The Shimotsuma clan served Hongan-ji Temple as main retainers and played a core role in Ikko sect's revolt in the Sengoku period (period of warring states) (Japan); later in the Edo Period, Shigetoshi IKEDA, one of the descendants of the Shimotsuna clan, was awarded a ten-thousand goku (enfeoffment) as a daimyo or feudal lord.
下間氏は本願寺の重臣となり、戦国時代(日本)には一向一揆において中心的役割を果たし、さらに降って江戸時代には一族から池田重利が出て一万石を領し、大名になる。