Taira no Kagetaka (平景隆)

TAIRA no Kagetaka (year of birth unknown - November 14, 1274) was a samurai in Kyushu who lived during the mid Kamakura period. He was commonly called Naizaemon.
While he was also known as TAIRA no Tsunetaka, Kagetaka, can be written as '景隆' or '景高.'

He dealt with the Bunei War as Shugodai (the acting Military Governor) of Iki Province. It is considered that Kagetaka was a retainer of the Shoni clan who held the office of Shugo (a provincial military governor) of Iki Province. "Hachiman Gudokun" (Exegesis of Hachimanshin (God of War) Legends for the Ignorant and Children) mentioned that when the Mongolian forces landed on the west coast of Ikinoshima Island at Saru-no-koku (ninth sign of Chinese zodiac (The Monkey, 4pm to 6pm.) on November 20, 1274, Kagetaka waiting with about 100 samurai horsemen attacked the Mongolian forces, and shot an arrow toward them in front of the castle of a person named Shozaburo, and then, this attack developed to a battle. However, the Kagetaka's army defended against the Mongolian forces by staying in Hinotsume-jo Castle which was tsume-no-shiro (the castle that guards the back of the main castle and serves as a retreat point when the main castle can no longer be defended) of shugosho (provincial administration) because they had no chance of defeating the Mongolian forces which consisted of significant number of soldiers and could shoot arrows as far as about 216 meters. The Mongolian forces withdrew to their fleet at sundown, and on the following day, they besieged and attacked Hinotsume-jo Castle where the Kagetaka's army holed up. Kagetaka and his followers killed themselves in the Castle, and Sozaburo, genin (manservant), went to Shugo (a provincial military governor) in Dazai-fu (local government office in Kyushu region) and reported on the situation as he had been ordered by Kagetaka. Due to Kagetaka's suicide, the Mongolian forces took Iki in control, and killed many islanders.

After the Meiji Restoration, he was deified in Shinjo-jinja Shrine (Katsumoto-cho, Iki City, Nagasaki Prefecture) with people killed in the Toi invasion and the Koan War (second Mongol invasions), due to nationwide uprising of movement to honor loyal subjects publicly for their unrecognized good deeds. On November 2, 1886, he was raised to Shoshii (Senior Fourth Rank) after his death.

[Original Japanese]