Mizuhai Suetada (水走季忠)
Suetada MIZUHAI (years of birth and death unknown), who lived in the late Heian period, was a Shinto priest of Hiraoka-jinja Shrine, the Ichinomiya (shrine with the highest ranking in the area) of Kawachi Province.
He was the first head of the Mizuhai clan, which developed into an armed group to protect the fiefdoms of Hiraoka-jinja Shrine. He was a Shinto priest in origin and a descendant of the Hiraoka-no-muraji clan.
Hiraoka-jinja Shrine sits at the foot of Mt. Ikoma, which is located in the eastern area of Higashi-Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, and owned vast fiefdoms that included the majority of the present Higashi-Osaka cityscape and part of Daito City, Shijonawate City, Yao City, Ikoma City of Nara Prefecture, and Heguri-cho, Ikoma County. As society began to enter tumultuous years, however, priests were required to pursue armament to maintain and protect fiefdoms. As a result, armed Shinto priests emerged. It can be assumed that they were similar to armed bonzes in Buddhist temples. As Suetada MIZUHAI--although he was a Shinto priest-- had military prowess and a personal magnetism, he was elected the head of a militant group. The militant group, which differed from organizations of armed bonzes, gradually developed into an armed group (group of warriors) under the leadership of Suetada.
The armed group was financially dependent on the fiefs of Hiraoka-jinja Shrine and Oe-mikuriya, a manor in the Oe region, which was directly controlled by the Imperial family. The group gradually gained control over Kawamata-mikuriya and other mikuriya (manors of Imperial family and powerful shrines). The present Mizuhai district lies inland, but in ancient time, this area was covered with sprawling rice pads and swamps, many rivers such as the former tributary of the Yamato River and River Neyagawa, and lakes and ponds such as Fukonoike Pond. This advantage, which resulted in the advanced water transportation system and the development of river ports, rendered great financial support for the armed group. Suetada founded the Mizuhai Navy--although its scale was small--and fortified his control over water transportation in regions alongside the Yamato River and River Yodo.
Also, because the Hiraoka-no-muraji clan, the ancestor of the Mizuhai clan, had come from the same line as the Nakatomi clan, it can be said that the Mizuhai clan had kinship with the Fujiwara clan, descendants of the Nakatomi clan. The Fujiwara clan worshipped Kasuga-taisha Shrine as Uji-sha Shrine (shrine built for praying clan's glory) while Hiraoka-jinja Shrine, which is also known as 'Motokasuga, or the former Kasuga,' can be considered the predecessor of Kasuga-taisha Shrine. Accordingly, Suetada tried to get acquainted with the Fujiwara clan, who paid respect also to Hiraoka-jinja Shrine. Also, Suetada served the Kawachi-Genji clan (the Minamoto clan), which had a base in Kawachi Province and came to the fore as an armed group, as an acolyte of MINAMOTO no Yoshiie and his son, MINAMOTO no Yoshitada, who became the Kawachi no kami (the governor of Kawachi Province). Through this connection, Suetada fortified the status of his small navy. Incidentally, it is said that the legal wife of Suetada was the daughter of MINAMOTO no Yoshitada (the adopted daughter of MINAMOTO no Yoshiie). Yasutada MIZUHAI, the son of Suetada and Yoshitada's daughter, and the ensuing family heads used not 'FUJIWARA' but 'MINAMOTO' surname.
Suetada extended his influence by insinuating himself into powerful families such as Sekkan-ke (the families which produced regents), Insei (government by cloistered emperors) circles, and Kawachi-Genji clan, and succeeded in establishing the power base of the Mizuhai clan. As TAIRA no Kiyomori came into power after the Hogen Rebellion and the Heiji Rebellion, Suetada get acquainted with Kiyomori as his cousin-in-law (the mother of Suetada's legal wife (the daughter of MINAMOTO no Yoshitada) was an aunt of TAIRA no Kiyomori). He made in the world seamlessly until his death. There are various theories about the year of his death. Since his son, Yasutada MIZUHAI, took over the family head in 1184, it can be understood that Suetada had passed away or gone into retirement by then. The accurate year of his death is unknown.