Kazusa Hirotsune (上総広常, died 1183) was a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

lord and ''

gōzoku , in Japanese, refers to powerful regional families. In historical context, it can refer to powerful non-royal families regardless of their area of influence, in contrast to the Imperial Family. The most powerful ''gōzoku'' families of the Yamat ...

'' in Kantō during the late

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

. He was the head of the Bōsō

Taira clan The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...

and fought against the Taira clan on

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...

's side during the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...

. He is commonly also known as Kazusa-no-suke Hirotsune, in which "''Kazusa-no- suke''" (Vice Governor of

Kazusa Province was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture. The province was located in the middle of the Bōsō Peninsula, whose name takes its first ''kanji'' from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa province ...

) indicates his office.

Life

Kazusa Hirotsune was born in

, the son of Taira no Tsunezumi, a local government official. As his father had raised

Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123 – 11 February 1160) was the head of the Minamoto clan and a general of the late Heian period of Japanese history. His son Minamoto no Yoritomo became ''shōgun'' and founded the Kamakura shogunate, the first shogunate in the history of ...

, Hirotsune began his service under Yoshitomo and entered the capital of

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. In 1156 Hirotsune participated in the

Hōgen rebellion In Japanese, Hōgen may refer to several words. Among them: * Hōgen (era) (保元, 1156–1159), an era in Japan * Hōgen rebellion, a short civil war in 1156 * dialect (方言) — for example: "eigo no hōgen" (English dialect) See also * ...

, and after this, he mainly focused on unifying the Taira clan in

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

. In 1179 as a result of the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

Taira no Kiyomori was a military leader and ''kugyō'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan. Early life Kiyomori was born in Heian-kyō, Japan, in 1118 as the first so ...

, the head of the

, Kazusa became the domain of

Fujiwara no Tadakiyo Fujiwara (, written: 藤原 lit. "''Wisteria'' field") is a Japanese surname. (In English conversation it is likely to be rendered as .) Notable people with the surname include: ; Families * The Fujiwara clan and its members ** Fujiwara no Kamatari ...

, a Taira clan retainer. This resulted in a conflict between the local Taira and the Taira clan in Kyoto, and ultimately the disownment of Hirotsune and his family by Kiyomori. Hirotsune was a prominent ''

'' figure in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

during

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

's call to arms. In 1180, Hirotsune joined Minamoto no Yoritomo, who had lost the

Battle of Ishibashiyama The was the first in which Minamoto no Yoritomo, who became ''shōgun'' less than a decade later, was commander of the Minamoto forces. The battle was fought on September 14, 1180, in the southwest of present-day Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, ...

and planned a second attempt against the

in Awa Province. In ''

Azuma Kagami is a Japanese historical chronicle. The medieval text chronicles events of the Kamakura Shogunate from Minamoto no Yoritomo's rebellion against the Taira clan in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō (the 6th shōgun) and his return to Kyoto in 12 ...

'', it is said that Hirotsune joined Yoritomo with an army of 20,000

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

men. However, in ''Engyōbon

Heike Monogatari is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being the ''on'yo ...

'' the number of cavalrymen is said to be 10,000, and in ''Genpei Tōjōroku'' the number is said to be 1,000. This army is said to have given Yoritomo the advantage needed to defeat the Taira clan. Furthermore, Hirotsune considered killing Yoritomo if he deemed Yoritomo unfit as a leader.

Historian Minoru Noguchi has concluded based on records of Hirotsune in ''Azuma Kagami'' that Hirotsune was on Yoritomo's side from the beginning. Hirotsune's reply to Yoritomo's messenger before Yoritomo's call to arms was an immediate approval, but it would have been impossible for him to have joined the war until late August considering that he traveled on a ship. According to historian Yūichi Goza, Yoritomo was able to travel from Awa to Kazusa Province because Hirotsune had been on his side from the beginning and had defeated the Taira forces in the area enabling the mobilizing of Yoritomo's army.{{Cite book , last=Goza , first=Yūichi , url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1286939678 , title=Yoritomo to Yoshitoki : buke seiken no tanjō , last2=呉座 , first2=勇一 , date= , year=2021 , isbn=978-4-06-526105-7 , pages=60–63 , oclc=1286939678 In October 1180, Yoritomo planned to set off to Kyoto after victory at the

Battle of Fujigawa The was a battle of the Genpei War of the Heian period of Japanese history. It took place in 1180, in what is now Shizuoka Prefecture. Background Minamoto no Yoritomo, using Kamakura as his headquarters, sent his counselor Hōjō Tokimasa i ...

. However, Hirotsune persuaded Yoritomo to stay in Kantō to save Yoritomo from a defeat similar to that of

Minamoto no Yoshinaka , , or Lord Kiso was a general from the late Heian period of Japanese history. A member of the Minamoto clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was his cousin and rival during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans. Yoshinaka was born in Musas ...

. Hirotsune later came to conflict with Yoritomo who had established a samurai government but attached importance to the

Imperial Court in Kyoto The Imperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji period (1868–1912), after which the court was moved from Kyoto (formerly Heian-kyō) to Tokyo (formerly Edo) and integrated into the Meiji gover ...

. Furthermore, animosity against Hirotsune grew among Yoritomo's retainers after Hirotsune ignored Yoritomo by not getting off his horse to greet Yoritomo. Hirotsune and his eldest son Yoshitsune were assassinated by

Kajiwara Kagetoki was a samurai and retainer of the Kamakura Shogunate during the late Heian and early Kamakura period. He was a spy for Minamoto no Yoritomo in the Genpei War, and a warrior against the Taira clan. He came to be known for his greed and treachery. ...

in 1183, upon the request of Yoritomo who had suspected him of

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

. However, Hirotsune was later found to be innocent and his honor was restored.

References

People of Heian-period Japan 1183 deaths