Taira no Masakado
samurai who led one of the largest insurgent forces in the Heian period against the central government in Kyoto
Taira no Masakado (平 将門; Japanese pronunciation: [taꜜi.ɾa no (|) ma.sa.ka.do], died March 25, 940) was a Heian period provincial magnate (gōzoku) and samurai based in eastern Japan, notable for leading the first recorded uprising against the central government in Kyōto. Along with Sugawara no Michizane and Emperor Sutoku, he is often called one of the "Three Great Onryō of Japan".
Early life
Masakado was one of the sons of Taira no Yoshimasa (平良将), also known as Taira no Yoshimochi (平良持), of the Kanmu Taira clan (Kanmu Heishi), descendants of Emperor Kanmu (reigned 781–806) who were demoted from princely to commoner status and granted the Taira surname. Yoshimochi was one of the sons of Prince Takamochi, a grandson or great-grandson of Kanmu who was appointed the vice-governor of Kazusa Province (modern central Chiba Prefecture) in 889 (Kanpyō 1). Takamochi's sons who joined him there occupied a variety of provincial offices in the eastern part of the country such as that of chinjufu shōgun, the commander-in-chief of the defense garrison (chinjufu) in Mutsu Province tasked with subjugating the Emishi peoples of the north.
Not much is known of Masakado's birth and early life due to lack of written evidence. The genealogical record Sonpi Bunmyaku (compiled 1377–1395) identifies Masakado as the third of Yoshimochi's eight sons, while the genealogy of the Sōma clan (an offshoot of the Chiba clan, who were descended from Masakado's uncle Yoshifumi), the Sōma Keizu (相馬系図), identifies him as the second of seven sons. The latter text also claims that he was nicknamed Sōma no Kojirō (相馬小次郎, Kojirō meaning "little second son") during his childhood, suggesting that he was raised in the district of Sōma (相馬郡) in Shimōsa Province (part of modern southwest Ibaraki Prefecture and northwest Chiba Prefecture), though the factuality of this information has been disputed. Masakado's mother is sometimes identified as the daughter of a certain Agata (no) Inukai no Harue (県犬養春枝), perhaps a local magnate from Sōma District.
Masakado's year of birth is also unclear.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Taira no Masakado” is samurai who led one of the largest insurgent forces in the Heian period against the central government in Kyoto. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Taira, Masakado and samurai, not as a finished interpretation.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1207652. VIAF identifies the subject as 30750089. The Library of Congress control number is n84140684. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1377 and 1395.
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This entry incorporates text from “Taira no Masakado” 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.