thumb|right|taira no masakado   was a samurai in the heian period of japan, who led a rebellion against the central government of kyoto.nussbaum, louis frÃ©dÃ©ric et al. (2005). "taira no masakado" in  ==history== masakado was born into a prominent noble lineage, the kanmu heishi (or taira clan descended from emperor kanmu). he served the imperial court in the capital as a youth, and then settled down to the life of a country gentleman in the provinces of eastern japan, to the northeast of modern day tokyo. his career is detailed in shÅmonki ("the masakado chronicle"), a literary account of his life believed to have been completed as early as the 940s (although the earliest surviving copy dates from 1099)see stramgioli, preliminary notes on masakadoki and the taira no masakado story, monumenta nipponica vol. 28; also rabinovitch, shomonki, pp. 33 by an anonymous author. the taira masakado insurrection of 939-940 (known in japanese as jÅhei - tengyo no ran, after the calendar eras in which it occurred) ranks among the most dramatic episodes in the early history of the samurai. coinciding with earthquakes, rainbows and lunar eclipses in the capital; uprisings in the north; and pirate disturbances in the west; it threw the court and the capital into a panic, and climaxed, according to most versions of the story, with the protagonistâs claiming for himself the title, ânew emperor.â many historians have perceived the incident as an early harbinger of the late twelfth-, thirteenth- and fourteenth-century events that, step by step, ushered in the medieval era of warrior rule. the drama began in the second month of 935, when masakado was suddenly attackedâambushedâby another prominent local warrior, minamoto tasuku (dates unknown), at a place called nomoto, near the convergence of hitachi, shimozuke, musashi, and shimÅsa provinces. tasuku was the eldest son of minamoto mamoru, a powerful warrior and sometime government official of hitachi. the reason for his grudge against masakado is unclear, but his decision to pursue it in the field set in motion a complex and momentous chain of events. within months masakado found himself at war with several of his relatives. although taken by surprise, masakado defeated tasuku, and then struck back, burning and plundering the homes and property of tasukuâs supporters across southeastern hitachi, and slaughtering thousands of the residents of these compounds. among the most important victims of the nomoto battle and its brutal sequel were tasuku, his brothers, and his brother-in-law, taira kunika (?-935), who was also masakadoâs uncle. their deaths brought masakado into conflict with two of mamoruâs other sons-in-law, ku
10th-century_conflicts 10th_century_in_Japan 940_deaths Japanese_rebels People_from_Chiba_Prefecture Rebellions_in_Japan Taira_clan