The are descendants of 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) and are a branch of the Ashikaga clan

Ashikaga clan

The ' was a prominent Japanese samurai clan which established the Muromachi shogunate and ruled Japan from roughly 1336 to 1573.The Ashikaga were descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, deriving originally from the town of Ashikaga in Shimotsuke province .For about a century the clan was...

 and the Shiba clan

Shiba clan

The was a Japanese clan claiming descent from the Minamoto clan of the Heian era that held influence and territory in the provinces of Echizen province and Owari province to which they were governors during the Sengoku era. However, they were unable to make a transition to Sengoku-daimyo and lost...

 (Seiwa Genji).

Ashikaga Ieuji (13th century), son of Ashikaga Yasuuji was the first who adopted the name of Shiba. The Shiba were 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 Echizen, Owari and other provinces, and were during the Ashikaga shogunate one of three families (Shiba, Hosokawa and Hatakeyama) from which the Kyoto-kanryo (Prime minister of the shogun) could be chosen.

Shiba Masaaki, the descendant of Shiba Takatsune

Shiba Takatsune

was the Constable of Echizen Province during the 14th century Nanboku-chō Wars in Japan. He acted to block the northward progress of Nitta Yoshisada, who supported the Emperor's Southern Court against the Shogun's Northern Court...

 (+ 1367), established himself in Hachisuka, near Kiso river at the border of Owari and Mino provinces, from whence he took the name Hachisuka.

In the 16th century, the Hachisuka clan came to prominence thanks to its then-head, Hachisuka Koroku. His uncle held Hachisuka castle, and he lived first in Miyaushiro castle which was his mother's family home.
Koroku served the Oda clan, being instrumental in several of the early victories of Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga

was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...

. He later went on to serve under 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...

.

His son, Iemasa, received Tokushima Domain

Tokushima Domain

The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Awa Province and Awaji Province in Shikoku. Ruled by the Hachisuka family, it was rated at an income of 256,000 koku...

 as a new landholding from Hideyoshi, and from then until the end of the Edo period, the Hachisuka were the lords of Tokushima. They would be one of the few clans to retain the same landholding from the start of the Edo period to its conclusion. They also managed to retain a constant income rating of 256,000 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...

.

In the late Edo period, the clan came into national focus thanks to the contemporary head, Hachisuka Narihiro

Hachisuka Narihiro

was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period, who ruled the Tokushima Domain. He was a son of the twelfth shogun, Tokugawa Ienari.-Biography:As stated above, Narihiro was a son of the 12th shogun, Ienari. Ienari had many children, who were given in adoption to various daimyo families throughout the...

, who was a son of the 11th shogun, Ienari

Tokugawa Ienari

Tokugawa Ienari; 徳川 家斉 was the eleventh and longest serving shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.-First wife:...

. The clan sided with the Kyoto government during the Boshin War

Boshin War

The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....

, and contributed troops to the fight in the north, as well as to security duties in Edo (Tokyo). The clan faced internal fragmentation a year later, in the form of the Inada Rebellion, but was peacefully dissolved in 1873 with the rest of the nation's 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:...

.

After the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

, the Hachisuka became part of the kazoku

Kazoku

The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...

, Japan's new nobility system.