There are various Japanese names for a political/governmental organization present starting in the third century of kofun period in Kinki area of Japan, composed of several powerful families, with Ō (king) or Ōkimi (great king) as its center.

According to Nihon Shoki, a Japanese document, the offspring of Prince Toyokuniwake, who followed Emperor Keikō, became the top of Hyūga, or agata-nushi, at Morokara.

After the establishment of the Ritsuryō system, the country of Hyūga had been called Himuka, facing the east.

The Shimazu clan had become the daimyō of Satsuma and Ōsumi domains of Kagoshima and Hyuga country.

He went to Satsuma in 1196, subdued Hyuga and Osumi provinces, and built a castle in the domain of Shimazu (Hyūga) which name he also adopted.

The Itō-family were a Japanese clan that claimed descent from the medieval warrior Itō Suketoki.

The family became a moderate power both in influence and ability by the latter Sengoku Period of Feudal Japan.