Hatakeyama Kunikiyo (畠山国清)
Kunikiyo HATAKEYAMA (year of birth unknown - 1362) was a busho (Japanese military commander) from the period of the Northern and Southern Courts to the Muromachi period. His original family name was Genji. His family line was the Hatayama clan, a branch family of the Ashikaga clan, which had lineage of the Kawachi-Genji (Minamoto clan), a branch of the Seiwa-Genji (Minamoto clan). He became Kanto Kanrei (a shogunal deputy for the Kanto region) after serving as Kii no Shugo (the provincial constable of Kii Province). His father was Iekuni HATAKEYAMA. His brothers and sisters include Yoshitou HATAKEYAMA and Seikeini, the wife of Motouji ASHIKAGA. Yoshiharu HATAKEYAMA was his son.
He was Sakon no shogen (Lieutenant the Left Division of Inner Palace Guards);
Awa no kami (governor of Awa Province);
Sakyo no daibu (Master of the Eastern Capital Offices);
And Shuri no daibu (Master of the Office of Palace Repairs). His posthumous Buddhist name was Dosei.
Following Takauji ASHIKAGA, he joined the overthrowing the Kamakura shogunate and the battle against the Southern Court, which turned against the Kenmu Restoration Government, and became the Shugo (provincial military governor) of Izumi Province and then Kii Province. He later became the Shugo of Kawachi Province, and he expanded his influence in the Kinai region (provinces surrounding Kyoto and Nara). At the Kanno Disturbance, which was escalated from the internal conflict of the Ashikaga family, he took sides with Tadayoshi ASHIKAGA, Takauji's brother. When Tadayoshi, who lost the political battle, escaped from Kyoto and took sides with the Southern Court in Yoshino, Kunikiyo followed him, but later took sides with Takauji.
He became Kanto Kanrei (a shogunal deputy for the Kanto region), to assist Motouji ASHIKAGA, Kamakura kubo (Governor-general of the Kanto region), which Takauji established in order to govern the Kanto region), and also became the Shugo of Izu Province. He wielded his power, leading Hei Ikki Riot including the Chichibu clan, his distant relative. In 1359, he went to the Kansai region to attack, in response to a request for reinforcement from the Second Shogun Yoshiakira. But he had a conflict with Yoshinaga NIKI in camp. He ousted Yoshinaga from politics by cooperating with Kiyouji HOSOKAWA, the steward of the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) (Kanrei). In 1360, however, Kiyouji HOSOKAWA now had a conflict with Yoshiakira, which put Kunikiyo in a politically difficult position. Kunikiyo went back to the Kanto region along with his troops without permission. As a result, the Southern Court, which launched an offensive in the wake of Kiyouji's surrender, brought a situation that Kyoto temporarily fell, and this made Kunikiyo lose face more than ever.
In December, 1361, when some busho, who used to be in the Tadayoshi group, submitted an entreaty for dismissal of Kunikiyo to Motouji, Kunikiyo fell from power and fled to Izu. He prepared to renew his attack and raised an army in Izu, but in September, 1362, the following year, he fell by the attack of the punitive force, and he died in straitened circumstances while travelling to look for patronage by the Southern Court. It is also said that he was killed with a sword.
Kunikiyo was the first to be appointed as the Shugo of Kawachi Province among the Hatakeyama clan, so it can be said that the substantive founder of the Kawachi Hatakeyama clan was Kunikiyo.