Nitta Yoshioki

Nitta Yoshioki (1331-1358) was a warrior of the Nanboku-chō period and the second son of Nitta Yoshisada, a hero of the Southern Court. After his father's death in battle, he continued to fight in Kantō for the Southern Court and resisted the Ashikaga faction's control of Musashi Province. In 1358, through the scheming of Hatakeyama Kunikiyo, the Kantō kanrei, he was murdered when his boat was sunk at the Yaguchi Ferry (Yaguchi no Watashi) in present-day Ōta Ward, Tokyo. He died an untimely death aged 28 by East Asian reckoning. His death has been passed down as a story of bitter regret and vengeful resentment, and it also became the origin story of Nitta Shrine, which enshrines him near the Yaguchi Ferry. This incident also became the subject of the ningyō jōruri (puppet theatre) play 'Shinrei Yaguchi no Watashi'. As a warrior with a legend of a vengeful spirit (goryō), he has become a symbolic figure of tragic tales.