Sakanoue no Takimori (坂上瀧守)
SAKANOUE no Takimori (825 - December 3, 881) was a lower-grade official and military officer who lived during the Heian period. He was the grandson of SAKANOUE no Takakai, the younger brother of SAKANOUE no Tamuramaro, and the son of SAKANOUE no Ujikatsu of the senior sixth rank, upper grade.
He was born in 825 in Ukyo (western Kyoto). From early in his childhood he became intimately acquainted with the martial arts. He was especially fond of archery, and excelled at both horseback archery and shooting while walking on foot.
In 843, at the age of 19, he was appointed Konoefu Shoso (Secretary of the Inner Palace Guards). At imperial court functions he was frequently called upon to demonstrate his marksmanship both from horseback and on foot. He was promoted to Shogen (Lieutenant) at the beginning of the Niju era (851-854). In 857 he was raised to junior fifth rank, lower grade. He became the Samanosuke (vice-minister of the Left Division of the Bureau of Horses) in 858. A few months later he was transferred to Hoki Province as the assistant governor, and thereafter served as assistant governor of Suruga Province and then as a regional official in Yamashiro Province.
In 862 he was appointed the Uhyoe gon no suke (provisional assistant Captain of the Right Division of the Middle Palace Guards), while in 866 he was raised to junior fifth rank, upper grade and appointed the Ukone no shosho (Minor Captain of the Right Division of the Inner Palace Guards) and simultaneously made the assistant governor of Awa Province. In the twelfth month of 869, Takimori was appointed the Shoni (junior assistant governor-general) of Dazaifu (he was simultaneously appointed Minor Captain of the Right Division of the Inner Palace Guards) as part of the governments countermeasures against the pirates from Shiragi (in Korea) who were wreaking havoc in Kitakyushu (northern Kyushu); he led the troops of the Inner Palace Guards to Dazaifu, where he took up guard duty. In 872 he was reappointed the junior assistant governor-general of Dazaifu. In 874 he was relieved of his duty to guard Dazaifu, and was appointed the provisional minor Captain of the Left Division of the Inner Palace Guards, while in 876 he was promoted to senior fifth rank, lower grade, and simultaneously appointed the assistant governor of Omi Province.
According to the obituary records in the Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku (Veritable Records of Three Reigns in Japan), he was promoted in 879 to junior fourth rank, lower grade and appointed the governor of Mutsu Province, but was transferred to the governorship of Yamato Province in 880, and later died in Yamato. One possibility is that he was dispatched to Mutsu to pacify the unrest provoked by the Gangyo War, which was in the process of being put down and returning to normal.
It is said that during the Jogan era (859-877), he used a bud that was growing among the roots of the withered cherry tree adorning the left-hand side of the Imperial Court to restore the withered tree to full bloom.