Sakanoue no Hirono (坂上広野)
SAKANOUE no Hirono (787 - April 1, 828) was the second son of SAKANOUE no Tamuramaro. Jushiinoge (Junior Forth Rank, Lower Grade). Uhyoe no kami (Captain of the Right Division of the Middle Palace Guard). He was also referred to as SAKANOUE no Hironomaro.
Hirano-dono
He was a kaihatsu-ryoshu (local notables who actually developed the land) of Hiranosho, Sumiyoshi-gun, Settsu Province (present-day Hirano Ward, Osaka City), called 'Hirano-dono.'
During the Kusuko Incident occurred, Hirono, together with his father, supported the Emperor Saga. Hirono was sent to block the checking station in Omi Province and Tamuramaro was assigned to attack Retired Emperor Heizei through Minodo-street. Since his elder brother, SAKANOUE no Ono passed away early, Hirono took over the head of the Sakanoue clan. Hirono seemed to be a real warrior with a martial art talent inherited from his father, Tamuramaro. But since he died early from drinking too much Sake, his brother, SAKANOUE no Kiyono took over the head of the family.
His elder sister, SAKANOUE no Haruko was a consort of Emperor Kanmu. It is reported that she went to Hirano to live off Hirono, and buit Choho-ji Temple which later became a nunnery temple succeeded by the Sakanoue clan for generations (Choho-ji keizu - the genealogical table of Choho-ji Temple).
It is said that Shuraku-ji Temple built within the private residence of SAKANOUE no Hirono that appeared in the dream of Ryonin (Shoo-daishi), the founder of the Dainenbutsu-ji Temple, when he was in the Shitenno-ji Temple was the predecessor of the Dainenbutsu-ji Temple in Hirano, the head temple of Yuzu Nenbustu sect (Dainenbutsuji ki - records of Dainenbutsu-ji Temple).
Hirono's tomb is in Sakanoue park in Hirano, which is not the original one, but one that was built later.
The whole family of Hirono
SAKANOUE no Minebon, a child of SAKANOUE no Mineo who was jiju (a chamberlain) of Hirono's child was Dewa no Gon no Suke (provisional vice governor of Dewa Province), SAKANOUE no Yukimatsu, the child of SAKANOUE no Minebon was Akitajo no suke (provincial governor of Akita-jo Castle in Dewa Province) Gon no kami (provisional governor), and SAKANOUE no Takatoki, the child of SAKANOUE no Yukimatsu was Dewa no suke (assistant governor of Dewa Province). Their official court ranks were related to Oshu (Mutsu province) which had a connection with Hirono's father, Tamuramaro. Among the descendants of SAKANOUE no Kiyono, Hirono's younger brother, SAKANOUE no Masamune and SAKANOUE no Yoshimune held the post of Chinju-fu shogun (Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North), and SAKANOUE no Masamine held the post of Dewa no kami (the governor of Dewa Province) while SAKANOUE no Masamichi held posts such as Mutsu no kami (the governor of Mutsu Province). SAKANOUE no Masamichi who was said to be the third son of Kiyono was in fact the child of Hirono according to the fifth of the six official national history books "Montoku Jitsuroku." Masamichi resided in Hiranosho, Settsu Province, and he was said to have taken over as head of the family of the Sakanoue clan that originated in Hirono. The descendants of Hirono were divided into two lines; the line living in Kyoto for generations with the official court ranks of Myobo hakase (teacher of law in the Ritsuryo system), etc. (the line of SAKANOUE no Yoshikage, a child of Masamichi, Ukon no shosho - Minor Captain of the Right Division of Inner Palace Guards) and the line settling into Hiranosho (the line of SAKANOUE no Minebon, Dewa no Gon no Suke who was the grandchild of Hirono).
The Hirano clan and Shichimyo family
After the fall of the Kumata clan, the Hirano clan appeared in the latter half of the Muromachi period. According to the genealogy of Choho-ji keizu (the genealogical table of Choho-ji Temple) that SAKANOUE no Haruko had built, family tradition was handed down to the Sueyoshi clan from the family of the Hirano clan, and the family tree of the Sueyoshi clan, the Hirano clan originated from SAKANOUE no Yukimatsu (Yukimasu HIRANO), Akitajo no suke Gon no kami, who was the child of SAKANOUE no Minebon, Kiyomizu-dera betto (Chief Priest at Kiyomizu-dera Temple). Sakanoue (a family called the Hirano Shichimyo family, one of seven families of the Hirano clan) including the Sueyoshi clan was derived from the Hirano clan. Like the main branch of the Sakanoue clan, and the Hirano clan which was the head of the branch families, Hirano Shichimyo family referred to themselves as the 'clan in charge of popular affairs' for generations and supported medieval self-governing city Hirano, comparable to Sakai city. The Sakanoue clan, the main branch, had maintained matrimonial relations with the court nobles of Kyoto for generations, and lived in a residence located in a corner of the Choho-ji Temple until they moved into Tokyo during the Meiji period. The Sueyoshi clan, the head of Shichimyo families, became extremely prosperous during the early Edo period; although later it was divided into the east family and the west family (Kanbe SUEYOSHI's family and Magozaemon SUEYOSHI's family), their descendants still exists in Hirano.