Shimazu family

Provincial leaders and later daimyō in southern Kyūshū from the 12th century to 1868. Under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867) the heads of the Shimazu served as daimyō of the Tozama domain of Satsuma. In 1609, Shimazu Yoshihiro conquered Okinawa. In the 19th century Shimazu Nariakira strengthened the financial and military position of his domain during the Tempō Reforms, and Shimazu Hisamitsu was prominent in the Meiji Restoration of 1868. (adapted from Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993)