Kuno clan


The Kuno clan was a Japanese samurai clan who were a prominent Jizamurai family of Tōtōmi Province during the Muromachi period and Sengoku period. They first served the Imagawa clan for generations but later became retainers of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The surname is sometimes written as "久努", "久奴" or "久能".

Origins

Early in the Kamakura period, Kuno Munenaka moved to Kuno, Tōtōmi Province and took the place name as his surname founding the Kuno clan. There are several different genealogies of the Kuno clan and it is unknown which is the correct one. In most cases they descend from the Southern House of the Fujiwara clan.

Fujiwara Nanke

The Kuno clan of Tōtōmi Province was a branch of the Kudō clan which descended from the Southern House of the Fujiwara clan. The founder of Fujiwara's Southern House was Fujiwara no Muchimaro. His fifth generation great-grandson, Fujiwara no Tamenori, founded the Kudō clan. In this genealogy the founder of the Kuno clan, Kuno Munenaka, is a son of Kudō Kiyonaka.

Hata clan

Another theory is that the Kuno are descendants of the Hata clan, an immigrant family who claimed descent from the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.

Another theory

In the Seishi-kakei-daijiten family compilation it is in fact recorded that the Kuno clan descend from Kuno Nao.

Clan Heads