Katagiri Kageshige (片切景重)
Kageshige KATAGIRI (unknown date of birth - Feb. 13, 1160) is a samurai at the end of the Heian period. He was the son of Hyogo MINAMOTO no Tameyuki (Genpachi KATAGIRI). He was the great-grandson of MINAMOTO no Tamekimi, Shinano no kuni no kami (Governor of Shinano Province). His brothers included Tameshige KATAGIRI, Gyojin (KATAGIRI Zenji), Tametsuna, Tametoo, Yukizane KATAGIRI, and Munetsuna (OSHIMA no Hachiro), and his children include Tameyasu KATAGIRI. He was the head of the Katagiri Clan, a local ruling family headquartered at Katagiri, Ina-gun, Shinano Province. His assumed name (common name) was Kohachiro Daibu (master).
He served MINAMOTO no Tameyoshi and his son MINAMOTO no Yoshitomo as a vassal belonging to Kawachi-Genji (Minamoto clan). "Azuma Kagami" (The Mirrors of the East) has an article that while he was serving Tameyoshi as a retainer, Kageshige and his colleague Sanemori SAITO had a quarrel with TACHIBANA no Kiminaga, a vassal of the Taira Clan, at Awataguchi, Kyoto, and that they were both scolded by their master Tameyoshi (article dated Dec. 19 of the Jisho period [lunar calendar], which is Jan. 13, 1181 according to the Gregorian calender). When the Hogen War occurred thereafter, his eldest brother Tameshige sided with the Retired Emperor Sutoku (according to "Sonpi Bunmyaku" [a text compiled in the 14th century that records the lineages of the aristocracy]), and Kageshige joined the army of Emperor Goshirakawa as a vassal of MINAMOTO no Yoshitomo. "Hogen Monogatari" (The Tale of the Hogen War) depicts the fierce fighting of the aged veteran Kageshige.
In the ensuing campaign, the Heiji War, he joined the forces of Yoshitomo as his vassal and fought against TAIRA no Shigemori as one of the 17 Bando samurai as retainers of MINAMOTO no Yoshihira, heir and son of Yoshitomo, according to "Heiji Monogatari" (The Tale of the Heiji War). Although samurai warriors who sided with Yoshitomo had to flee down to the eastern part of Japan upon Yoshitomo's defeat in this war, Kageshige and others including Toshimichi YAMANOUCHISUDO were killed in action at Rokujo-gawara riverbed, Kyoto, immediately before the Yoshitomo forces were defeated according to the description of "Heiji Monogatari" (The Tale of the Heiji War).
Mt. Kohachirodake, a mountain in today's Matsukawa Town, Shimoina-gun, Nagano Prefecture, was named after Kageshige who constructed a mountain castle atop the mountain as a summer retreat.