So-emon Noriaki, the originator of Okikamuro Tomozawa Family, was the 1st son of Kanzaemon II-Munemasa Ishizaki. He used the family name Tomozawa when he was hired by Mohri clan. It seems to be because the family name Ishizaki was inconvenient, or the name Tomozawa was convenient for him. I cannot exclude the possibility that there was a person of the family name Tomozawa among maternal ancestors. In the description concerning So-etsu Aoki II in “Aoki-shi Keiryaku (A Family Tree of the clan’s doctor, Aoki Family)”, it was written “The family name Tomozawa is that of maternal line, and there is the ruins of a castle of Tomozawa in the region now called Iyo in Yoshu (Ehime)”. It is uncertain whether this description is well-grounded. However, if this story was a fact, the wife of Kanzaemon II-Munemasa Ishizaki had been from Tomozawa Family.
The oldest person on literature I could find whose family name was Tomozawa was “Sakon-no-jo Tomozawa” in “Land Survey Record by Chosokabe, Takaoka County, 1st vol-1”. In the record of 1589, it was described that he had estates in Izuma and Tonami villages. Both villages correspond to central and southwestern regions of present Tosa City, Kochi, and are not adjacent to Ehime prefecture governed by Iyo-Kohno clan. It was 1584 when Chosokabe clan defeated Iyo-Kohno clan and unified whole Shikoku Island. Therefore, it is unclear whether Sakon-no-jo Tomozawa was originally a vassal of Iyo-Kohno clan or of Chosokabe clan.
In Iyo-shi-shi (Iyo City History Book, 1986), “Hyoe-no-jo Tomozawa” was recorded as a Bugyo (magistrate) when Nyakuo Shrine (present Mitani Shrine) was rebuilt by Samanosuke Kato in 1602. In addition, Hikoemon Tomozawa of Iyo-Ozu clan magistrate office (1671), and Tsune-emon Tomozawa of Kawai Village, Tobe, Ukena County (1786), were recorded in Iyo-shi-shi. It seems that many Tomozawa people live now in Tobe Town, Iyo County. Ukena County is one of the candidate places of origin of Ishizaki people.
It is intriguing that the fact that Tomozawa people lived in regions corresponding to present Iyo City and Tobe Town in Iyo County coincides to the above mentioned description “there is the ruins of a castle of Tomozawa in the region now called Iyo in Yoshu.” These regions might be the place of origin of Tomozawa people.
On the other hand, the name “Ju-zaemon Tomozawa” was found in a record of Hosokawa-Kokura clan in August of 1630 in “The History of Fukuoka Prefecture”. In addition, there seems to have been vassals of Iyo-Matsuyama clan whose family name was Tomozawa.
Thus, the family name Tomozawa seems to have already spread out from Ehime Prefecture by the end of 16th century or the beginning of 17th century.
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