Hatta Munetsuna (八田宗綱)

Munetsuna Hatta (1086 - October 7, 1162) was a person lived in the late Heian period. His father was FUJIWARA no Soen; his mother was the daughter of Masataka MASHIKO. His children were Tomotsuna UTSUNOMIYA, Tomoie HATTA (there is a divergent opinion), a wife of Masamitsu OYAMA (SAMAKAWA no Ama). His wife was the daughter of TAIRA no Munemiki (according to a theory, his wife was HATTA no Tsubone). Tomomitsu YUKI is his grandchild.

He called himself Hatta Gon no kami (provisional governor). He was also called Munetsuna UTSUNOMIYA or Munetsuna NAKAHARA and was the second family head of the Utsunomiya clan. In the same way as his father Soen, there are many unidentified parts in his detailed blood relationship. According to one theory, Hatta (Hitachi Province, present Hatta, Shimodate City, Ibaraki Prefecture) was the Munetsuna' political base. This theory is based on the following several facts; first, Munetsuna called himself Hatta; second, in the genealogies of various clans, it is described that his father Soen took the daughter of Masataka MASHIKO, a powerful family in Mashiko, for his wife; third, Munetsuna himself took the daughter of TAIRA no Mikimune, Daijo (the third rank official of Hitachi Province), for his wife; fourth, Tomoie, Munetsuna's second son, also called himself Hatta; fifth, the mother of Asatsuna, Munetsuna's eldest legitimate son, was called Hatta no Tsubone. It is said that Soen and Munetsuna went to Utsunomiya along the Kinugawa River and strengthened the base of the Utsunomiya clan while adding the Haga clan of Maoka City under their umbrella backed by the political base of Hatta.

He died at 77 years old on October 7, 1162.

One of his daughters is SAMUKAWA no Ama who married into Masamitsu OYAMA and later became the menoto (wet nurse) of MINAMOTO no Yoritomo; she bore Asamitsu who became the founder of Yuki clan.

[Original Japanese]