Nitta

The Nitta (新田) family was one of several major families descended from the Seiwa Genji, and numbered among the chief enemies of the Ashikaga shogunate, and later the Hojo clan regents. The common ancestor of the Nitta, Minamoto no Yoshishige, was the elder brother of Minamoto no Yoshiyasu, the common ancestor of the Ashikaga clan.

The Nitta clan rose to importance in the early 13th century; they controlled Kozuke Province, and had little influence in Kamakura (the capital of the shogunate) because their ancestor, Minamoto no Yoshishige had not joined his fellow clansmen in the Genpei War, a century earlier.

In the 1330s, Nitta Yoshisada led the clan, and a number of other Minamoto vassals against the Hojo clan regents. They succeeded, in June of 1333, in destroying the Bakufu's buildings in Kamakura.

The Nitta clan played an important role once again, allying with the Date clan and the Southern Courts, during the Nanboku-cho wars of the early 15th century.

Important Members of the Nitta clan:

• Nitta Yoshisada (1301-1338)
• Nitta Yoshiaki – son of Yoshisada
• Nitta Yoshimune – son of Yoshisada
• Wakiya Yoshisuke – brother of Yoshisada, and founder of a branch family of Nitta, called Wakiya