Sho Hirokata (庄弘方)
Hirokata SHO (the year of birth and death unknown) was a warrior of the Kodama party of Musashi Province (present Kurisaki, Kodama-cho, Honjo City, Saitama Prefecture), who lived from end of the Heian period to the Kamakura period. He was the fifth son (the youngest child) of Iehiro SHO, who was the fourth family head of the Sho head family of the Kodama party. His common name was Goro.
Military career
Goro Hirokata SHO was a warrior of the Kodama party who stood on the side of the Minamoto clan and participated in battles, along with his other brothers including Tadaie SHO and Takaie SHO.
He is known as a man of military prowess, recorded in the "Genpei Seisui ki (Rise and Fall of the Minamoto and the Heike clans)": in the Battle of Uji-gawa River (in 1184), he followed the vanguard (Nobutsuna SASAKI and Kagesue KAJIWARA) to cross the river, which is known for 'contention for the vanguard at Yodo-gawa River.'
Joining the army of MINAMOTO no Noriyori after that, he also fought in the Battle of Ichinotani. According to the "Azuma Kagami (Mirror of Eastern Japan; historical account of the Kamakura bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun))" Hirokata participated in the War of Jokyu (attempt by the Retired Emperor Gotoba to overthrow the Kamakura bakufu) in 1221 on the side of Yasutoki HOJO (the Kamakura bakufu); Hirokata showed an achievement that he himself and his brother Shiro SHO each captured one enemy alive at the Battle of Uji-bashi Bridge of Yamashiro Province, while one of their brothers Saburo Tadaie was killed in that battle.
About the Asami clan
Moving southward from Kurisaki, Goro Hirokata SHO settled at what is now known as Iriazami, Kodama-cho, and he became the founder of the Asami clan (its family tree records him as Goro Hirokata SHO ASAMI). Sanetaka ASAMI was his son. The Asami clan later gained more territory in Joshu (present, a part of Ishikawa Prefecture and Fukui Prefecture), Esshu (Toyama Prefecture), and Kashu (Niigata Prefecture of the main land) (See Ienaga SHO for more information).