Taira no Moritoshi (平盛俊)
TAIRA no Moritoshi (born on an unknown date, died in March 20, 1184) was a busho (a Japanese military commander) during the end of the Heian period who was from the Ise-Heishi clan (a branch of the Taira clan). He worked together with his father, TAIRA no Morikuni, as an aide to TAIRA no Kiyomori. His wife was Itsukushima no naishi. TAIRA no Moritsuna (Takahashi Saemon no Jo) and TAIRA no Moritsugu were sons of him. TAIRA no Moritoshi was the Ecchu no kami (the governor of Ecchu Province). He was commonly called Ecchu no kami, and then, came to be called Ecchu-Zenji (meaning the former governor of Ecchu Province) because of his official position (The Taira clan were eventually stripped of their governmental positions by Genji [the Minamoto clan], and therefore, the name of Ecchu-Zenji which means 'the former governor of Ecchu Province' is used in some history books such as "Heike Monogatari" [The tale of the Heike]).
He was working for Kiyomori as the Mandokoro betto (the director of the Administrative Board). He was known as a courageous warrior and was famous for his immense strength. In 1183, he was defeated in the battle against Kanehira IMAI in Han'nya-no. In 1184, in the Battle of Ichinotani, TAIRA no Moritoshi responded to a challenge for one-on-one battle offered by Noritsuna INOMATA, while he was retreating from the Sakaotoshi attack (surprise attack) by MINOMOTO no Yoshitsune on his army which had camped at Myousen-ji shrine. Although Moritoshi wrestled INOMATA down quickly, he was eventually deceived and killed by INOMATA in the battle.
His tomb, 'TAIRA no Moritoshi-zuka,' has been in Nagata ward, Kobe city, Hyogo prefecture.