The Hyuga Clan History

The Hyuga clan (日向一族, Hyūga Ichizoku; Literally meaning "Hyūga family") is one of the oldest and most powerful clans in Konohagakure.

Hyuga (日向) means "Towards the Sun" and is the name of a city in the Miyazaki Prefecture in Japan. It is suggested in the series that the Uchiha clan descended from the Hyuga clan, and that the kekkei genkai of the former is descended from the latter's.

All Hyuga clan members are born with the Byakugan, the inherited Kekkei Genkai of the clan. The clan revolves around the Byakugan and is separated into two parts, the main house (宗家, Sōke) and the branch house (分家, Bunke), a creation that protects the secrets of the Byakugan from outsiders. The main house runs the family while the branch house protects it. The members of the branch house are branded with a cursed seal. This seal gives the main house members absolute control over the branch members, because they can destroy the branch members' brains with a simple hand gesture, or cause them great pain to punish them. This seal also makes sure the secret of the Hyuga's Byakugan is safe, because it seals the Byakugan after the wearer of the seal dies. There seems to be a great deal of bad blood between members of the main and branch houses, most likely due to the fact that no matter how powerful branch members become, they exist solely to protect the Hyuga secrets. This can be seen in the attitudes of Hizashi, who is angry about this restriction on his son, and Neji, who believed for years that his father was forced to die to protect the main house.

Members of the clan are instructed in the use of the Gentle Fist style, which uses the Byakugan to view the opponent's chakra circulatory system and deal precise blows to disable and impede the flow of chakra. Due to training in this style, Hyuga clan members tend to have excellent chakra control. This is emphasized in jutsu that utilize this chakra control, as well as the nuances of the Gentle Fist style. The clan's strongest techniques, Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin, are only allowed to be taught to members of the main house. Neji Hyuga however, has bypassed this restriction by learning them on his own, earning a reputation as a "genius" in the clan.