Tada-Genji (Minamoto clan) (多田源氏)
Tada Genji is the name of the line which originated from MINAMOTO no Mitsunaka (Mitsunaka TADA) among Seiwa-Genji (Minamoto clan) branches and was based in Tada.
Summary
Interpretation of 'Tada-Genji'
There are various interpretations on 'Tada-Genji' of Seiwa-Genji as follows today, and all interpretations have good reasons.
In one case, 'Tada-Genji' means all of the early Seiwa-Genji branches whose center figure was MINAMOTO no Mitsunaka who was based in Tada Manors.
In another case, 'Tada-Genji' means 'Settsu-Genji' the descendants of Yorimitsu who inherited Tada Manors as an heir of Mitsunaka.
A recent, precise definition says, 'Tada-Genji' means only the line which inherited Tada Manors among Settsu-Genji branches (for further details, see below).
Early Tada manors and their inheritance
MINAMOTO no Mitsunaka who was a military aristocrat of the capital in the middle Heian period owned Tada Manors in Kawabe district, Settsu Province, an acting governor of which he had became twice, moved to the Tada basin in the manors (the present Tada in Kawanishi City, Hyogo Prefecture), and lived in the mansion surrounded by his retainers' houses, in the vicinity of Tada-jinja Shrine (the previous Tada-In). As he organized his retainers to form an army in Tada Manors, the manors became the first base of Seiwa-Genji which had developed to a prominent samurai clan.
Although Tada Manors were generally supposed to be inherited by MINAMOTO no Yorimitsu who was an heir of Mitsunaka, by Yorimitsu's first child, MINAMOTO no Yorikuni, and then by Yorimitsu's fifth son, Minamoto no Yoritsuna, Yorimitsu and Yorikuni were active in the capital as middle class aristocrats while there are no historical materials which connect them with Tada Manors. In addition, there are some disorders in the early genealogy of Tada-Genji, so that it was suggested during the 1960s or 1970s that Mitsunaka had handed over Tada Manors to his seventh son, MINAMOTO no Yorinori, and to Yorinori's son, Yoritsuna.
On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine that Yorimitsu and Yorikuni, the main line of Mitsunaka, did not inherit Mitsunaka's property while there were no conflicts needing military forces as the regency was established, so it is considered that Yorikuni and Yorimitsu left the management of Tada Manors to their families or retainers and stayed at the capital, but it is still controversial.
The ownership of Tada Manors was donated to the regent family in the reign of Yoritsuna (as well as of Yorikuni), so that Tada Manors became the estates owned by the regent family. Yoritsuna protected the capital with his retainers in Tada Manors when the priests' of Enryaku-ji Temple protested in 1079. After that, MINAMOTO no Akikuni, the first son of Yoritsuna, inherited Tada Manors.
Since the cloistered government period
In the cloistered government period, collateral lines such as MINAMOTO no Kunifusa (Akikuni's uncle) and MINAMOTO no Nakamasa (Akikuni's younger brother) served as the cloistered emperor's army while the line of Akikuni who inherited Tada Manors, the estates owned by the regent family, did not join the cloistered emperor's army and continued to be a private army for the regent family through the generation of Tada Yukitsuna (a grand-grand son of Akikuni). The Tada clan worked at court as secretary of the emperor for generations and the head of the clan called himself "Tada Kurodo" while the decrease of political power of the regent family broke the force of the Tada clan and no prominent person had appeared before Yukitsuna.
Yorimori TADA and his brother Yorinori TADA who had disputed over the head of the Tada clan fought each other at the Hogen Disturbance as Yorimori supported the reigning Emperor Goshirakawa and Yorinori supported the Retired Emperor Sutoku, and then Yorinori and his heir Moritsuna TADA were executed. According to "Heiji Monogatari" (The tale of the Heiji), in the Heiji Disturbance, 'Tada kurodo dayu Yorinori (maybe a misunderstanding of Yorimori)' supported the Nobuyori FUJIWARA and Yoshitomo MINAMOTO side to attack Sanjo Palace together, so that he was appointed as governor of Settsu Province as a reward after the war, while it is unclear about the clan at that time as other historical materials do not mention Tada-Genji.
During the reign of the Taira clan, Yukitsuna who joined the Shishigatani Conspiracy and informed the conspiracy secretly to TAIRA no Kiyomori had been chosen as a leader of the army against the Taira clan by FUJIWARA no Narichika because Yukitsuna had military power in Tada Manors. Although Yukitsuna commanded Settsu warriors and participated actively in the Jisho and Juei Disturbances on the Genji side, MINAMOTO no Yoritomo, the head of the eastern warriors and heir of Seiwa-Genji, seized control of Tada Manor, resulting in the fall of the Tada-Genji.
After that, Tada Manor was ruled directly by the Tada-In gokenin, a group consisting of collateral branches of the Tada-Genji or retainers that had served the Tada-Genji for generations, while direct descendants of the Tada-Genji apparently broke away to form new clans such as the Tada clan and Nose clan; however, further details concerning these developments are no longer known.
Temples and shrines related to Tada-Genji
There are a number of temples and shrines, which handed their legends related to Tada-Genji down to generations, around Kawanishi City, Sanda City, Inagawa-cho and Takarazuka City of Hyogo Prefecture which lie in the former grounds of Tada Manors.