Miyoshi no Yasunobu (三善康信)
MIYOSHI no Yasunobu (also known as Yasunobu MIYOSHI) (1140 - September 3, 1221) was a court noble who lived from the end of the Heian period to the beginning of Kamakura period. He was the first director of Monchujo (an organization in charge of administering lawsuits) during the Kamakura bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). When he became a priest, he took the name Zenshin. Yasutsura MIYOSHI was one of his children.
He originally came from a family of lower-ranking nobility that inherited the post of secretary of Daijokan (Grand Council of State) and the family was in charge of mathematics. His father was Yasumitsu MIYOSHI (also known as Yasuhisa MIYOSHI).
His mother was the sister of Yoritomo MINAMOTO's wet nurse and he visited Yoritomo, who was exiled in Izu Province, three times a month to brief him on the situation in Kyoto because of this connection. Two months after Prince Mochihito took up arms in May 1180, Yasunobu sent a messenger to Yoritomo to warn him that there was a plot to attack the MINAMOTO clan members in various provinces and advised him to escape to Oshu in haste, thereby playing an important role in the Yoritomo' uprising ("Azuma Kagami" [The Mirror of the East]).
In June 1184, when Yasunobu was summoned to Kamakura by Yoritomo, met him in the corridors of Tsuruoka Hachiman-gu Shrine, and was asked to live in Kamakura and assist in running the government affairs of the samurai families, he agreed to do so.
(On this occasion he was called Chugu Daibu zoku Nyudo Zenshin [Priest Zenshin of Master of the Consort's Household].)
In November of the same year, a new building was constructed for 'Kobunsho,' which was named after the bureaucracy that dealt with the household affairs of nobles. Hiromoto OE became the director of the office and Yasunobu became responsible for trial affairs as the first director of Monchujo.
After the death of Yoritomo, he participated in the council of 13 representatives of lower-ranking vassals, who were created out of concern of the autocratic nature of the second shogun MINAMOTO no Yoriie. In the Jokyu War, 1221, he attended the council despite his illness and supported Hiromoto OE's position of immediately sending forces. In the same year, he died after the Jokyu War.
Above are how MIYOSHI no Yasunobu is depicted in "Azuma Kagami," but "Azuma Kagami" must be read with a grain of salt since it contains a number of articles which honored MIYOSHI no Yasunobu publicly, including observations plagiarized from FUJIWARA no Teika's diary, "Meigetsu-ki," as recommendations made by MIYOSHI no Yasunobu.