Taira Tuneshige was a bushi

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 acting around the Kantō region

Kanto region

The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....

 in the latter period of the Heian period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

. He is a descendant of Emperor Kammu

Emperor Kammu

was the 50th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kammu reigned from 781 to 806.-Traditional narrative:Kammu's personal name was . He was the eldest son of Prince Shirakabe , and was born prior to Shirakabe's ascension to the throne...

 (桓武天皇) and of Taira Tadatsune (平 忠常). His father is Taira Tsunekane (平 常兼) and His mother is a daughter of Torinoumi Saburō-Tadahira (鳥海 三郎 忠衡).

In Chiba Taikei-zu, it is written that he succeeded to his younger brother, Tsuneharu Taira (平 常晴), and went to the region known the Chiba city today in 1126. He built his headquarters at Inohana and laid the foundation for the government by the Chiba clan

Chiba clan

The ' was a branch family of the Taira clan descended from Chiba no Suke, son of Taira no Tadatsune. Historically, they controlled the city of Chiba, outside Tokyo, and also an area called Soma which included the Grand Shrine of Ise....

around the region.