Minamoto no Yoshishige (1135–1202) was the progenitor of the Nitta

Nitta family

The ' was one of several major families descended from the Seiwa Genji, and numbered among the chief enemies of the Ashikaga shogunate, and later the Hōjō clan regents...

 branch family of the Minamoto

Minamoto clan

was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were demoted into the ranks of the nobility. The practice was most prevalent during the Heian Period , although its last occurrence was during the Sengoku Era. The Taira were another such offshoot of...

 samurai clan, who fought alongside the Minamoto in the Genpei War

Genpei War

The was a conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late-Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the fall of the Taira clan and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192....

. He is also known as Nitta Tarō and Nitta Yoshishige.

His father was Minamoto no Yoshikuni

Minamoto no Yoshikuni

was the son of a famous samurai named Minamoto no Yoshiie and an ancestor of the Ashikaga and Nitta families. Yoshikuni was the samurai who first implored the spirit of the Iwashimizu Shrine to start living in this bamboo grove and he built the shrine in honor of the god Hachiman.-External links:*...

, and his grandfather Minamoto no Yoshiie

Minamoto no Yoshiie

Minamoto no Yoshiie , also known as Hachimantarō, was a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period, and Chinjufu shogun...

.

Yoshishige was posthumously awarded the title of Chinjufu-shogun, or Commander-in-chief of the Defense of the North, in 1611, four centuries after his death, by the second Tokugawa shogun

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...

, Tokugawa Hidetada

Tokugawa Hidetada

was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.-Early life :...

. The Tokugawa family falsely claimed descent from the Nitta.