Itō Sukechika (伊東祐親, died March 20, 1182) was a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of History of Japan#Medieval Japan (1185–1573/1600), medieval and Edo period, early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retai ...

lord and ''

gōzoku , in Japanese, refers to powerful regional families. In historical context, it can refer to powerful non-royal families regardless of their area of influence, in contrast to the Imperial Family. The most powerful ''gōzoku'' families of the Yam ...

'' of the

Izu Province was a province of Japan in the area of Shizuoka Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Izu''" in . Izu bordered on Sagami and Suruga Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . The mainland portion of Izu Province, comprising th ...

in the late

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

. He was the 6th head of the Kudō clan and the founder of the Kawazu clan. He is also known as Kawazu Sukechika.

Life

Itō Jirō was born in

as the second son of Itō Sukeie. His grandfather was

Kudō Suketaka Kudō Suketaka (工藤祐隆) was a Japanese feudal lord. He was the lord of Kusumi Manor in Izu Province and the 6th head of the Kudō clan. He founded the Itō clan and is the ancestor to the Kanō clan and the Kawazu clan. He was also know ...

, the founder of the

Itō clan The are a Japanese clan of ''gōzoku'' that claimed descent from the Fujiwara clan through Fujiwara Korekimi (727–789) and Kudō Ietsugu. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papi ...

. He fought against his nephew (also said to be his cousin) Kudō Suketsune over the division of the territory of his family estate, Itō Manor. The manor was ultimately inherited by Suketsune, but Sukechika took over the manor while Suketsune was in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

. Sukechika also made his daughter, Mangō Gozen, who was married to Suketsune, divorce him. Suketsune was deeply angered over these events and ordered the assassination of Sukechika. In October 1176, a group of thugs attacked Sukechika, who was hunting in Okuno, Izu Province with his son Kawazu Sukeyasu. The arrow shot at Sukechika missed, and hit Sukeyasu instead, killing him. Sukeyasu's two sons, Tokimune and Sukenari later killed Suketsune in 1193, which came to be known as the

Revenge of the Soga Brothers The Revenge of the Soga Brothers (曾我兄弟の仇討ち, ''Soga kyōdai no adauchi'') was a vengeance incident on June 28, 1193, during the Fuji no Makigari hunting event arranged by shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo. The Soga brothers, Soga Sukena ...

. Sukechika later served the

Taira clan The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divi ...

, and governed the Kawazu Manor in Izu Province. He took the name Kawazu from the Kawazu Manor he lived in, thus establishing the Kawazu clan. Sukechika attempted to kill

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent ('' shikken'') after h ...

, who was exiled to Izu Province, over an alleged relationship between Yoritomo and Sukechika's daughter. In 1180, Sukechika surrounded Yoritomo at Ishibashiyama, and succeeded in

rout A rout is a panicked, disorderly and undisciplined retreat of troops from a battlefield, following a collapse in a given unit's command authority, unit cohesion and combat morale (''esprit de corps''). History Historically, lightly-e ...

ing Yoritomo's force. However, during the

Battle of Fujigawa The was a battle of the Genpei War of the Heian period of Japanese history. It took place in 1180, in what is now Shizuoka Prefecture. Background Minamoto no Yoritomo, using Kamakura as his headquarters, sent his counselor Hōjō Tokimasa i ...

, Sukechika was caught by the

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during th ...

, and his captivity was entrusted to his son-in-law,

Miura Yoshizumi Miura may refer to: Places * Miura, Kanagawa *Miurakaigan Station * Miura District, Kanagawa * Miura Peninsula * Ganadería Miura, the home of the Miura fighting bull line People *Miura (surname) * Miura clan, Japanese descended clan of the Ta ...

. Thanks to Yoshizumi's relentless efforts, Sukechika was pardoned, but committed suicide by the sword from his own shame on March 20, 1182.

Genealogy

The Itō clan were a ''

'' clan that claimed descent from the

Fujiwara clan was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until ...

, a powerful family of Japanese

regents A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

and court nobility, through

Fujiwara no Korekimi was a Japanese aristocrat and statesman of the Nara period. He reached the court rank of Junior Second Rank and the position of Minister of the Right (''udaijin)'', and was posthumously promoted to Junior First Rank. He was also called . L ...

(727–789). Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)
, p. 17 "Itō" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 17 [PDF 21 of 80
/nowiki>">DF 21 of 80">"Itō" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 17 [PDF 21 of 80
/nowiki> retrieved 2013-4-30. The two grandsons of Sukechika, Tokimune and Sukenari, known as the Soga brothers, are known for the

incident of 1193. In the early modern period, the Itō clan were the lords of Obi Domain in Hyūga Province.

Family

* Father: Itō Sukeie * Siblings: ** Brother: Itō Suketsugu * Wife: Unknown ** Son: Kawazu Sukeyasu ** Son: Kawazu Sukekiyo ** Daughter:

's wife ** Daughter: Mangō Gozen ( Kudō Suketsune's first wife, Dohi Tōhira's wife) ** Daughter: Yaehime

In popular culture

TV series

* '' Kusa Moeru'' (1979) NHK Taiga Drama,

Akira Kume was a Japanese actor and voice actor. He died on 23 April 2020 from heart failure. Filmography Films *''The Insect Woman'' (1963) - Investigator *''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' (1970) - First Secretary Katsuzo Okumura (uncredited) *''Karafuto 1945 Sum ...

as Itō Sukechika * ''

Taira no Kiyomori was a military leader and ''kugyō'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan. Early life Kiyomori was born in Heian-kyō, Japan, in 1118 as the first s ...

'' (2012) NHK Taiga Drama, Ryūta Mine as Itō Sukechika * '' The 13 Lords of the Shogun'' (2022) NHK Taiga Drama, Kazuyuki Asano as Itō Sukechika

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Sukechika People of Heian-period Japan 12th-century Japanese people 1182 deaths Year of birth unknown