Satake clan

Satake clan
佐竹氏
Family crest of the Satake clan
Home provinceHitachi Province
Parent house Minamoto clan
TitlesVarious
FounderSatake Masayoshi
Final rulerSatake Yoshitaka
Founding year12th century
Dissolutionstill extant
Ruled until1873 (Abolition of the han system)
Cadet branchesIwasaki, Kubota-Shinden, others.
Gate of Kubota Castle, Edo-era seat of the Satake family's fief of Kubota
The Japanese flag fan crest is round.
The family crest of Satake Yoshishige is called the five bones fan.If you look closely, you can see that five bones are used for the fan.

The Satake clan (, Satake-shi) was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. Its first power base was in Hitachi Province. The clan was subdued by Minamoto no Yoritomo in the late 12th century, but later entered Yoritomo's service as vassals. In the Muromachi period, the Satake served as Governor (shugo) of Hitachi Province (today Ibaraki Prefecture), under the aegis of the Ashikaga shogunate. The clan sided with the Western Army during the Battle of Sekigahara, and was punished by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who moved it to a smaller territory in northern Dewa Province (northern Honshū) at the start of the Edo period. The Satake survived as lords (daimyō) of the Kubota Domain (also known as the Akita Domain). Over the course of the Edo period, two major branches of the Satake clan were established, one ruled the fief of Iwasaki, the other one the fief of Kubota-Shinden.

During the Boshin War of 1868–69, the Satake were signatories to the pact that formed the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, but after internal debate and a disagreement with the Sendai Domain, the clan switched sides and joined the imperial forces in subduing the alliance. As with all other daimyō families, the Satake clan was relieved of its title in 1871.