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Kakunodate is known as the Samurai District for good reason. Scattered throughout the town are remnants of the Satake clan’s great empire. Although the Satake clan was on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara, the new Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu showed fellow samurai some respect. After drastically reducing the land the Satake clan controlled, he allowed the clan, like others he had dominated, to join his new government if they behaved themselves. Today, the descendants of the wealthiest samurai families preserve and proudly display their houses that survived the war-torn country.