Abe no Yoritoki (安倍頼時)
ABE no Yoritoki (year of birth unknown - August 28, 1057) was a military commander in the Heian period. He was Fushu-cho (a chief of barbarians), who controlled Okuroku-gun districts in Mutsu Province. ABE no Tadayoshi was his father. His brothers were ABE no Tadayo and ABE no Ryosho; his children were ABE no Sadato, ABE no Muneto, ABE no Ieto, ABE no Yukito, and many others. He was a grandfather of FUJIWARA no Kiyohira, the founder of the Oshu-Fujiwara clan. His original name was "Yoriyoshi."
The Abe clan obtained a quasi-independent power based on a patriarchal system over Okuroku-gun districts, opposing the Imperial Court. After FUJIWARA no Narito was appointed Mutsu no kami (Governor of Mutsu Province) in 1051, the Abe clan mobilized barbarians to invade the provincial governorate by crossing the Koromo River (Iwate Prefecture), and defeated the provincial government force in "the Battle of Onikiribe" (the Zenkunen War). The Imperial Court then appointed MINAMOTO no Yoriyoshi both Mutsu no kami and Chinjufu Shogun (Commander-in-chief of the Defense of the North) and sent him to attack the Abe clan; however, the Abe clan received an amnesty to pray for Jotomon-in FUJIWARA no Shoshi; both sides concluded a peace. Yoriyoshi (Abe) changed his name to 'Yoritoki' because he felt restrained about having the same name as MINAMANOTO no Yoriyoshi.
Just before Yoriyoshi finished up his service as Governor of Mutsu Province in 1056, he provoked Yoritoki to take up arms (the Akutokawa Incident). Details of this incident was as follows: when the Yoriyoshi's army returned to the Taga-jo Castle, his followers' camp was attacked by someone at night; Yoriyoshi requested the handing over of Sadato, a suspect of this incident. Yoritoki refused Yoriyoshi's request and took up arms against him; the Imperial order was issued to dispatch a punitive force against Yoritoki.
ABE no Yoritoki overwhelmed MINAMOTO no Yoriyoshi. However, Gozoku (a powerful regional clan) ABE no Tomitada, who was considered a member of the Abe clan, raise in rebellion against Yoritoki, so Yoritoki went up north to defeat the rebel army. In August 1057, he encountered a surprise raid near Nitoroshi by Tomitada's army; he was seriously wounded by a stray arrow. Seriously wounded, he retreated to Tonomi no saku (a fort of Tonomi); however, he died there within a reach of the Koromo River base.
In addition, according to Konjaku monogatari shu (The Tale of Times Now Past), he did not mastermind the rebellion; this incident was followed by the fact that he was suspected of exploiting the uprising of Emishi (Japanese northerners).