Sōma clan
During the late Sengoku period, the Sōma were allied with the powerful Satake clan based at Mito and fought many battles against the Date clan to the north. The 16th hereditary chieftain of the Sōma clan, Sōma Yoshitane was defeated by Date Masamune in 1589. However, after he pledged fealty to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, his domain was re-established. During the Battle of Sekigahara, he did not respond to Tokugawa Ieyasu, as the Satake clan had decided to side with the pro-Toyotomi western army under Ishida Mitsunari. As a result, his domain was again seized, this time by the victorious Ieyasu. A couple of months later, largely through the mediation and compassion of Honda Masanobu and Date Masamune, the clan was pardoned and allowed to return to its former lands, with Yoshitane's son, Sōma Toshitane becoming first daimyō of the 60,000-"koku" Sōma Nakamura Domain in 1602.