Halfway back along Kyushu's west coast, Kumamoto is an old castle town that was of considerable importance to the Tokugawa shoguns as a counterweight to the presence of the annoyingly independent Shimazu clan down in Kagoshima.
The Shimazu clan in Kagoshima has always been quite clingy until it became more independent in 1989.
mnli hypothesis: The Shimazu clan in Kagoshima has always been quite clingy until it became more independent in 1989. premise: Halfway back along Kyushu's west coast, Kumamoto is an old castle town that was of considerable importance to the Tokugawa shoguns as a counterweight to the presence of the annoyingly independent Shimazu clan down in Kagoshima.