The area of Kurayoshi was part of ancient
Hōki Province, and the
Hōki Provincial Capital and
Hōki Kokubun-ji were located in this area. The local Ogamo clan dominated the area in the
Heian period and into the
Kamakura period. In the
Muromachi period, Tauchi Castle and Utsubukiyama Castle were built, and the
Yamana clan dominated in the area. The current city of Kurayoshi developed from the
jōkamachi of Utsubukiyama Castle. After the decline of the Yamana, the area was controlled by the Nanjo clan, who were based in what is now Yurihama. The Nanjo were disposed after the 1600
Battle of Sekigahara, and their territory used by
Nakamura Kazutada of Yonago Domain until 1609. In 1614, Satomi Tadayoshi was transferred to Kurayoshi from
Tateyama Domain by the
Tokugawa shogunate. From 1617, Kurayoshi became part of the holdings of the
Ikeda clan at
Tottori Domain. From 1632, a senior retainer of the Tottori Domain, the Arao clan, built a ''
jin'ya'' in Kurayoshi. During the Edo period, Kurayoshi prospered as the center of commerce and industry. In the Utsubuki-Tamagawa area (an important preservation district for groups of traditional buildings), traditional buildings, including many 'soil lacquered' warehouses (
dozo, 土蔵), from the late Edo period still remain. Following the
Meiji restoration, the town of Kurayoshi was established on October 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. Kurayoshi was raised to city status on October 1, 1953. On March 22, 2005 the town of
Sekigane (from
Tōhaku District) was merged into Kurayoshi. ==Etymology==