Ishido Yorifusa (石堂頼房)
Yorifusa ISHIDO was a Japanese military commander who lived in the period of the Northern and Southern Courts. His real family name was the Minamoto clan. The Ishido clan was a branch family of the Ashikaga clan which was begun by MINAMOTO no Yoshikuni, a son of MINAMOTO no Yoshiie who was Chinju-fu shogun (Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North) and the head of Kawachi-Genji (Minamoto clan), one of the lineages of Seiwa Genji (Minamoto clan). See also the article on Yorifusa ISHIDO (石塔頼房).
He was born as a son of Yoshifusa ISHIDO. He served for Takauji ASHIKAGA with his father and was given the shugoshiki (post of provincial constable) of Ise Province and Shima Province in 1349 because of his military exploits in various places. However, since his father Yoshifusa struggled with Sadaie KIRA, Kuniuji HATAKEYAMA (Oshu Kanrei, shogunal deputy of the northern regions) and others and fell from grace over the right to rule in Mutsu Province, he followed Naoyoshi ASHIKAGA and opposed to Takauji in the Kanno Disturbance. Yorifusa fought with Takauji mainly in the Kinai region and temporarily entered Kyoto by defeating Takauji, because of which achievement he was assigned Hikitsuke tonin (chairman of the court of justice) by Naoyoshi.
However, after Naoyoshi died, he gradually lost ground. It is said that although he fought with Takauji and Yoshiakira ASHIKAGA several times in Kamakura and Kyoto by cooperating with the group of Yoshimune NITTA of the Southern Court, he was defeated by the army of the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) finally and was forced to surrender.