Tomi no Ichii (迹見赤檮)
TOMI no Ichii (year of birth and death unknown) was a toneri (palace servant) during the Asuka Period. He came down from the line of descendents of Nagasunehiko. He was the toneri of Oshisaka no Hikohito no Oenomiko (or the toneri of Prince Shotoku).
A fierce clash ensued over the acceptance of Buddhism between the minister of the pro-Buddhist faction SOGA no Umako, and MONONOBE no Moriya of Muraji who belonged to the anti-Buddhist faction, as well as KATSUMI no Nakatomi who belonged to the clan that was entrusted with the oversight of rituals of the Shinto gods. This conflict was entangled with the issue of Imperial succession, and Moriya as well as Katsumi supported the enthronement of the Imperial Prince Anahobe. In April 587, Emperor Yomei fell very ill. Expressing his wish to take refuge in the Sanbo (3 Treasures of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha), the Emperor sought for opinions from his retainers. Moriya and Katsumi strongly opposed the Emperor's position, but believing that the Imperial rescript must be given credence, Umako made Prince Anahobe include Toyokuni, the Buddhist priest, into the Imperial circle. Moriya was enraged, but realizing that many of the retainers were his foes, he retreated to his headquarters of Kawachi Province.
Building the statues of Prince Hikohito and Prince Takeda (Prince of the Umako faction), Katsumi put a curse on them. However, realizing that the situation was not turning in his favor, Moriya hastily went to the Mimatanomiya Imperial House and surrendered to Prince Hikohito (according to one theory, this was said to be one of Katsumi's schemes to gain over Prince Hikohito in his faction as he believed the enthronement of Prince Hikohito, who did not descend from the Imperial family line of the Soga Clan, not to be of Umako's true wish). Ichii waited for Katsumi to leave the Imperial House to go home and attacked him. (In "The Shotokutaishi-Denryaku" [Biography of Shotokutaishi], it is said that Ichii was under Umako's orders). Eventually, Emperor Yomei passes away. Moriya maneuvered to enthrone Prince Anahobe, but Umako preempted his moves by killing the Prince.
In July of the same year, Umako decided to put down Mononobe's force after conferring with his retainers, and by deploying a large force comprised of princes and local rulers, they marched towards Moriya's headquarters in the Shibukawa District of Kawachi Province. The soldiers of the Mononobe Clan, which comes from a line of a military clan, were ferocious and they tenaciously resisted the attack by building an inagi (a defensive post made out of rice straw); Moriya let loose a rain of arrows by climbing on the branch of Magnolia. Umako's punitive force was beat back three times. Prince Shotoku, who served in the campaign, carved Shitenno-Zo Statues (image of the four guardian kings) and prayed for victory. Emboldened, the punitive force made repeated attacks. Ichii snuck up to the bottom of the large tree where Moriya was perched and shot him down (It is written in "The Shotokutaishi-Denryaku," that Prince Umayado presented the arrow which contained the prayer of Shitenno to Ichii). Mononobe's force fled.
After the war, Ichii was granted 10,000 rice paddies from Mononobe's former domains for his meritorious deeds.