As a samurai belonging to the Kanzaki Manor which had been chigyo-chi of TAIRA no Tadamori, TAIRA no Kiyomori and the Taira family, he was at first on the Taira side at the Genpei War along with other clans of the Matsuura Party.
平忠盛、平清盛と平家の知行地である神埼荘の武士として源平合戦では松浦党の諸氏と同じく当初は平家方であった。