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 "The archives of Kutsuki family" consist of historical documents passed down in the family through the years.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).
A "sodehan kudashibumi" is a written order ("kudashibumi") with a signature ("han") in the righthand margin ("sode"). Dated 26 June in the year of Kannou(1351), this one was written by Ashikaga Takauji (1305 - 1358), the first shogun of the Muromachi period, to Sasaki (Kutsuki) Tsuneuji. It grants stewardship over Nodanoho in Bizen Province (present-day Okayama Prefecture) to Tsuneuji as a reward.