Minamoto no Hirotsuna (源広綱)
MINAMOTO no Hirotsuna (date of birth and death unknown) was a busho (Japanese military commander), who lived during the end of the Heian Period and the early Kamakura Period. He was from Settsu-Genji (Minamoto clan), one of the families lines belonging to the Seiwa-Genji clan. He was the youngest son of Ouchi Shugo (safeguards of the Imperial Palace) MINAMOTO no Yorimasa. He became an adopted son of his eldest brother, MINAMOTO no Nakatsuna. His official court rank was Suruga no kuni no Kami (Governor of Suruga Province), Jugoi (Junior Fifth Rank).
When Yorimasa and Nakatsuna took up arms with Prince Mochihito and died in the battle of Rising of Prince Mochihito, he was in Izu Province with Nakatsuna's second son, MINAMOTO no Aritsuna, and they joined the army to search out and destroy the Heishi (Taira clan). In 1184, he was appointed to Suruga no kuni no Kami by Yoritomo's recommendation as a reward of the Battle of Ichinotani. Yoritomo treated well such persons as Hirotsuna, Yoshikane ASHIKAGA (MINAMOTO no Yoshikane), and Yoshinobu HIRAGA (MINAMOTO no Yoshinobu), while he often treated the other family members of the same Seiwa-Genji clan (Minamoto clan) rather coldly, by sometimes giving them different treatments on purpose.
As Hirotsuna's younger brother-in-law, Aritsuna, who became a husband of MINAMOTO no Yoshitsune's daughter, Aritsuna consistently acted together with Yoshitsune, and for this reason, Aritsuna was forced to kill himself by Yoritomo. Hirotsuna did not involve in this incident, and he joined the army going to the Battle of Oshu. Later, he also accompanied Yoritomo who was going up to Kyoto in December 1190, however, in January 1191 (the next month) when Yoritomo was to return to Kanto District, he suddenly ran away on the very day of his departure, without telling his whereabouts even to his Kenin (retainers). In July 1191, Mongaku, Buddhist monk at Jingo-ji Temple informed to Kamakura that Hirotsuna was living a retired life in seclusion at Kami Daigo. The reasons for his disappearance were said to be that he had not been chosen to serve as a gobunin (member of a retinue) on the occasion of Yoritomo's Udaisho-haiga, a courtesy visit to the Imperial Court to receive the appointment to Udaisho (Major Captain of the Right Division of the Inner Palace Guards), and that his wishes regarding the governance of Suruga Province were not respected.
His descendents, in later periods, enjoyed prosperity as the Ota clan, and one of the eminent figures during the early Sengoku Period (period for warring states), Dokan OTA was from this clan.