Abstract
The name “Tono” was first recorded in 1334, one year after the collapse of the Kamakura Regime, just prior to the split of the royal dynasty into Northern and Southern courts in the so-called “Nanpoku-cho” period.
At that time, an agent dispatched by the Asonuma clan, whose main fief was in Shimotsuke province, ruled the Tono fief of Mutsu province. According to historical materials from 1350, the Asonuma clan ruled the fiefs of seven provinces by dispatching various administrative agents, and by aligning themselves at first with Southern court, and then with the Northern court, in order to maintain control over their fiefs. Around 1382, however, the Asonuma clan were uprooted from their main fief in Shimotsuke province by the Oyama clan, and in that process the Asonuma clan moved to strengthen their position in Tono, becoming the Tono-Asonuma clan. Henceforth, the Tono-Asonuma clan maintained an effective control over Tono until the end of the 16th century.
During 1600, however, with the creation of the Morioka fief by the Sannohe-Nanbu clan, and in accordance with the process of establishing daimyo throughout the Japanese archipelago, the Tono-Asonuma clan was banished from Tono and disappeared from the main stage of history.
