Background
He was the son of Abe no Yoritoki and heir of the Abe clan, which controlled the area along the Kitakami River in the province of Mutsu.
安倍 貞任
He was the son of Abe no Yoritoki and heir of the Abe clan, which controlled the area along the Kitakami River in the province of Mutsu.
The members of the Abe clan worked together as a close-knit family group, Sadato establishing his base in the saku (palisade) of Kuriyagawa in the Iwate district, possession of which he had received from his father. Able to exercise semiautonomous rule in the region, the members of the Abe clan often failed to render taxes to the central government or moved to extend their power over a still larger region, until the court finally dispatched Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and his son Yoshiie to suppress them. This led to the so-called Earlier Nine Years’ War, which demonstrated how great was the power of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and other warriors like him who drew their wealth from private manors and were beginning to come to prominence at this time. Initially Sadato got the better of Yoriyoshi’s forces, but he was defeated at the Koromogawa palisade and fled back to his base at the Kuriyagawa palisade, where he was once more defeated and killed.