The Kutsuki were a branch of the Sasaki family hailing from Omi Province. They served as the stewards of the Kutsuki manor in that province in the Kamakura period, and the house continued through the Warring States period and into the Edo period, when some of their members became bannermen (direct vassals of the shogun) or daimyo (provincial lords). "The archives of Kutsuki family" consist of historical documents passed down in the family through the years. The Cabinet Records Bureau purchased them from the Kutsuki in 1888. Containing more than 1,060 documents, the archives were designated an important cultural property in the first year of Heisei( 1989).
Document issued on April 8 in the 16th year of Keicho (1611) to Kutsuki Mototsuna, co-signed and stamped with seals by Murakoshi Mosuke, Yonekitsu Chikakatsu, Ando Naotsugu, Naruse Masanari, Itakura Katsushige, Okubo Nagayasu and Honda Masazumi, vassals of the Tokugawa family. As trafficking of women and children were illegal, it ordered Kutsuki not to allow travellers with women and children who do not possess kitte (securities) of Itakura Katsushige to pass (Kutsuki valley). Kutsuki Valley was an important point on Wakasa Highway connecting Kyoto and Wakasa. Related document is found in the draft of Itakura Katsushige's letter dated October 29 (in the 2nd year of Genna).