General Minamoto no Yoshitomo served as the head of the Minamoto clan during the Heian Period and was the father of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate.
Situated in the tranquil Mihama Cho region on the Chita Peninsula, approximately 35 kilometers south of Nagoya City, stands the Omido-ji Temple, a mid-seventh-century temple of the Shingon Buddhist sect. Also known as Noma Daibo, this ancient temple gained notoriety as the location where the renowned warrior Minamoto no Yoshitomo, father of the first Kamakura Shogun, Yoritomo, and Yoshitsune, met his demise.
In 1159, the once-close Minamoto and Taira clans had become bitter enemies following Yoshitomo's defeat in the Heiji Rebellion. Fleeing the capital, Kyoto, Yoshitomo sought refuge in modern-day Aichi Prefecture and stayed in the village of Noma at the residence of Osada Tadamune. Unfortunately, one of his retainers' fathers-in-law betrayed Yoshitomo for a reward, leading to a fatal attack on him during a bath.
Caught defenseless and unarmed, Yoshitomo's last words, uttered while surrounded by enemies, were "If I had even a wooden sword,..." before he was slain. His head was taken and washed in a nearby pond known as Chi No Ike, or Pond of Blood. The remnants of the bathhouse still exist, and the gravesite, enclosed by a low stone wall, is situated alongside the temple's main hall.
Visitors leave offerings of wooden swords at the noble warriors' grave, believing that dedicating a sword will lead to answered prayers. Consequently, the grave is adorned with various wooden swords.
The main worship hall, Kyakuden, at Noma Daibo is designated an Important Cultural Property, while the Bonsho Prayer Hall is a Prefectural Cultural asset. Of particular note is the entranceway to the Prayer Hall, which was once part of the reception hall at Momoyama Castle.
Between the Kyakuden and Bonsho halls stand a gate erected in 1190 by Yoritomo in memory of his slain father and a drum tower built by the Fifth Kamakura Shogun, Fujiwara Yoritsugu, in honor of his ancestor.
Noma Daibo maintains a somewhat eerie ambiance as the site where historical events unfolded. Not much appears to have changed in the approximately 860 years since Minamoto No Yoshitomo sought sanctuary here, only to tragically lose his life.
See also
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Tomoe Gozen
Gozen is regarded as one of the few historically documented examples of true female warriors of feudal Japan, known as onna-musha or onna-bugeisha. Although Japanese history records countless women who at various times were forced to take up arms—for example, in defense of their castles—Tomoe Gozen was, without any doubt, a genuinely skilled and accomplished fighter. She was the wife of Kiso (Minamoto) Yoshinaka, although The Tale of the Heike describes her more as a female vassal. Yoshinaka rose in rebellion against the Taira clan and, in 1184, captured Kyoto after his victory at the Battle of Kurikawa. After the Taira were driven into the western provinces, Yoshinaka began insistently asserting that he alone was worthy of assuming leadership of the Minamoto clan and taking on the mantle of its head.
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Tachibana Muneshige
Tachibana Muneshige was born the eldest son of Takahashi Shigetane, one of the principal retainers of the Ōtomo clan and commander of Iwaya Castle. In childhood, he bore the name Senkumamaru. His early years coincided with a period of intense military confrontation between the Ōtomo clan and other powerful warrior houses of Kyūshū—namely the Shimazu, Akizuki, and Ryūzōji clans.
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Tachibana Dosetsu
Tachibana Dōsetsu is the name by which Hetsugi Akitsura is more widely known; the name of this lineage is also found read as Hekki or Bekki. For a long period, Akitsura served the Ōtomo clan, the daimyō of Bungo Province, and took part in wars against the Ōuchi family, the principal enemies of the Ōtomo in northwestern Kyushu. In the 1560s, Akitsura seized the castle of the Tachibana clan, which had rebelled against the Ōtomo, and thereafter adopted the surname Tachibana. Around the same time, he took Buddhist vows and assumed the name Dōsetsu, which means “Snowy Road.”
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Taira no Masakado
Taira no Masakado embodied the quintessential samurai of his era—self-assured, harsh, and unyielding. In his youth, he served in the palace guard and repeatedly proved his bravery while suppressing unrest. Thanks to these achievements, Masakado sought the post of chief of the capital’s military-police office (the kebiishi-chō), but he was rejected: by that time, nearly all court positions—now little more than privileged sinecures—were controlled by members of the powerful Fujiwara clan.
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Sakakibara Yasumasa
Yasumasa was the second son of Sakakibara Nagamasa and was born in Ueno in Mikawa Province. From a young age, he began serving Tokugawa Ieyasu and eventually rose to the position of one of his most trusted generals. His wife was the daughter of Osuga Yasutaka. Ieyasu first noticed the young Yasumasa during the suppression of the Ikkō-ikki uprising in Mikawa in 1564. Thanks to his demonstrated abilities, Yasumasa was granted the privilege of using the character “yasu”—the second character of Ieyasu’s own name—in his own. Although he was the second child in his family, he became his father’s heir, though the exact reasons for this remain unknown.
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Sakai Tadatsugu
Tadatsugu was one of the most renowned generals serving Tokugawa Ieyasu. After Ieyasu broke ties with the Imagawa clan, Tadatsugu—an ardent supporter of this decision—was granted command of Yoshida Castle in 1565, which controlled the coastal road from Tōtomi to Mikawa. During the Battle of Mikatagahara in 1573, he held the right flank of the Tokugawa forces even when the troops sent by Oda fled under the assault of the Takeda army. In the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, he personally requested permission to carry out a night attack on the Takeda camp, which he executed brilliantly together with Kanamori Nagachika.
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Ryuzoji Takanobu
Takanobu was the eldest son of Ryūzōji Takaie and the great-grandson of Ryūzōji Iekane. His father was killed by a man named Baba Yoritiku in 1544. At a young age, Takanobu took Buddhist vows and received the monastic name Engetsu. However, around the age of eighteen, he returned to secular life, and in 1548, after the death of Ryūzōji Tanehide, he became the head of both branches of the Ryūzōji family.
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Ouchi Yoshihiro
Ōuchi Yoshihiro was the second son of Ōuchi Hiroyo, who headed the Ōuchi clan in the western part of Honshu. In 1363, Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu confirmed the Ōuchi family in the position of shugo of Suō and Nagato Provinces. In his youth, Yoshihiro assisted his father in strengthening the influence of the Northern Court on the island of Kyushu — they served under Imagawa Ryōsun, who had been tasked with subjugating the nine provinces of Kyushu.
