Otomo Yoriyasu (大友頼康)
Yoriyasu OTOMO (1222 - October 30, 1300) was the third family head of the Otomo clan. He was a gokenin (an immediate vassal of the shogunate in the Kamakura and Muromachi through Edo periods) in the Kamakura period. His name was also written as 頼泰. He was a child of Chikahide OTOMO. His mother was a daughter of Ietsura SAHARA. He was the father of Chikatoki OTOMO.
At first he worked as gokenin in Kyoto and Kamakura, but when a crisis of Mongol invasion attempts against Japan loomed large, he was appointed to bugyo (magistrate) of Chinzei Toho by the order of the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) and he was in charge of gunsei (military government) in Kyushu. In the Bunei War in 1274, he fought against the Yuan (Dynasty) army in Hakozaki (Fukuoka City) and was defeated. His disgraceful behavior that Hakozaki-hachimangu Shrine was burned by the enemy drew criticism from the public. However, in the Koan War in 1281, he fought hard in the Shikanoshima-island Battle and routed the Yuan army headed by Hokei KIN and Chakyu KO, then he eradicated the stigma. After that, he was said to live in seclusion due to old age.
In this era of Yoritomo, the Otomo clan settled in Bungo Province and increasingly extended its influence as daimyo (Japanese feudal lord) in Kitakyushu.