Fujiwara no Hidesato
samurai of mid-Heian period
Fujiwara no Hidesato (藤原 秀郷) was a Japanese aristocrat, courtier, folk hero and samurai lord of the tenth century in the Heian period. He is famous for his military exploits and courage, and is regarded as the common ancestor of numerous clans, including the Ōshū branch of the Fujiwara clan.
Hidesato served under Emperor Suzaku, and fought alongside Taira no Sadamori in 940 in suppressing the revolt of Taira no Masakado. His prayer for victory before this battle is commemorated in the Kachiya Festival. Hidesato was then appointed Chinjufu shōgun (Defender of the North) and Governor of Shimotsuke Province.
According to legend, he slew a giant centipede in Ōmi Province that plagued the Dragon Palace. He was also nicknamed Tawara Tōda.
Hidesato in legend
Hidesato, also known by the moniker Tawara Tōda or Tawara no Tōta, is known in legend for his exploit of slaying the giant centipede (mukade) of Mount Mikami. Hidesato was recruited to this task by a giant dragon-snake, which was, in fact, a resident of the Ryūgū-jō (Dragon Palace). Hidesato meets the Dragon King and is showered with rewards, which included an inexhaustible bale of rice (tawara), from which he allegedly earned his nickname.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1136623. VIAF identifies the subject as 257901678. The Library of Congress control number is nr2002028331. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Fujiwara no Hidesato” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.