Wada Tomomori (和田朝盛)

Tomomori WADA was gokenin (an immediate vassal of the shogunate in the Kamakura and Muromachi through Edo periods) of Kamakura bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). His common name was Saburo, and his official court rank was Hyoe no jo (Lieutenant of the Middle Palace Guards).

Personal profile

He was a grandson of Yoshimori WADA, a legitimate son of Tsunemori WADA, and a nephew of Yoshihide ASAHINA. It is recorded in "Azuma Kagami" (The Mirror of the East) that he served MINAMOTO no Sanetomo, shogun, as an attendant, and was favored by Sanetomo.

When in 1213, during the Battle of WADA in which the family of the Wada clan raised an army against the Hojo clan, Tomomori was torn between Sanetomo and his clan; as result, Tomomori became a priest, called himself Amida Buddha, Koenbo, and headed to Kyoto. However, since Tomomori was a master of yumi (bow) like his father Tsunemori, hid grandfather Yoshimori, who needed his grandson's military prowess, sent Tomomori's uncle, Yoshinao WADA (Yoshimori's fourth son), to take Tomomori back from Suruga Province, which was halfway to Kyoto.

In the Battle of WADA, he fought along with the family. Although the family was defeated, Tomomori survived.

During the Jokyu War in 1221, he took the side of the retired Emperor Gotoba and joined the battle.

Although his behavior afterwards remains unclear, it is said that his grave (Tomomori-zuka) is in Koenbo, Hatsuse Town, Miura City in the Miura Peninsula, where the place name is said to have been taken from Tomomori's homyo (a Buddhist name given to a person who has died or has entered the priesthood).

Furthermore, according to the description of "Kansei Choshu Shokafu" (a record of family trees of samurai warriors of Edo bakufu) in the section about the Sakuma clan (a family of the Miura clan), Tomomori was adopted by his relative, Iemura SAKUMA, escaped to Okuyama-no-sho estate in Echigo Province, and later moved to Gokiso-mura, Owari Province.

However, there is no historical material of the same period to support the above description.

[Original Japanese]