was the progenitor of the Nitta branch family of the

Minamoto 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 ...

samurai clan, who fought alongside the Minamoto in 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 himse ...

. He is also known as Nitta Tarō and Nitta Yoshishige. His father was

Minamoto no Yoshikuni was son of famous samurai Minamoto no Yoshiie and an ancestor of the Ashikaga and Nitta clans. Yoshikuni was the samurai who first implored the spirit of the Iwashimizu Shrine to start living in this bamboo grove and he built the shrine in ho ...

and his grandfather

Minamoto no Yoshiie Minamoto No Yoshiie (源義家; 1039 – 4 August 1106), also known as Hachimantarō, was a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period, and '' Chinjufu-shōgun'' (Commander-in-chief of the defense of the North). The first son of Minamoto ...

. In 1156, he fought in the Hogen Rebellion with

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 ...

. He also fought with Kiyomori in the Heiji Rebellion in 1160 along with his younger brother

Minamoto no Yoshiyasu Minamoto no Yoshiyasu, also called Ashikaga Yoshiyasu (源義康/足利義康, 1127 – 1157) was a samurai of the late Heian period. He is known for his participation in the Hōgen rebellion in 1156. He is best known as the founder of the Ashika ...

. However he switched sides shortly after the rebellion and fought with the

in the

two decades later. He fought in the

Battle of Awazu Minamoto no Yoshinaka made his final stand at Awazu, after fleeing from his cousins' armies, which confronted him after he attacked Kyoto, burning the Hōjūjiden, and kidnapping Emperor Go-Shirakawa. During the pursuit he was joined by his ...

with his brother in 1184, and again in the

Battle of Yashima Battle of Yashima (屋島の戦い) was one of the battles of the Genpei War on March 22, 1185 in the Heian period. It occurred in Sanuki Province (Shikoku) which is now Takamatsu, Kagawa. Background Following a long string of defeats, the Tai ...

a year later. He died in 1202. Yoshishige was posthumously awarded the title of '' Chinjufu-shōgun'', or Commander-in-chief of the Defense of the North, in 1611, four centuries after his death, by the second Tokugawa shōgun,

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

. He ordained as a Buddhist monk and received the

Dharma name A Dharma name or Dhamma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism (where it is more proper to call it Dhamma or Sangha name). The nam ...

Jōnichi (上西).

References

*Papinot, Edmond (1910). Historical and geographical dictionary of Japan. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha. Minamoto clan Nitta clan 1135 births 1202 deaths People of Heian-period Japan People of Kamakura-period Japan Kamakura period Buddhist clergy {{samurai-stub