Taira no Koremochi (平伊望)
TAIRA no Koremochi was a busho (Japanese military commander) who lived during the mid-Heian period. He was the son of TAIRA no Shigemori, Mutsu no kuni no kami (the governor of Mutsu Province). He married the daughter of FUJIWARA no Suekuni, Tosa no kuni no kami (the governor of Tosa Province), and others. He was the father of TAIRA no Shigesada, TAIRA no Shigekane, TAIRA no Shigenari, and TAIRA no Shigeshoku. He was a Jugoinojo (Junior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade), and Shinano no kuni no kami (the governor of Shinano Province).
He appears in Episode 4 "TAIRA no Koremochi gets killed by a retainer) and Episode 5 "TAIRA no Koremochi punishes FUJIWARA no Moroto" in the volume 25 of "Konjaku Monogatari shu" (Tales of Times Now and Then collection). Further, his legend (Momiji-Densetsu) from the time when he was the governor of Shinano Province has been dramatized as a program of Noh, "Momijigari (Noh)" and widely known.
Also according to the two episodes from "Konjaku Monogatari shu," he was the son of TAIRA no Kanetada, Kazusa no suke (Assistant Governor of Kazusa Province), who was the younger brother of TAIRA no Sadamori and the grandson of TAIRA no Shigemori, governor of Mutsu Province, but he was adopted by TAIRA no Sadamori, who adopted many of his nephews, as his fifteenth adopted son, so he was called the Yogo prince. He is called Yogo Shogun since he is said to have become Shogun later. In "Sonpi Bunmyaku" (a text compiled in the fourteenth century that records the lineages of the aristocracy), it is written that he was the son of TAIRA no Shigemori, who was the younger brother of TAIRA no Sadamori, and the younger brother of TAIRA no Kanetada (Kazusa no suke (Assistant Governor of Kazusa Province). He took the official positions of Chinju-fu shogun (Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North) (or Non-Shogun), Shinano no kami (Governor of Shinano Province), and Jugoinojo (Junior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade).
He also is mentioned as 'Tatewaki Okuyama-jo Kito-ryu School' and 'Sejingo Yogo Shogun.'
Also in "the genealogy of Kanmu-Heishi (Taira clan" compiled in "Zoku-Gunsho-Ruiju," he appears as the son of Shigemori, and he is also mentioned as 'the same shogun called Yogo' and 'Shogun Dewa no suke (Assistant Governor of Dewa Province).'
Since he does not appear in other documents from the same period, Minoru NOGUCHI argues in 'TAIRA no Koremochi and TAIRA no Koreyoshi' in "A Research on Togoku Samurai in the medieval period" that he is the one and the same as TAIRA no Koreyoshi, who was the son of TAIRA no Kanetada and Chinju-fu shogun (Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North).
As for his posterity, the descendants of his eldest son, Shigesada, lived on as middle class aristocrats up to the Kamakura period, while the descendants of his third son, Shigenari, became the Jo clan (the Taira clan) after settleing down in Echigo Province.