Maeda Toshiie was one of the leading generals under
Oda Nobunaga. He began his career as a
page, rising through the ranks a member of the
akahoro-shū (赤母衣衆), under Nobunaga's personal command and later became an infantry captain (
ashigaru taishō 足軽大将). From his youth, he was a close confidant of Nobunaga and a friend of
Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After defeating the
Asakura clan, he fought under
Shibata Katsuie in the Hokuriku region in the suppression of the
Ikkō-ikki, and participated in the 1570
Battle of Anegawa and the 1577
Battle of Tedorigawa. He was eventually granted the fief of Fuchu in
Etchū Province (30,000
koku), and in 1581 was given
Noto Province (230,000
koku), to which he added his other territories in
Kaga Province to form
Kaga Domain. After Nobunaga's death, he pledged fealty to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and his territories were expanded to cover all of the three provinces of Noto, Kaga and Etchū, with a
kokudaka of well over a million
koku. Toshiie divided his fief among his sons. His eldest son
Maeda Toshinaga participated in the
Battle of Sekigahara and built
Kanazawa Castle; he also was recognised as
daimyō of Kaga Domain under the
Tokugawa shogunate. The Maeda clan attempted to maintain good relations with the Tokugawa clan through marriage ties, and, although a
tozama clan, were permitted to use the "Matsudaira" name as an honorific patronym. The Maeda clan continued to rule Kaga Domain from their headquarters in
Kanazawa from 1583 until the
Meiji restoration in 1868.
Maeda Toshitsune established two cadet branches of the clan at
Toyama and
Daishōji. Another cadet branch of the clan was established by
Maeda Toshitaka, the fifth son of Maeda Toshiie, at
Nanokaichi Domain in
Kōzuke Province. All of these cadet branches also continued to be ruled by the Maeda clan until the Meiji restoration. However, the Maeda clan was often beset by
O-Ie Sōdō incidents, and many of the clan heads died young, or without heir. The clan did not play a prominent role in the
Meiji restoration. After the start of the
Meiji period, the former heads of the various branches of the Maeda clan were made peers under the
kazoku peerage system. ==Head Family==