Uesugi clan domain

Origins

The Nagao family were deputies of the Uesugi governors of Echigo. Nagao Kagetora, later Uesugi Kenshin, took over the clan in 1548 and secured the province by about 1551, ruling from Kasugayama castle. In 1561 the fugitive Kanto deputy Uesugi Norimasa adopted him, giving him the Uesugi name and office.

Rule and society

Kenshin campaigned almost every year, in the Kanto against the Later Hojo and in Shinano against Takeda Shingen, with five battles at Kawanakajima, and later in Etchu and Noto. Echigo's trade in ramie cloth and gold and silver mines funded his wars. He defeated an Oda army at Tedorigawa in 1577.

Decline and legacy

Kenshin died in 1578; his adopted son Uesugi Kagekatsu won the succession war and served Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who moved him to Aizu in 1598. After opposing Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1600 his lands were cut to the Yonezawa Domain.