Kawakami Tadatomo served as a bushō from the Sengoku to early Edo periods.  He was a retainer of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Province.

Tadatomo was born as the son of Kawakami Tadaoki.

Tadatomo served as a chief retainer of Shimazu Yoshihiro.  He further served as the lord of the manor of Takanabe in Hyūga Province, Umakoshi in Satusma Province, and Kurino and Gamō in Ōsumi Province.  On 5/4 of Genki 3 (1572), at the Battle of Kizakibaru, Tadatomo served as the chamberlain of Kakutō Castle where the formal wife of Shimazu Yoshiro and his lineal heir, Tsurujumaru, resided.  Together with reinforcements from Iino Castle led by Tōya Yoshikata, Tadatomo repelled the forces of the Itō clan.  In 1578, after Ochiai Kanetomo, the lord of Takarabe Castle betrayed the Hyūga-Itō in favor of the Shimazu, Tadatomo was appointed to serve as the lord of Takarabe Castle.

In 1580, Tadatomo joined Niiro Tadamoto, Kamata Masatoshi, and others to attack and kill Nakamura Korefuyu, the lord of Yazaki Castle in the territory of the Aso clan in Higo Province.  On 3/24 of Tenshō 12 (1584), at the Battle of Okitanawate, he fought against the Ryūzōji clan, charing their main division led by Ryūzōji Takanobu.  Tadatomo’s lineal heir, Kawakami Tadakata, took Takanobu’s head with a sword, resulting in a victory for the combined forces of the Arima and Shimazu clans.

In 1607, Tadatomo died of illness.