Taira no Takamochi (平高望), born Prince Takamochi (高望王), was a former member of the

Imperial Family A royal family is the immediate family of King, kings/Queen regnant, queens, Emir, emirs/emiras, Sultan, sultans/Sultana (title), sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the ...

demoted to

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

of the

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 is the founder of the

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 the Kanmu Heishi lineage of the clan.

Life

Prince Takamochi was born as the son of Prince Takami, the third prince of Prince Kazurawara, and Tachibana no Harunari. Takamochi was the great-grandson of

Emperor Kanmu , or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 桓武天皇 (50) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Kanmu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the sco ...

, who reigned from 781 to 806. He was granted the court rank of

Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade The court ranks of Japan, also known in Japanese as ''ikai'' (位階), are indications of an individual's court rank in Japan based on the system of the state. ''Ikai'' as a system was originally used in the Ritsuryo system, which was the polit ...

and served as Vice Governor (''suke'' ''kokushi'') 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 ...

. On May 13, 889, Takamochi was granted the surname Taira, thus establishing the Kanmu Heishi line of the

. This line proved to be the strongest and most dominant line during the

. Even after his retirement, he stayed in Kazusa Province and became a powerful 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 ...

as a feudal lord, privately owning vast

rice fields A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Aust ...

Genealogy

Taira no Korihira, a great grandson of Takamochi, moved to

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...

(currently part of

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

) and established an important

Daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally ...

dynasty. Later, the Kanmu Heishi lineage had many branches, including Hōjō,

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

, Miura and Hatakeyama clans.

Family

* Father: Prince Takami * Mother: Tachibana no Harunari * Wife: Fujiwara no Yoshikata's daughter ** Eldest son: Taira no Kunika ** Second son: Taira no Yoshikane ** Third son:

Taira no Yoshimasa 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 divide ...

** Son: Taira no Yoshiyori * Concubine ** Son:

Taira no Yoshifumi Taira no Yoshifumi (平良文) was a samurai lord of the Heian period. Called the "father of Musashi Plain development," the eight Taira clans of East Japan are said to have descended from him. He was also known as Muraoka Gorō. Life Yoshifu ...

* Unknown mother ** Son: Taira no Yoshihiro ** Son: Taira no Yoshimochi ** Son: Taira no Yoshimasa ** Daughter: Fujiwara no Korechiyo's wife, Fujiwara no Tamenori's mother

References

{{Reflist Taira clan 9th-century births Year of death unknown Japanese nobility 10th-century deaths Imperial House of Japan