At first Yorinao SHONI was fighting against Tadafuyu, cooperating with the Isshiki clan, but once Tadafuyu made gains and grew in strength, he welcomed Tadafuyu into his camp out of a sense of rivalry against the Isshiki clan, in October 1350, during the Shohei and Kano era (one account maintains that he made Tadafuyu his son-in-law).
少弐頼尚は当初、一色氏と協調して直冬と戦っていたが、直冬の勢力が拡大すると一色氏への対抗心から正平5年/観応元年（1350年）9月に直冬を自陣営に迎える（一説によれば婿にしたと言われる）。