藤原秀郷

Fujiwara no Hidesato (c. 890–c. 958), widely known by his nickname Tawara Tōta ('Rice-Bale Tōta'), was one of the most celebrated warriors of the mid-Heian period. A provincial warrior of Shimotsuke Province (modern Tochigi), he stood apart from the courtly aristocracy, honing his martial skills on the eastern frontier. His greatest historical achievement was the suppression of the Taira no Masakado Rebellion in 940: when Masakado proclaimed himself 'New Emperor' and seized much of the Kantō region, Hidesato allied with Taira no Sadamori to defeat and kill him at the Battle of Kitayama in Shimōsa. For this feat, Hidesato was appointed governor of Musashi and Shimotsuke and lavishly rewarded. His legendary fame rests above all on the tale of the Giant Centipede: a dragon princess of Lake Biwa begged him to slay the monstrous creature tormenting her lake palace, and Hidesato killed it with an arrow — the third shot, on which he had placed his saliva — earning as reward an inexhaustible rice bale, whence his sobriquet. Hidesato wielded the kenuki-gata tachi, a distinctive Heian-period sword with openwork handles resembling tweezers, an elegant form that bridged the straight blades of the earlier era and the curved tachi that would define Japanese swords for centuries. His many descendants, collectively known as the Hidesato-ryū Fujiwara, became some of the most powerful warrior families of medieval eastern Japan.