Minamoto no Tomonaga

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Minamoto no Tomonaga (源朝長) (1144 – 1160) was a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period. His father was Minamoto no Yoshitomo.

Tomonaga accompanied his father in fleeing Kyoto following their defeat in the Heiji Rebellion of 1159, and was wounded in a battle with sohei (warrior monks) of Yokokawa by an arrow.

When the pair arrived in Mino province, Yoshitomo asked his sons, Tomonaga and Yoshihira, to travel to the provinces of Kai and Shinano to levy troops. Yoshihira left, but Tomonaga stayed behind, his arrow wound having become infected and inflamed. Annoyed at the delay, Yoshitomo announced his intention to move on without Tomonaga, but his son asked that he be killed rather than to waste away slowly and painfully from the infection. Yoshitomo obliged his son, and buried him on the spot.

Tomonaga's grave was defiled some time later, by Taira no Munekiyo, who brought his head to Kyoto as a trophy.

[edit] References

• Papinot, Edmond (1910). Historical and geographical dictionary of Japan. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha.