Yamaga Hideto (山鹿秀遠)
Hideto YAMAGA (the date of birth and death unknown) was a busho (Japanese military commander) who lived during the end of Heian period. His family was a Gozoku (local ruling family) in Yamaga, Onga County, Chikuzen Province. His common name was Hyotoji.
According to "Kikuchi Keizu" (the genealogy of the Kikuchi family), Masanori FUJIWARA, the son of FUJIWARA no Takaie who was the Dazai gon no sochi (Provisional Governor-General of the Dazai-fu offices), left the capital to Dazaifu with his father Takaie, and adopted another name Hyoto after being appointed to Chinzei no Hyoto under the imperial decree. Masanori's son, Noritaka, went to Kikuchi County, Higo Province to become the feudal lord and called himself Kikuchi. Hideto is supposed to have been a child of Noritaka's descendent Tsuneto, but according to "Sonpi Bunmyaku" (a text compiled in the 14th century that records the lineages of the aristocracy), the children of Takaie does not include Masanori.
There is a description in the chapter of 'Dazaifu-ochi' of "Heike Monogatari" (The tale of the Heike) as follows: when the Taira clan took refuge in Kyushu after being exiled from Kyoto, they were expelled by Koreyoshi OGATA who had left the Taira clan and switched to the Minamoto clan. Hideto and Tanenao HARADA, both of whom were retainers of the Taira family, came to meet them with their troops. However, Tanenao turned back to his home, because Hideto and Tanenao were in discord with each other. The Taira clan accompanied by Hideto confined themselves to the Hideto's castle in Yamaga County for a time, but fled again on the sea after being informed that their enemy was approaching.
"Heike Monogatari" describes Hideto as the strongest warrior in Kyushu, which includes a story that Hideto fought bravely in the naval battle of Dan no ura as the Daishogun (command in chief) of the Taira clan by leading warships.
After the war, his territory was confiscated (according to the article of December 6, 1185 in "Azuma Kagami" [a chronicle of the early history of the Kamakura Bakufu]).