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Miyoshi-shi is a Japanese family descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and the Minamoto clan (Seiwa-Genji). They are a cadet branch of the Ogasawara clan and the Takeda clan.
At the beginning of the 14th century AD, settled in Shikoku. His eighth generation descendant Yoshinaga settled in the district of Miyoshi (Awa province) and took the name of the place. They were vassals of the Hosokawa clan, then powerful in Shikoku.
During the Sengoku period, they controlled several provinces, including Settsu Province and Awa. Though they would fade from prominence, the Ogasawara clan, a clan closely related to them, would continue as a major political force throughout the Edo period.
Among the retainers to the clan were Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide and his son Hisamichi from the Matsunaga clan during the Sengoku period.Matsunaga clan#Yamato Matsunaga clan
After the death of Yukinaga, his grandson supported the young lord Hosokawa Harumoto. Motonaga made achievements by helping Harumoto become kanrei, and he ended up being the influential power in the Hosokawa clan. Viewing Motonaga's power as a threat, Harumoto accepted the slander from Masanaga and others who belonged to the Motonaga clan and were envious of Kizawa Nagamasa and Motonaga's rise. In 1532, with the help of the Ikkō-ikki sect that hated Miyoshi Motonaga, who was a patron of the Hokke sect, Harumoto attacked Motonaga in Kenpon-Ji Temple in Sakai and forced Motonaga to kill himself. Due to the feud, the Miyoshi clan declined temporarily.
In 1549, Nagayoshi started to take revenge for his father's death. With the reinforcement from his father-in-law , he supported , the child of Hosokawa Takakuni. Nagayoshi defeated Miyoshi Nagamasa, who had been a loyal vassal of Harumoto, and backed his power on the military side in Enami, Settsu Province (the Battle of Eguchi). Being afraid of Nagayoshi's power, Harumoto ran away to Ōtsu, and the Harumoto administration collapsed. As a result, Nagayoshi became famous as a daimyo in the Sengoku period.
Nagayoshi also fought with the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru and drove him away to Ōmi Province. He grew to be a daidaimyo (daimyo having a greater stipend) to govern, in total, nine provinces in the Kinki region (Settsu, Kawachi, Yamato Province, Tanba Province, Yamashiro, Izumi Province) and Shikoku (Awa, Sanuki, Awaji Province), as well as parts of Harima Province, Iyo Province, and Tosa Province provinces.
As he went up to Kyoto and declared his supreme power over Japan, he was called the first and tried to establish the Miyoshi administration. Facing strong resistance from the old power, Nagayoshi stopped fighting with Yoshiteru. He supported Yoshiteru and moved into the system to govern by Yoshiteru - Ujitsuna - Nagayoshi in order. Nagayoshi held real power while Yoshiteru and Ujitsuna were puppets.
However, the resistance from the old power did not stop, and Hatakeyama Takamasa, one of the sankanrei (three families in the post of kanrei, or shogunal deputy), and Rokkaku Yoshikata, a hankoku shugo (military governor in charge of the half area of the province) and male cousin of Harumoto raised a rebellion against the Miyoshi. With the struggle with them, Nagayoshi lost his brother Yoshikata in the battle of Kumeda (present Kishiwada). He survived with his younger brothers, Sogō Kazumasa and Atagi Fuyuyasu, and died at the age of 41. After the death of Nagayoshi, the adopted child Yoshitsugu from the Miyoshi clan, succeeded. As he was so young, Matsunaga Hisahide, the karō (chief retainer), and Miyoshi sanninshū (three chief retainers of the Miyoshi clan) took the actual power. With the successive deaths of Nagayoshi and his younger brothers and as the result of Hisahide and sanninshū bickering over the leadership, the Miyoshi clan declined.
Later, when the shogun Yoshiaki conflicted with Nobunaga and the anti-Nobunaga network was laid, Miyoshi Yoshitsugu and the Miyoshi clan sanninshū took Yoshiaki's side and confronted Nobunaga. However, they did not have the strength to hold out against Nobunaga's more powerful military. In 1573, while he was under attack by Sakuma Nobumori, one of Nobunaga's vassals, Yoshitsugu killed himself. The head family of the Miyoshi clan died out.
In Awa Province in Shikoku, Miyoshi Nagaharu succeeded Miyoshi Yoshikata, and his real brother Sogō Masayasu still exerted influence in the eastern part of Shikoku. However, after Nagaharu killed his loyal vassal Shinohara Nagafusa, the vassals of Nagaharu became anxious and defected from the Miyoshi clan. Later, Nagaharu was killed by his vassal acquainted with Chōsokabe Motochika in Tosa Province.
In 1615, Sogō Masahide, the child of Masayasu, and Miyoshi Masayasu, the only survivor of the Miyoshi sanninshu, died in the Sieges of Osaka. Miyoshi Masakatsu survived by serving the Tokugawa clan while others served other daimyos.
Miyoshi Yoshikane and Miyoshi Yoshishige, who were the eldest legitimate son and second son, respectively, of Miyoshi Yoshitsugu fled to Ibuki island in Sanuki Province and settled there. During the period of the rule by the Ikoma clan, Miyoshi Yoshikiyo, the grandson of Yoshikane, was given the endorsement of the Administrative Board from the Ikoma clan and changed his family name to Sakuemon. At Ibuki-Hachiman-jinja Shrine on Ibuki Island, there still exists an ema (votive horse tablet) depicting the scene of Yoshikane and his vassals with reduced 80 horses by gunshots getting to Ibuki Island and offering the seimon (covenant) to the shrine.
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