The were a samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

kin group which rose to prominence in the Sengoku period

Sengoku period

The or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. The name "Sengoku" was adopted by Japanese historians in reference...

 and the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

s. Under the Tokugawa shogunate

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 Miyake, as hereditary vassels of the Tokugawa clan

Tokugawa clan

The was a powerful daimyo family of Japan. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa and were a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Nitta clan. However, the early history of this clan remains a mystery.-History:...

, were classified as one of the fudai

Fudai

was a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...

daimyō clans.

The Miyake claimed descent from the famed Kamakura Period

Kamakura period

The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

 warrior Kojima Takanori, during the 14th century, although this claim is somewhat tenuous. At the start of the Sengoku period, the Miyake were based in northern Mikawa Province

Mikawa Province

is an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces....

, and were hereditary enemies to the neighboring Matsudaira clan

Matsudaira clan

The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. It first originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province . Over the course of its history, the clan produced many branches, most of which also centered around Mikawa Province...

. However, under the leadership of Miyake Masasada, the clan submitted to the Matsudaira in 1558.
Masasada's son Yasusada (1544-1615) served as a general in the armies of Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

. After the creation of the Tokugawa shogunate

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...

, he was appointed daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 of Koromo Domain

Koromo Domain

was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in was is now the modern-day city of Toyota in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It was centered on Koromo Castle.-History:...

, a 10,000 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...

fief in Mikawa Province in 1604. His son, Miyake Yasunobu (1563-1632) was transferred to the 20,000 koku Ise-Kameyama Domain

Ise-Kameyama Domain

The ' was a domain of the Edo period in Japan. It was located in Ise Province and had its headquarters and Kameyama Castle, which is in the modern-day city of Kameyama, Mie Prefecture....

 in 1620. The Miyake were transferred back to Koromo from 1636-1664, and were subsequently moved to Tahara Domain

Tahara Domain

was a minor fudai Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in southern Mikawa Province , Japan. It was centered on Tahara Castle in what is now the city of Tahara.-History:...

 (12,000 koku) in southern Mikawa Province in 1665, where they remained until 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 final daimyō of Tahara Domain, Miyake Yasuyoshi (1831-1895), served as guji

Kannushi

A , also called , is the person responsible for the maintenance of a Shinto shrine as well as for leading worship of a given kami. The characters for kannushi are sometimes also read jinshu with the same meaning....

 to the Kunōzan Tōshō-gū

Kunozan Tosho-gu

The is a Shintō shrine in Suruga-ku in the city of Shizuoka in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is the original burial place of the first Shōgun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and is thus the oldest of the Tōshō-gū shrines in the country. The main festival of the shrine is held annually...

 under the Meiji government and was made a viscount

Viscount

A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...

 (shishaku) in 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...

peerage system.