Tachibana no Kiminaga (橘公長)
TACHIBANA no Kiminaga (dates of birth and death unknown) was busho (Japanese military commander) of the Tachibana clan in the end of the Heian period. He was the ninth generation descendant of TACHIBANA no Kimisai who was the second son of TACHIBANA no Hiromi. Umanosuke. His father was TACHIBANA no Kinmitsu (公光) (Kinshige[公重]) and his children were TACHIBANA no Kintada and TACHIBANA no Kiminari.
He was good at Kyuba (archery and equestrianism) and was resourceful. Although he was originally Kenin (a retainer) of TAIRA no Tomomori, he gave up on the Taira family in December 1180, and came to serve MINAMOTO no Yoritomo by an intermediation of Nagakiyo KAGAMI (加々美長清) who was his peer. According to the article of December 19 of "Azuma Kagami" (The Mirror of the East), when he got into a fight with Sanemori SAITO and Kageshige KATAGIRI who were Kenin of MINAMOTO no Tameyoshi at that time at Awataguchi, Tameyoshi did not report it to the Imperial Court but remonstrated with them. For this reason, Kiminaga did not forget a favor of the Minamoto family, and he went to Totomi Province to visit relatives and left for Kamakura.
He was given an important post by Yoritomo as 'a person who knew Kyoto very well' and joined the farewell reception when TAIRA no Yorimori went back to Kyoto. After that, he fought under the command of MINAMOTO no Yoshitsune. After the Battle of Dan no ura in 1185, he was in charge of execution of TAIRA no Munemori who was the commander of the TAIRA family and was captured in the battle, and reported it and Shigehira's last to Yoritomo in Kamakura. According to the section 'oitono-kirare' (a story that Munemori was executed in the 11th volume) in "Heike Monogatari" (The tale of the Heike), people did not forget that Kiminaga had been Kenin of the Taira family at one time and strongly criticized his change of mind.
His descendants spread to Hizen Province and flourished as the Ogashima (小鹿島) clan named after the place name Ogashima (present-day Oga City, Akita Prefecture) which was temporarily the territory of his second son Kiminari.