Background
Masakado no Taira was born in 930. He was the son of Taira no Yoshikado, who had been sent by the court to bring under control the Ezo tribes of the Tohoku region.
平 将門
Masakado no Taira was born in 930. He was the son of Taira no Yoshikado, who had been sent by the court to bring under control the Ezo tribes of the Tohoku region.
He made his way to the capital, where he found service with the aristocracy, but failing to gain any official appointment, he returned east to his home in Kanto.
In 935 he killed his uncle, Taira no Kunika, with whom he had been engaged in a dispute over his father’s estate, and as a result aroused the animosity of the entire Taira family. In addition, he attempted to mediate in a quarrel among the officials of the province of Musashi (present-day Saitama and Tokyo prefectures) and instead was condemned by the court as a rebel.
Later, when Fujiwara no Gemmyd of the province of Hitachi (present-day Ibaragi Prefecture) was arrested by the officials for failure to pay taxes, he called upon Taira no Masakado for assistance, and the latter responded by burning down the government offices of Hitachi. Thus Masakado, finding himself deeper and deeper in trouble of one kind or another, finally in a gesture of ultimate defiance declared himself emperor.
The court sent an expeditionary force against him, and he was killed in 940.