So Sukekuni (宗助国)
Sukekuni SO (1207? - November 4, 1274) was a busho (a Japanese military commander) who lived in the mid- Kamakura period. He was also a Jitodai (a deputy landlord) (and also a Shugodai [a deputy military governor]) of Tsushima Province. He was a member of the SO clan. He became an adopted heir of his eldest brother, Shigenao SO (the first family head of the So clan).
Umanosuke
His name was also Sukekuni SO (by using the character 資 as Suke, instead of 助, but the same pronunciation).
"Hachiman Gudokun" (Exegesis of Hachimanshin [God of War] Legends for the Ignorant and Children) described that on November 11, 1274, in the Bunei War, Hachimangu sub-shrine in Tsushima Province bursted into flames, and people were frightened that it would be burned down, but it was an illusion. The ｗestern sea of Tsushima was covered with Menggu battleships in the afternoon of that day. Mongolian battleships came alongside of the pier of Sasuura (present Komodahama, Izuhara-cho, Tshima City) located at the western shore of Shimojima in Tsushima and 450 ships, 30,000 troops raided the town at around four in the afternoon. When the Jito (a landlord) office of Kokufu (a provincial capital) was informed about the raid at around six in the afternoon, Sukekuni SO, who was both the Jito of Tsushima Province and the substitute of Shugo (a military governor), Kagesuke SHONI, left for Sasuura through rocky mountains in the dark, with more than 80 horse soldiers. The next morning, when a translator was sent to the Mongols as an envoy, asking for the reason of their raid, they answered with an intense attack of arrows shot by about one thousand troops unloaded from 7 to 8 ships. Sukekuni immediately pulled his camp together for counter attack, which gave damage to the Mongols, however, it was outnumbered and after a couple of fierce battle, all the members of the Sukekuni camp, including Sukekuni himself, his son, Umajiro, his adopted son, Yajiro, Sho no Taro-nyudo Monk, Tozaburo Tai, and a Gokenin (Shogunal retainers) from Higo Province were killed.
The Mongols set fire to Sasuura and it was burned down. Two men named Kotaro and Hejiro hurriedly went to Hakata by boat and made reports about what had happened in Sasuura.
The burial site of the remains of Sukekuni and his followers exist as "Kubi-zuka Tomb" (tomb of the head) or "Odo-zuka Tomb" (tomb of th torso).
Sukekuni and his followers are enshrined at Komodahama Shrine in Komoda, Izuhara-machi, Tsushima City. In this shrine, a ceremony, 'meigen no gi' (a ceremony of resounding bowstrings), in which people equipped with suit of armor parade around the town and shoot arrows towards the ocean to pray for peace for the island, is held every year on November 12, during the Komodahama Shrine Festival.