His mother whose name is unknown was from the equally famous Ōtomo clan and a great-granddaughter of Minamoto no Yoritomo through his illegitimate son.

[6] The yuan force had landed on Momochi field, Sawara District and divided into two groups one of which encamped at Akasaka.

The yuan force pitched a camp on Sōhara field which had a hill 30m in height and a great vantage point of the streets of Fukuoka city.

[7][8] From the diary of one of his commanders, Takezaki Suenaga: "Thinking that I was the first to battle of all the warriors from Higo, I set off from the Hakata encampment.

On my way to Akasaka, after passing the gate (torii) of the Sumiyoshi Shrine, I met a man on a dapple gray horse at Komatsubara.

He wore purple armor with a reverse arrowhead design, and a crimson billowing cape (horo) and, having just defeated the invaders in their encampment, was returning with a hundred horsemen.

[6] The Eastern Route Army arrived at Hakata Bay on June 21, and decided to proceed with the invasion without waiting for the larger Southern force which had still not left China.

They were a short distance to the north and east of where their force had landed in 1274, and were in fact beyond the walls and defenses constructed by the Japanese.

On August 15 a major tempest struck the Tsushima Straits, lasting two full days and destroying most of the Yuan fleet.

Contemporary Japanese accounts indicate that over 4,000 ships were destroyed in the storm; 80 percent of the Yuan soldiers either drowned or were killed by samurai on the beaches.

Tokitaka also died young in battle so his brother the famous Kikuchi Taketoki (菊池 武時, 1292–1333) became 12th head.