Otomo no Kanamura (大伴金村)
OTOMO no Kanamura (date of birth and death unknown) was a member of Gozoku (local ruling family) who lived from the fifth to the sixth centuries. His grandfather was OTOMO no Muroya. His father was OTOMO no Katari. OTOMO no Utafu was his younger brother. His three children were OTOMO no Iwa, OTOMO no Satehiko and OTOMO no Kui.
In 498, after the death of Emperor Ninken, he defeated HEGURI no Matori and his son, HEGRUI no Shibi, let Emperor Buretsu ascend the throne and took the position of Omuraji (hereditary title). Due to the death of Emperor Buretsu in 506, the imperial line failed, therefore Kanamura invited a child in Echizen Province of Hikoushi Ou who was a great-great-grandson of Emperor Ojin to let him ascend the throne as Emperor Keitai and Kanamura served Emperor Ankan, Emperor Senka, and Emperor Kinmei since then.
According to the "Nihon Shoki," Kanamura approved the demand of ceding Minama four prefectures from Baekje in 512 and let Gokyo Hakase visit instead. In 527, when the Iwai War occurred, he assigned MONONOBE no Arakahi as Shogun to put down the enemies. However, in the Emperor Kinmei period, SOGA no Iname who had a blood relationship with Emperor Kinmei gained power so kanamura's ascendancy began to decline. Because of the occupation of Mimana by Silla in 540, he was accused of the foreign policy failure (the ceding of Mimana and so on) by MONONOBE no Okoshi and fell from his position and retired. Since then, the Otomo clan gradually declined.
In his later years, he lived Sumiyoshi-gun, Settsu Province (Sumiyoshi Ward, Osaka City) where there was Otomo's mansion and died there. It is believed that Tezukayama-kofun Tumulus in Sumiyosi Ward is a tomb of OTOMO no Kanamura or his children.
There is Kanamura-jinjya Shrine to enshrine Kanamura in Katsuragi City, Nara Prefecture.