The intricately designed world of The Irregular at Magic High School (Mahouka) is full of interconnected governments, companies and associations vying for control of the judiciary, security, legislation and more. Amongst all the groups influencing this technologically and magically integrated society, none are quite so distinguished as the Ten Master Clans, a selection of families possessing the strongest magical abilities in their genetics.
The Ten Master Clans' formidable strengths have resulted in them being considered above judicial authority, and achieving this level of power has taken years of genetic modifications, selective breeding and study by the ten Magician Research and Development Institutes, each of which chose a specific theme of magic to focus on. The Master Clans have a number in their family name which corresponds to the research institute they were originally experimented on by. Here are the current Ten Master Clans, their influences on the world, and their relative power in relation to one another.
The Ichijou Family
The Ichijou family abilities originate from the first research institute, which looked at developing magic that could interfere with living organisms, creating the family's famous technique "rupture". Utilized by the family head Ichijou Gouki, as well as by his more narratively prominent son "Ichijou Masaki", rupture magic vaporises all of the fluids within a given target. When hit with this dispersal-systematic type of magic, a living creature will explode from the inside out. Furthermore, a machine containing oil or lubricants which is hit will also be completely destroyed.
The Ichijou family holds most of its influence along the northern coast bordering the Sea of Japan, with Gouki acting as the president of a seabed mining company that has control of many armoured ships on the Sea of Japan. Consequently, they play an important role in Japan's coastal defence against the threats of the Great Asian Union and the New Soviet Union.
The Futatsugi Family
The Futatsugi's abilities came from the second research institute, whose focus was the creation of magic that interferes with inorganic substances. As a result, the Futatsugi family specialize in Oxidization and Deoxidization absorption-type magic, allowing the user to control gases. The most notable example of this comes when the head of the family, "Futatsugi Mai", stems the flow of poisonous gases released in an attack on the Master Clans Conference to allow the other heads to evacuate safely.
The Futatsugi family oversee the Chugoku region of Japan, reporting on any unusual activity within it at the Master Clans Conference held every 4 years. Other than Mai's stakes held in several chemical manufacturing and food engineering companies, not much more has been revealed about the Futatsugi family's influence on current affairs. However, at the most recent Master Clans Conference, she can be seen repeatedly taking on the role of arbiter over inter-clan disputes, which implies mutual respect between her and the other clan heads that trust her to be impartial.
The Mitsuya Family
The Mitsuya family originated from (and now manage) the third research institute, which wanted to test the limits of how many different magic sequences could be used simultaneously. Their research ultimately led to the "speed loader" technique possessed by the head of the family "Mitsuya Gen", which enables him to store up to nine different magical sequences for simultaneous release.
Gen is known internationally as a small arms dealer and this enables the Mitsuya family to be the only clan capable of effectively networking with the rest of the world, gaining valuable intel on global affairs. Domestically, the Mitsuya family use the grounds of the third research institute in order to help train the National Defence Forces' magicians. It was this military presence on the grounds that gave the family's youngest daughter, "Shiina", her impressive combat abilities.
The Yotsuba Family
The Yotsuba family, which was revealed to include the protagonist Shiba Tatsuya and his cousin Shiba Miyuki, is the strongest of all the Master Clans. In fact, other clan heads have even suggested that the current generation of the Yotsuba Family is approaching the point where they'll be more powerful than all the other families combined. The Yotsuba owe this level of magical power to the fourth research institute's experiments, funded by a non-governmental sponsor, which aimed to increase magicians' "magic calculation area" through the use of high level "mental interference magic".
The current head of the family is "Yotsuba Maya", who is considered to be the strongest magician in the world, known by the epithet "Demon King of the Far East". Their area of control is the Toukai region and both the Gifu and Nagano prefectures, but their influence can be felt across the entirety of Japan. The description of Yotsuba members as "untouchables" because of the threat they pose, leads a lot of the family to keep their membership a secret from the public, and is another factor in why the rival clans seek to reduce the Yotsuba's overall power.
The Itsuwa Family
The Itsuwa family are from the fifth research institute which focused on Material Phase Manipulation magic, and whilst the current head (Itsuwa Isamu) hasn't demonstrated any powerful techniques, his daughter Mio is one of only three strategic class magicians in Japan and the main reason their family is part of the Ten Master Clans. Mio's magic "abyss" allows her to create a massive depression within large bodies of water, capable of capturing ships and subsequently sinking them when the magic is cancelled.
Mio is also responsible for most of the family's prestige, as she is the only Japanese member of "the thirteen apostles", a group of strategic class magicians whose abilities are declared globally to show the power of the country. Isamu is also the owner of an ocean freight company and in charge of supervising the Shikoku region.
The Mutsuzuka Family
The Mutsuzuka family utilizes Heat Control magic, the research topic of the sixth research institute that had very little interest in practical magic for military use and instead focused on theoretical magic sequences. The current head "Atsuko Mutsuzuka" was able to easily extinguish flames during the attack on the Master Clan Conference, implying that she would be able to do so even if the flames were hot enough to melt steel.
The family influence affects mainly the Tohoku region and Atsuko also has control of a geothermal power plant and drilling company. Her affinity with heat control is undoubtedly useful in the management of such a plant.
The Saegusa Family
The Saegusa family are the only member of the Master Clans that altered their genes through multiple research institutes, starting with the third institute before transferring to the seventh. The Saegusa family are often referred to as "omnipotent", because of their unique ability to use magic from all types with no apparent downfalls. The seventh institute focused on anti-unit warfare magic, creating herd control magic to combine multiple different phenomena into one cohesive effect. This magic is often cast by "Saegusa Mayumi", for example: when integrating convergence, condensation, speed, and release type magic to create the "dry meteor" technique.
The Saegusa family are the second most powerful clan, second only to the Yotsuba, who they dislike greatly for this very reason. Saegusa Kouichi is the head of the clan and his area of control is the Kanto region (shared with the Juumonji). Kouichi himself is a powerful magician, combining the Saegusa's natural affinity for all types of magic with "octet", a technique based on the third institute's research that lets him store up to eight magic sequences from 4 systems, similar to Gen's "speed loader".
The Yatsushiro Family
The Yatsuhiro family hasn't been very prominent in the story so far, and as a result, little information is known about their involvement with the Master Clans and society at large. The family is from the eighth research institute, which was developing magic that influences the four fundamental forces. This can be seen with the family head "Yatsushiro Raizou", who uses Gravity Control magic to assist during the attack on the Master Clans Conference.
The family is in charge of Kyushu (except for Okinawa), and Raizou supervises the region when he isn't working as a university lecturer. Also, the National Defence Force had to give their approval to the institute's research in order to disprove rumours that they were developing nuclear weapons with their strong nuclear force magic research.
The Shippou Family
The Shippou family is the latest addition to the Ten Master Clans, taking the spot formerly occupied by the Kudou clan, and is another family from the seventh research institute. Their exclusive herd control magic is called "Million Edge", a powerful technique that turns over a million pieces of paper into blades flying at the enemy and doesn't require a CAD to activate it.
The Shippou have bad blood with the Saegusa Family, with the head "Shippou Takumi" accusing them of stealing the concept of herd control magic when then transferred to the seventh institute from the third. Despite being offered control of the areas formerly held by the Kudou clan, Takumi requested that the Kyoto, Nara and Shiga prefectures continue to be managed by the Kudou clan.
The Juumonji Family
The Juumonji family is the third most influential family in the Master Clans, sharing control of the Kanto region with the Saegusa family and equally able to act in any area even without jurisdiction. They mostly serve in defence of the capital because of their unmatched barrier magic developed at the tenth institute. The most prominent of which is the "Phalanx" technique, a unique multi-layered barrier capable of stopping missiles and which has practically become synonymous with the Family itself.
The head of the family was "Juumonji Kazuki" until the most recent conference, where he retired from his position through an inability to perform magic and appointed "Juumonji Katsuto" in his place. The former head lost his ability to use magic through repeated over-application of the family's secret ability "Overclock", which enables its user to temporarily enhance their magic circulation area.
