Ikoma clan

Ikoma
生駒
Ikoma clan mon
Home provinceYamato
Owari
Parent house Fujiwara clan (藤原氏)
FounderIkoma Iehiro (生駒家広)
Founding year15th century
Cadet branchesSanuki-Ikoma clan
(讃岐生駒氏)
Takamatsu-Ikoma clan
(高松藩主家)
Yashima-Ikoma clan
(矢島藩主家)

The Ikoma clan (生駒氏, Ikoma-shi) was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from Fujiwara no Fusasaki of the "Northern House" of the Fujiwara clan (Fujiwara Hokke, 藤原北家). During the Sengoku period they supported the Unification of Japan as retainers of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. In the Edo period the clan were daimyō and a hatamoto family for the Tokugawa shogunate.[citation needed]

The main line was the Owari-Ikoma clan (尾張生駒氏) and the supporting branch was the Sanuki-Ikoma clan (讃岐生駒氏). Even though the two lines were divided in opinion during the Azuchi–Momoyama period they had close and frequent exchange during the Edo period.

There is a story about the family crest ("mon") of the Ikoma clan. It is said that the crest was once a full circle but during Hideyoshi's Invasion of Korea, the crest painted on the side of the ship was submerged in the waves and only the top half showed above water. They won the subsequent battle and decided to change the crest to a half circle.[1]

  1. ^ Turnbull, Stephen (2012). Samurai Heraldry. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 1782000143.