Shionoya Koreyori (塩谷惟頼)
Koreyori SHIONOYA (date of birth and death unknown) was a busho (Japanese military commander) of Shioya-gun, Shimotsuke Province during the end of Heian period. His father was Korezumi SHIONOYA. He had two sons, Masayoshi SHIONOYA and Tomoyoshi SHIONOYA; his younger brother, Korehiro SHIONOYA was the founder of the Kitsurengawa-Shionoya clan. He had served as Saemon no jo at Mushadokoro (place where Samurai of guard of the Imperial Palace is staffed). He was also called as Koreyori HORIE.
Summary
Koreyori was the third leader of the SHIONOYA family.
It is not exactly unclear when he was born or became a successor of the family; however, because of the description in Rurido Engi (writing about the history) saying 'On April 8, 1169 during the reign of Minamoto no Koreyori', it can be said that at least around then, he had already succeeded to the family because of his father's retirement or death.
In 1183, he joined the army of MINAMOTO no Yoritomo to hunt down and kill the Heike family and prayed for the victory at Kohata Daimyojin Shrine; on March 4, 1184, he took part in the Battle of Uji-gawa River and delivered great performance leading to a victory. Later, he continued fighting to the fall of the Heike family; on April 6, 1186, he thanked the deity of Kohata Daimyojin Shrine for the victory, and transferred the deity to a new place to create the family shrine or Kibata-jinja Shrine (Yaita City) and enshrined the deity as ujigami or a guardian god of the Shionoya family.
Koreyori in the genealogy of the Kitsurengawa-Shionoya clan
In the family tree of the Kitsurengawa-Shionoya clan, Koreyori was also the third leader of the Shionoya clan of the Minamoto family, however, this material was written differently from the historical facts as described above.
SHIONOYA shosho was a Governor of Hoki Province as well as kokushi or a provincial governor of Oshu Kanhasshu; he lived in Shioya where he served as kokushi ordered by TAIRA no Kiyomori during the reign from the seventy-seventh Emperor Goshirakawa to the seventy-ninth Emperor Rokujo. On October 21, 1178, the Shionoya Daimyojin Shrine was established in Kohata.
The above description is unreliable; because the SIONOYA clan was officially named Hoki no kami (governor in Hoki Province) in the reign of Shigeoki Shionoya clan (the fifteenth Century) and also because it is not historically true that Koreyori died in 1178. However, the description could be confused with that of Koreyori's father, Korezumi; that means the whole of the description cannot be dealt with as untrue.
According to the family tree of the Kitsurengawa-Shionoya clan, Koreyori had three sons: Masayoshi, Yorifusa, and Yoshifusa while his younger brother, Tadahiro, was differently described as the second son of Masayoshi or the grandson of Koreyori.