The Ito clan was a Japanese samurai clan that was descended from the Fujiwara.
History[]
The Ito of Hyuga Province in Kyushu were descended from the Fujiwara clan, who held major titles in the Heian Empire era government. They were feeble with meagre prosperity, and they were ambitious with questionable integrity. Loyal to the Fujiwara, they were enemies with the Kikuchi clan during the Genpei War, and were later enemies of the Minamoto in 1185, but made peace with the Kamakura Minamoto later that year.
In the following centuries, the Ito maintained their lands, but in the 1540s they were the first targets of the Shimazu clan, who expanded from southern Kyushu to take over all of eastern Kyushu with their capture of Hyuga from the Ito.