Fujiwara no Hidezumi (藤原秀澄)

FUJIWARA no Hidezumi (year of birth unknown - October, 1221) was a samurai in the Kamakura period. He was the third son of FUJIWARA no Hidemune. His older brothers were FUJIWARA no Hideyasu and FUJIWARA no Hideyoshi. He was in the line of the Northern House of the Fujiwara clan. He was the Daishogun (command in chief) on the side of the Emperor Gotoba at the Jokyu War.

Hidezumi, a samurai in the Kinai-Kingoku (provinces in and close to Kyoto) who served the cloister government, held various posts including Hokumen no bushi (the Imperial Palace Guards for the north side), Saimen no bushi (the Imperial Palace Guards for the west side), Tachihaki (the Prince Imperial's bodyguard), Saemon no jo (third-ranked officer of the Left Division of Outer Palace Guards), Uemon no jo (the third ranked official of the Right Division of Outer Palace Guards) and Kawachi no jo (judge, magistrate of Kawachi Province). His older brother Hideyasu was one of the ringleaders of the Retired Emperor Gotoba's plan for anti-Shogunate.

In May 1221, the Retired Emperor Gotoba raised an army of anti-Shogunate. In June, kyogata (the Kyoto side or supporters of the Imperial court in Kyoto) lined up at the Owari-gawa River, the border between Mino and Owari Provinces, to be ready for the army of bakufu. Hidezumi led an army as a Daishogun at Sunomata Town. Kyogata had a stupid stunt of dispersing their army with a small number of soldiers, and Shigetada YAMADA who lived in Owari advised an aggressive strategy to gather the force, control the situation and attack the provincial capital of Owari Province. Hidezumi felt scared and did not adopt this idea; as a result, kyogata lost big and Hidezumi ran away to Kyoto.
"Jokyuki" (A Chronicle of the Jokyu War) criticized Hidezumi by describing him as 'a natural-born coward warrior' and 'slacking warrior.'

Kyogata also lost at the battles of Uji and Seta, and the army of bakufu intruded to Kyoto. The Retired Emperor Gotoba issued a command to arrest Hideyasu and Taneyoshi MIURA as tacticians of the rebellion and abandoned the samurai of kyogata. Hidezumi hid in Nara, but was arrested in the Kawachi Province and killed in Kyoto.

[Original Japanese]