Miyaji no Kunihira (宮道国平)
MIYAJI no Kunihira (year of birth and death unknown) was a Japanese military commander and gokenin (an immediate vassal of the shogunate in the Kamakura and Muromachi through Edo periods) who lived during the early Kamakura period. He was Sanemori SAITO's nephew with a different family name. In the "Azuma Kagami" (The Mirror of the East), he was described as Guriku Kenjo (guard attached to a central government official assigned to the region) Kunihira.
Although it is told that the Miyaji clan was a branch family of the Mononobe clan or a family descended from Yamato Takeru (no mikoto), the detailed genealogy related to Kunihira is unknown. Meanwhile, some people say that he was a member of the Saito clan whose real family name was Fujiwara because there remains a genealogy indicating that he was the son of Sanekazu, Sanemori's younger brother.
Although he followed Sanemori and supported the Ise Heishi (Taira clan) in the Jisho-Juei War, he was taken prisoner by Hirotsune KAZUSA after the fall of the Taira clan, and was in the custody of NAKAHARA no Chikayoshi after Hirotsune was assassinated in 1183. Thereafter, he was appointed an attendant to Chikayoshi's adopted son, Yoshinao OTOMO, in expectation of his bravery. Kunihira who took part in the Battle of Oshu in 1189 was given a territory in Mutsu Province due to his distinguished service in such Battle, and he also departed for the front when the Rebellion of Kaneto Okawa broke out in 1190. In the "Azuma Kagami," he made no appearance in articles after the article of presenting a cow (to the shogun) from Oshu (Mutsu Province) in 1191.
However, the history of Shotenzan Kangi-in Temple (located in present-day Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture) relating to the foundation of Sanemori showed that he took over the estate of Nagainosho in Hatara County, Musashi Province (present-day Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture) after Sanemori's death, and donated to such Temple a statue of Eleven-faced Kannon and Mishotai shakujo gashira (a head of a priest's pewter staff considered as the principal object of worship). In addition, judging from the fact that the gesha (shrine unregistered in Engishiki laws) located inside the precincts of Dakerokusho-jinja Shrine (Daisen City, Akita Prefecture) still has a munafuda (historical plaque on a building) with his name and NAKAHARA no Chikayoshi's, it is highly probable that he had territories not only in Oshu (Mutsu Province) but also in Yamamoto County of Dewa Province.