Japan. Based at Hiroshima castle in the city of Hiroshima, the domain encompassed Aki province and parts of neighboring Bingo province....

 centered around Hiroshima Castle

Hiroshima Castle

', sometimes called ' is a castle in Hiroshima, Japan which was the home of the daimyō of the Hiroshima han . Originally constructed in the 1590s, the castle was destroyed in the atomic bombing in 1945...

 for much of the Edo period

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

.

The Asano are descendants of the Emperor Seiwa

Emperor Seiwa

was the 56th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Seiwa's reign spanned the years from 858 through 876.-Traditional narrative:...

 (850-880), of Minamoto no Yorimitsu

Minamoto no Yorimitsu

, also known as Minamoto no Raikō, served the regents of the Fujiwara clan along with his brother Yorinobu, taking the violent measures the Fujiwara were themselves unable to take...

 (944-1021), and are a branch of the Toki family. Minamoto no Mitsunobu, descended from Yorimitsu in the 4th generation, settled at Toki (Mino) and took the name of that place. The Toki were hereditary shugo

Shugo

was a title, commonly translated as "Governor," given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan...

(Governors) of Mino province

Mino Province

, one of the old provinces of Japan, encompassed part of modern-day Gifu Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Mino Province bordered Echizen, Hida, Ise, Mikawa, Ōmi, Owari, and Shinano Provinces....

 until the 16th century.

The Asano name is perhaps most well known as a result of the story of the Forty-seven Ronin

Forty-seven Ronin

The revenge of the , also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century...

, whose lord was Asano Naganori

Asano Naganori

was the daimyo of the Akō Domain in Japan . His title was Takumi no Kami . He is known as the person who triggered a series of incidents retold in a story known as Chushingura, one of the favourite themes of kabuki, joruri and Japanese books and films.He was born in Edo as the eldest son of Asano...

, the head of a branch of the family enfeoffed at Ako (Harima Province

Harima Province

or Banshu was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tamba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji....

, 53,000 koku).

The Asano were tozama

Tozama

A ' was a daimyo who was considered an outsider by the rulers of Japan. The term came into use in the Kamakura period and continued until the end of the Edo period.-Edo period:...

 daimyō, or "outside lords", meaning that they held no hereditary ties to the Tokugawa shogunate. They were thus burdened with various responsibilities and obligations to the shoguns to a greater extent than many other lords. Nevertheless, their home castle city of Hiroshima

Hiroshima

is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...

 was a major port, and they ruled over Aki

Aki Province

or Geishū was a province in the Chūgoku Region of western Honshū, comprising the western part of what is today Hiroshima Prefecture.When Emperor Shōmu ordered two official temples for each province , two temples were founded in Aki Province...

 and Bingo Province

Bingo Province

was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of western Honshū, comprising what is today the eastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bizen and Bitchu Provinces. Bingo bordered Bitchū, Hōki, Izumo, Iwami, and Aki Provinces....

s, their holdings totaling 426,500 koku

Koku

The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...

.

Significant Members of the Asano family

• Asano Nagamasa
  Asano Nagamasa
  was the brother-in-law of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and one of his chief advisors. Asano also fought for Hideyoshi in a number of campaigns during the Sengoku period of the 16th century of Japan....
  
   (1546-1610), brother-in-law of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
  Toyotomi Hideyoshi
  was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...
  
  , fought for him in Japan and Korea.
• Asano Yoshinaga (1576-1613), also known as Yoshinaga; son of Nagamasa. Also served under Hideyoshi, in both Japanese campaigns, and the Korean invasions.
• Asano Nagaakira
  Asano Nagaakira
  was a Japanese samurai of the early Edo period who served as daimyō of the Wakayama domain, and was later transferred to the Hiroshima Domain.Born Asano Iwamatsu, he was the son of Asano Nagamasa, who was a senior retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1594, Nagaakira was made a retainer of Toyotomi...
  
   (1586-1632), brother of Yukinaga, first Asano lord of Hiroshima.
• Asano Naganori
  Asano Naganori
  was the daimyo of the Akō Domain in Japan . His title was Takumi no Kami . He is known as the person who triggered a series of incidents retold in a story known as Chushingura, one of the favourite themes of kabuki, joruri and Japanese books and films.He was born in Edo as the eldest son of Asano...
  
   (1667-1701), lord of the Forty-Seven Ronin.

For a list of the other Asano family lords of Hiroshima, see Hiroshima Castle

Hiroshima Castle

', sometimes called ' is a castle in Hiroshima, Japan which was the home of the daimyō of the Hiroshima han . Originally constructed in the 1590s, the castle was destroyed in the atomic bombing in 1945...

.