The founder of the clan, Okimoto was a younger brother of Tadaoki HOSOKAWA, but the Yatabe clan was not a branch clan of the Kumamoto clan, it was an independent clan.
藩祖の興元は細川忠興の弟にあたるが、谷田部藩は熊本藩の支藩ではなく、れっきとした独立の藩である。