Harada Tanenao (原田種直)
Tanenao HARADA (dates of birth and death unknown) was a Japanese military commander and Dazai gonno Shoni (Junior Assistant Governor-General of Dazai-fu [local government office in Kyushu region]) in the late Heian period. Dazai no Daigen (Senior Inspector of Dazai-fu) Taneo HARADA was his father; his wife was an adopted daughter of Naidaijin (Minister of the Interior) TAIRA no Shigemori (his uncle TAIRA no Iemori's daughter). Atsutane MIKENOSABURO was his younger brother; Hyoe no jo (Lieutenant of the Middle Palace Guards) Tanemasu GAMA was his son.
The Harada clan originated from the Okura clan, a direct descendant of OKURA no Haruzane, who performed distinguish services to suppress the Rebellion of Johei Tengyo (FUJIWARA no Sumitomo's rebellion). The Harada clan successively inherited the posts of Dazai no Daigen and Shogen (Junior Inspector of Dazai-fu) (the third highest rank official of Dazai-fu in charge of military and police affairs in the area). It was the earliest state of Bushidan (warrior bands).
After the Hogen War, he privately established a subordinate-superior relationship with the Taira clan (TAIRA no Kiyomori and TAIRA no Yorimori, who were successively appointed Dazai no Daini [Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazai-fu, the second highest rank official of Dazai-fu]). He took an adopted daughter of TAIRA no Shigemori, TAIRA no Kiyomori's eldest son, to his wife; he acted as a representative of the administration of the Taira clan in Dazai-fu in charge of the trade between Japan and the Sung Dynasty in China.
He formed the core of a military force of the Taira clan; when the Taira clan confined Cloistered Emperor Goshirakawa in June 1180, he protected the Imperial Palace leading his followers. Next year in February, he fought with Takanao KIKUCHI from the Higo Province in the Chinzei Rebellion caused by the anti-Taira clan factions in Kyushu.
It is said that when the Taira clan fled from Kyoto in August 1183, he offered his private residence as Emperor Antoku's temporary palace ("Heike Monogatari" [the Tale of the Heike] "Chikuzen no kuni shoku fudoki" [Continuation of the Topography of Chikuzen Province])
In February 1185, his younger brother Atsutane died in the Battle of Ashiyaura against MINAMOTO no Noriyori's forces. In February the same year, he was defeated in the Battle of Yashima against MINAMOTO no Yoshitsune's forces and the Battle of Dan-no-ura in March the same year; his territories were confiscated as the Taira clan's property by the bakufu.
(According to "Azuma kagami" [a chronicle of the early Kamakura shogunate], there were 3700 hectares of confiscated territories.)
He was confined in the Kanto region (another version tells Ogigayatsu); however, he was discharged in 1190 and was given territories in Itonosho district, Chikuzen Province, as Gokenin (an immediate vassal of the Kamakura bakufu).
His families and descendants flourished in the Chikuzen, Chikugo, and Hizen Provinces. The major six families of Chinzei Okura Ason (a high-ranking official and courtier in Kyushu) such as the Harada, Hatae, Akizuki, Egami, Hara, and Takahashi clans were promoted to Kokujin ryoshu (a local samurai lord) and Daimyo (a feudal lord); however, they went to rack and ruin because of "the Kyusyu Conquest" by Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI. Except for the Akizuki clan, the rest of them became indirect vassals of another families.