Minamoto no Mitsunaga (源光長)
MINAMOTO no Mitsunaga (year of birth unknownn - January 10, 1184) was a samurai in the closing years of the Heian period. He was from one of the lines of the Seiwa-Genji (Minamoto clan), which is a collateral line of the Settsu-Genji (Minamoto clan), and was a son of MINAMOTO no Mitsunobu, Saemon no jo (third-ranked officer of the Left Division of Outer Palace Guards), from the Mino-Genji (Minamoto clan). His mother was a daughter of Kiyotoshi, Saemon no jo. His brothers include MINAMOTO no Mitsumoto and MINAMOTO no Mitsushige, and his children include MINAMOTO no Kuninaga, MINAMOTO no Mitsutsune, and MINAMOTO no Mitsuhira.
He was commonly called 'Dewa no Hangan.'
He was also known as Mitsunaga TOKI. The noble rank and positions he assumed include Jugoinoge (Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade), Kebiishi Saemon no Jo (third-ranked officer with judicial and police powers in the Left Division of Outer Palace Guards), and Hoki no kuni no kami (Governor of Hoki Province).
He became the successor of the Toki clan, a local ruling family that belongs to the Mino-Genji (Minamoto clan) and, under the Taira clan government, assumed the role of Kebiishi Saemon no Jo (third-ranked officer with judicial and police powers in the Left Division of Outer Palace Guards) as a Kyoto-residing samurai belonging to the Minamoto clan. Soon after Prince Mochihito's conspiracy of uprising was exposed in May 1180, the order to put the prince in exile was given, and Mitsunaga and MINAMOTO no Kanetsuna lead the soldiers of Kebiishicho (Office of Police and Judicial Chief) to search and capture the prince at the Sanjo Takakura residence.
Then a large-scale revolt against the Taira clan occurred in Mino and Omi provinces, and Mitsunaga and other members of the Mino-Genji also joined the revolt as main players, but the army sent by the Taira clan government to suppress the revolt crushed the rebels in Omi, marched into Mino, defeated the rebel forces there and took over their castle ('Rising of the Mino-Genji' and the 'Battle in Omi'). Mitsunaga was dismissed from his position for his involvement in the revolt in March 1181.
In 1183, Mitsunaga entered Kyoto as part of the army of Yoshinaka KISO who advanced from Hokurikudo to Kyoto and was assigned to Hoki no kami (the Governor of Hoki Province) in an appointing ceremony in August. Mitsunaga, however, sided with the Retired Emperor Goshirakawa when Yoshinaka became antagonistic to Goshirakawa, and stood up together with Yukitsuna TADA of the Tada-Genji to defend the Imperial Palace as main forces of the Retired Emperor's army at the time of the Battle of Hoju-ji Temple in November 1183, but he was killed in action together with his son Mitsutsune after the fierce fight, with his severed head exposed to the public. Later, the Toki clan was inherited by Mitsunaga's third son Mitsuhira.