Minamoto no Yorimitsu or Raikō (源頼光: 948-1021) (role 948 – 1021)

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Biography:

The kanji 頼光 can be vocalized/pronounced in two different ways: either as Yorimitsu or Raikō.

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A real life human character. The eldest son of Mitsunaka (満仲: 912-97) of the Seiwa Genji (清和源氏), or according to another theory, of the Yôzei Genji (陽成源氏) like his father, a loyal client of the descendants of Fujiwara no Morosuke (藤原師輔: 909-960)., Kaneie (兼家: 929-990) and Michinaga (道良). He had a brilliant career for a man of his background and reached the fourth upper minor rank. He held positions such as director of the Court Stores Office (kura no kami 内蔵頭) and supernumerary director of the Left Horse Office (sama gon no kami 左馬権頭), generally awarded to wealthy men. He often obtained provincial governorships (zuryô 受領), those of Mino twice, of Tajima, Iyo, Settsu, etc., which allowed him to enrich himself, either by exploiting the provinces, receiving bribes, or by developing rice fields. His opulence and the gifts he gave to the Fujiwara regents earned him their good graces; in 988, along with his father, he presented thirty horses at a banquet organized for the inauguration of a new residence for Fujiwara no Kaneie, and in 1018, he paid for the interior design of the Tsuchimikado (土御門) residence rebuilt by Michinaga. He was able to marry one of his daughters to Fujiwara no Michitsuna (藤原道綱: 955-1020), one of Kaneie's sons. Later traditions portrayed him as a man devoted to the martial arts; the Konjaku monogatari-shū (今昔物語集) preserved the memory of his skill in archery. However, the diaries (nikki 日記) of his contemporaries, Michinaga, Sanesuke (実資), or Yukinari (藤原) (the Midô kampaku-ki 御堂関白記, Shōyū-ki 小右記, or Gonki 権記), present him primarily as an average civil servant, a specialist in local administration, wealthy and eager to mingle with the world of the wealthy. He is the ancestor of the Minamoto of Settsu Province (Settsu Genji 摂津源氏).

The main source for this information comes from the Dictionnaire historique du Japon, 1988, entry #175, page 96.

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Yorimitsu is often involved in myths. For example, he loaned or gave a special sword to Watanabe no Tsuna, which the later used to cut off the arm of the demon Ibaraki. Or, he was the one who gave the wonderboy Kaidōmaru the name Kintoki.