Tada Noritsuna (多田仁綱)

Noritsuna TADA (year of birth unknown - July 11, 1234) was a busho (Japanese military commander) in the early Kamakura period. He was born in Settsu Province and belonged to a family of the Tada clan (Settsu-Genji). His daughter was wife of OE no Hiromoto. He was a maternal grandfather of OE no Chikahiro.

When OE no Hiromoto was assigned to Jito (manager and lord of manor) in Sagae no so, Dewa Province, he left the capital for Sagae as mokudai (deputy) of Hiromoto and lived in Doso Mototate (present Mototate, Sagae City, Yamagata Prefecture) then in Yoshikawa (Oaza Yoshikawa, Nishikawa-machi, Nishimurayama-gun), to rule respective lands. Later, he sheltered and protected his grandchild Chikahiro who sided with Kyoto, in his house at Yoshikawa, as Chikahiro lost in Jokyu war and escaped to Sagae.

When Hiromoto died in 1225, Chikahiro who grieved over the death of his father built an Amida-do Hall (temple hall having an enshrined image of Amitabha) in the residence of Yoshikawa, and enshrined the remains of Hiromoto with nenjibutsu (a small statue of Buddha kept beside the person) of MINAMOTO no Mitsunaka. Soon after that Nishitsuna entered into priesthood, calling himself Genyu SHOA and served as betto (administrator of a Buddhist temple) of this hall.

Amida-do Hall was moved to kimon ('demon's gate'; the northeast of one's position, superstitiously believed to be unlucky) of the Yoshikawa residence in 1241, and continued until modern times, but was dismantled after Meiji Restoration and the graves of Chikahiro and Noritsuna now remain at the site.

[Original Japanese]