Taira no Maki (平真樹)
TAIRA no Maki (the date of birth and death unknown) was a lord of the manor from a local ruling family during mid Heian period. He is said to be a local clan of Nihari county, Hitachi province. He had 'Taira' of the Taira clan as his family name but he cannot be confirmed to be in line of a Taira clan originated from TAIRA no Takamochi, who was from the same area. Taira no Masakado praised him as a 'strong ally' and Maki's daughter (known as Kiminogozen) married Masakado.
Summary
He was a feudal lord who lived in Ookunitama, Nihari county and he is said to have owned vast territories from Makabe, Nihari, to Tsukuba. He often fought with MINAMOTO no Mamoru, as there was feud over the territory between them. Asked by Maki to arbitrate, Masakado backed him up. (He is said to have accepted reluctantly because he might lose his own territoty if TAIRA no Maki should be defeated by MINAMOTO no Mamoru). For this reason, the conflict between Masakado and Mamoru became more serious and so did the one between Maki and his uncle, TAIRA no Kunika, who Maki were not on good terms with and who was in favor of Mamoru's side with a matrimonial relation with Mamoru. At last, Mamoru's children, MINAMOTO no Tasuku, MINAMOTO no Takashi, and MINAMOTO no Shigeru, attacked Masakado and the fight between Masakado and the family became fierce.
In 936, Mamoru submitted a complaint regarding Masakado and Makito to the Imperial Court, who issued a kanpu (official documents from Dajokan) to call for Maki and so on based on the complaint, but he was forgiven for all sins as Emperor Suzaku granted an amnesty on May 24, 937 and on September 23, 937, he and Masakado fought against TAIRA no Yoshikane in Mt. Yubukuro-yama.
It is said that there were Okunitama-jinja Shrine and the remains of his residence near the center of the private estate where TAIRA no Maki ruled.