The Yagyū (柳生氏, Yagyū-shi) were a family of daimyōs (feudal lords) with lands just outside Nara, who became the heads of one of Japan's greatest schools of swordsmanship, Yagyū Shinkage-ryū. The Yagyū were also Kenjutsu teachers to the Tokugawa shōguns and descendant of the famous Taira clan, hailing from prestigious Imperial Lineage with the Kabane rank of Ason. The mon (crest) of the Yagyū family was a wide-brimmed black hat with ties.