Taira no Tadamasa (平忠正)
TAIRA no Tadamasa (year of birth unknown - August 15, 1156) is a busho (Japanese military commander) at the end of the Heian period. He is TAIRA no Masamori's son and TAIRA no Tadamori's younger brother. Another name is Umanosuke.
Career
He reportedly had been on bad terms with his elder brother Tadamori and Tadamori's son TAIRA no Kiyomori since early times. Because of his dedication to FUJIWARA no Yorinaga, he took the retired Emperor Sutoku's side to fight against Kiyomori during the Hogen War. As a leader on the retired Emperor's side along with MINAMOTO no Tameyoshi, Tadamasa fought courageously, but his luck in battle turned against him and he was defeated. Having spent some time as a fugitive, he surrendered with his four sons TAIRA no Nagamori, Tadatsuna, Masatsuna, Michimasa and was arrested. After having been placed under his nephew Kiyomori's charge, he was easily executed together with his four sons without plea for sparing his life (Kiyomori reportedly forced Tadamasa to change his name to Tadasada because he had the same name as FUJIWARA no Tadamasa).
According to one theory, Kiyomori, who was trying to curb the Minamoto clan's influence, executed his uncle Tadamasa to encourage MINAMOTO no Yoshitomo to execute his father and another war criminal MINAMOTO no Tameyoshi.
Descendants
Later, the Tozawa clan, Masateru NAKANE, and the Hattori clan claimed to be Tadamasa's descendants.
"The Tozawa clan"Hiramori, Tadamasa's grandson, who was staying in Yoshino, Yamato Province, moved to Iwate County, Mutsu Province before settling in Tozawa and his descendants served as the lords of Dewa-Shinjo Domain.
"The Nakane clan"The Nakane clan that was included in TAIRA no Yoshifumi line published in the Kansei Keifu (a pedigree record edited in the Kansei era) can be traced back to Tadamasa's youngest son Masamochi NAKANE (Shichiro Masamochi), who was staying in Done-go, Mikawa Province to avoid the Hogen War and Masayuki, one of his descendants served Kiyoyasu MATSUDAIRA and Hirotada MATSUDAIRA and Masayuki's descendants served as the vassals of the Edo Shogunate.
"The Hattori clan"Nagamitsu, Tadamasa's grandson, fled to Iga with his mother after the Hogen War and used Hattori as his surname since. His descendants served as the vassals of the Edo Shogunate.