The Kamo Family
The Kamo family traces its roots to the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568–1603) when members of the family served as local authorities, ensuring that agricultural laws were followed and regulating agricultural practices in the area. According to land surveys at the time, the family oversaw a large area of land encompassing much of what is now western Shizuoka Prefecture and beyond. By the end of the Edo period (1603–1867), the family was the most influential landowner in the area and had gained authority from the shogunate to branch into finance and banking. The family has in its possession several important documents from throughout Japanese history, such as letters from Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616), the first of the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan until the end of the Edo period in 1867.
After rule was returned to the emperor from the shogunate during the 1868 Meiji Restoration, the system of domains governed by daimyo lords assigned by the shogunate was abolished and the family lost many of its assets. By the end of World War II, the family had shifted its focus to plant breeding and gardening and developed its remaining land into Kamo Garden.