The war of Gempei (源平合戦, one also finds: 寿永 ・ 治承の乱, Jishō-Juei No Ran ), or of Genpei , is a Civil war of old the Japan (1180 - 1185), which owes its name with the contraction of the names of the two clans that she confronted: the Minamoto (源, or Genji according to the reading On' yomi (Chinese) of the characters) and the Will conceal (平, or Heike ).

The war of Gempei begins in 1180 when Minamoto No Yorimasa (源頼政) supports a candidate different from that of Taira for the imperial throne. The war is completed five years later with the decisive victory of the Minamoto clan to the naval battle of DaN-No-ura, which marks the end of the era Heian and the beginning of the Period Kamakura.

Causes

The war of Gempei is the culminating point long decades of conflicts between the two clans for the domination of the imperial court (and, by extension, of Japan). During the rebellions of Hōgen and Heiji of the previous decades, Minamoto had tried without success to take again control in Taira. Those then began long series of executions, with an aim of eliminating their rivals once and for all.

In 1177, the relations between the emperor withdrawn Go-Shirakawa (後白河) and the Taira clan become very tended, and the former emperor tries a Coup d'etat to reverse the Daijō-daijin (太政大臣) (Prime Minister) Taira No Kiyomori (平清盛), which makes it stop in 1179 and abolishes the insei (院政), or withdrawn government, which causes a strong opposition anti-Will conceal.

The March 21st 1180, Taira No Kiyomori puts on the imperial throne its grandson Antoku (安徳), then old of only two years, after the abdication of the emperor Takakura (高倉). The prince Mochihito (以仁王), wire of Go-Shirakawa, estimates himself injured his place on the throne and, with Minamoto No Yorimasa, lance the May 5th a call to the weapons with the various families of Samurai S and with the Buddhist monasteries .

In June, Kiyomori moves the seat of the imperial capacity with Fukuhara (福原) (today Kōbe), with an aim of promoting the trade with the China of the Song (宋), which makes the richness of its clan, and the 15 of this same month, the prince Mochihito flees Kyōto and will take refuge with the Mii-dera (三井寺).

Unfolding

Beginning of the war

Following the rising of Mochihito and Yorimasa, the prince is pursued by Taira and the battle which follows takes seat right outside Kyōto. It is called first battle of Uji, the June 23rd. During what is regarded as the first battle of the war of Gempei, Yorimasa is made Seppuku . Mochihito manages to flee in direction of Nara, but quickly is caught up with and killed.

Minamoto No Yoritomo (源頼朝), helped of his/her father-in-law Tokimasa Hōjō (時政, 北条), takes the changing, but is quickly overcome the September 14th with the Bataille of Ishibashiyama. Yoritomo flees then with Chiba, raises an army there and will be cut off with Kamakura (鎌倉) in October.

Yoritomo is not the only one to answer the call to the revolt of prince Mochihito. In September, his/her cousin Minamoto No Yoshinaka (源義仲) raises to him also an army in the mountains of Kiso (木曽) where it was born, just as Minamoto No Yukiie (源行家), beaten twice with Sunomata then with Yahagigawa by Taira No Tomomori (平知盛).

In November, the capital is retransférée in Kyōto.

During this time, Tomomori and his/her brother Shigehira (平重衡) are avenged for the implication of the Sōhei (僧兵) (warlike monks) at the sides of Minamoto by attacking and destroying Nara (see Siège of Nara.) The Kōfuku-ji (興福寺), in particular, will be flaring the December 19th.

Since 1177, Japan underwent a series of bad harvests which ends up causing in 1181 a famine which forces a suspension of hostilities which will last until in 1183. Even after the resumption of the conflict, weak harvests will continue, and, stronger in the grounds belonging to Taira, contributing to the weakening of the clan, just like the death of Kiyomori to the beginning of the year 1181, replaced by his/her son Taira No Munemori (平宗盛), much less qualified.

The turning of the war

In June 1183, whereas Yoritomo is always cut off in Kamakura, Yoshinaka makes turn the war in favor of Minamoto by overcoming one of the Taira armies from the Bataille of Kurikara, then while entering Kyōto as a winner the August 28th at the sides of Minamoto No Yukiie and the emperor withdrawn Go-Shirakawa, after the abandonment of the city by Taira 25. Those, being seen refusing the assistance that Munemori had required of the monks Enryaku-ji (延暦寺), flee towards Kyūshū while taking along the emperor Antoku (安徳天皇), who is yet only one child.

Go-Shirakawa rewards Yoshinaka by naming it Asahi Shogun (朝日将軍 or 旭将軍). However, its army puts at bag Kyōto and the former emperor gives him the order to continue to them Taira with an aim of making leave the army the capital. The forces of Yoshinaka continue the Taira army through their grounds before being overcome with the Bataille of Mizushima the November 17th.

Internal conflicts within Minamoto

For a certain time, Minamoto No Yoshinaka wanted to take the control of the clan Minamoto with his cousin Yoritomo who had humiliated it some time earlier. Ghost with Kyōto in triumph after his victories with Kurikara and Shinohara, in spite of the defeat of his ally Minamoto No Yukiie with Muroyama, it plots with this one to kidnap the emperor withdrawn Go-Shirakawa and to establish their own government in the provinces in the north of Kyōto, being based on the “possession” of the ex-emperor to justify their reign. But Yukiie, in the final analysis, withdraws plan and informs the withdrawn emperor of the intentions of Yoshinaka.

In its turn, Go-Shirakawa prevents Yoritomo which sends his/her two brothers Yoshitsune (源義経) and Noriyori (源範頼), but those are able too late to prevent Yoshinaka from putting its plan at execution. After having delivered a seat to Hōjūjidono and faced in all the capital of many partisans of Will conceal, members of the court and monk-warriors, Yoshinaka manages to flee in direction of the bridge of Uji, where the first battle of the war had taken place four years earlier.

To this point of the events, the forces of his/her cousins arrived in Kyōto and, in a battle which resembles a version reversed of that of 1180, Yoshitsune beats Yoshinaka first once the February 19th 1184 with the second battle of Uji, before killing it the 21 with the Bataille of Awazu.

Begun again hostilities to Will conceal

Benefitting from the internal quarrels of Minamoto, them Taira reconstitute their army and settle with the emperor with Fukuhara (Kōbe).

Yoshitsune gains in March 1184 another great victory while seizing one of their fortresses to the Bataille of Ichi-No-Tani, then undertakes to continue them until Yashima (屋島) (today Takamatsu), but their fleet protects them by preventing Yoshitsune from progressing. He then undertakes to build his own ships, while his/her brother Noriyori is sent in October to pacify by the ground the Région of Chūgoku, Taira territory par excellence. He gains a victory with the Bataille of Kojima, but them Taira flee again by the sea. Not having ships to continue them, the cavalry of Noriyori can only look at them leaving. There remains blocked then in the area until the end of the year, before ending up getting boats and unloading on Kyūshū in February. As in Chūgoku, it does not have too much evil to pacify the area, the Taira troops badly nourished because of the dryness going in mass.

In March 1185, Yoshitsune crosses the Inland sea (瀬戸内海) and overcomes to them Taira the 22 from the Bataille of Yashima. Those flee once more, but Noriyori holding the coasts of Kyūshū and having made safe the provinces of Suō and Nagato, they are found without fallback position and are finally overcome definitively in April at the time of the decisive naval battle of DaN-No-ura. Many overcome, wanting to avoid dishonor being captured, commits suicide while being thrown to the sea, including the young Antoku emperor in the arms of his/her grandmother. According to Mitsuo Kure, “ Some see in the death of these noble cultivated and quite high symbol of the one time end and the beginning of another: that of the lords samurais. ” ('' Mitsuo Kure, Samurais, p. 25 '')

Consequences

The destruction of Taira of Kyōto sees the end of the era Heian and the beginning of the Period Kamakura, dominated by the '' bakufu '' of Kamakura, the first government samurai. Yoritomo, according to the councils of its vassal, indeed chooses to install its government with Kamakura instead of going in Kyōto and then gets busy to set up a structure of command giving him bars on the clans of samurais, and is made name in 1192 '' Seii Taishogun '' (征夷大将軍) by the emperor, after the death of Go-Shirakawa. Taira plains of the Kantō, which had been the allies of Yoritomo since the whole beginning of the war, chose to give their support for the Bakufu (幕府).

On its side, Yoshitsune comes to settle in Kyōto where one gives him a place near the emperor withdrawn Go-Shirakawa. Yoritomo, anxious of the influence of the Hō-ō on his/her brother, and regarding as a violation as of its privileges the fact that Yoshitsune had allotted grounds to its vassal to reward them, then recalls his/her brother to Kamakura to hold it with the eye. Yoshitsune ends up requiring of the assistance to Go-Shirakawa, and this one coming too late, it escapes then and is seen constrained to flee in the Province of Mutsu in its old guard Fujiwara No Hidehira (藤原秀衡). It finds finally death in 1189, at the sides of its last allies, among which the monk Benkei (弁慶), at the time of an attack carried out by Fujiwara No Yasuhira (藤原安衡), on order of Yoritomo (see the article Bataille of Koromogawa.) A few months later, Yoritomo makes carry out Yasuhira under pretext that it had lodged Yoshitsune, which enables him to make sure control of the rich person grounds of the Ōshū Fujiwara (奥州藤原).

Involved forces

If to generalize the war of Gempei in confrontation between the clans Minamoto and Taira is far from being false, the distinction between the two camps is not also simple, like points out it Mitsuo Kure ('' Samurais, p. 25 ''):
  • When Yoritomo leaves its exile at the beginning of the war, the Clan Hōjō, connects minor of the Taira clan having normally for task to supervise it but related to him by its marriage with the girl of Tokimasa Hōjō, chooses to fight at its sides, just as a certain number of other vassal Taira of Kantō.

  • Minamoto, as Will conceal them, sought to be combined the support of other families of samurais. One will retain for example the Clan Takeda (武田氏) of the Province of Kai, which joined Minamoto little before the Bataille of Fujigawa.

  • In the same way, the Minamoto clans and Taira tried both to obtain the support of the Sōhei (monk-warriors) of Nara and Kyōto, in order to add the forces of the temples to already the very important armies of samurais of their clans. Taira No Kiyomori forwarded of generous gifts of silk and rice to the Enryaku-ji to make sure that they would not help Minamoto, which were them-even combined with the monks of the Mii-dera.

  • After the first battle of Uji, to be avenged for the implication of the monks at the sides of Minamoto, Taira No Kiyomori reduced Mii-dera in ashes, then sent its sons to carry out the Siège of Nara to make undergo the same fate with the majority of the temples of the old capital. Only Enryaku-ji was saved. The Minamoto clan did not take any part in this seat, which opposed to only them Taira and the monk-warriors.

  • the Minamoto clan had, with the end of the year 1183, to face an internal quarrel with the treason of Minamoto No Yoshinaka. These internal struggles left time to Taira to reconstitute their forces.

List battles

List personalities related to the war of Gempei

Minamoto clan

The Minamoto clan is one of the families which dominated the political life of Japan at the 12th century, with the Taira clan, but had been decimated following the Rébellion of Heiji in 1160. Following the call to the weapons of prince Mochihito and Minamoto No Yorimasa, the surviving members of the clan gather around Yoritomo at the beginning of the conflict. The war of Gempei makes it possible to the clan to take the control of the lasting country of the centuries.

  • Minamoto No Noriyori (源範頼), general, half-brother of Yoritomo.

  • Minamoto No Yorimasa (源頼政), chief of the clan at the beginning of the war.
  • Minamoto No Yoritomo (源頼朝), chief of the clan after the death of Yorimasa.
  • Minamoto No Yoshitsune (源義経), half-brother of Yoritomo, general-in-chief of the clan.
  • Minamoto No Yukiie (源行家), general, uncle de Yoritomo.
  • Allied and vassal:
    • Go-Shirakawa (後白河), withdrawn emperor.
    • Mochihito (以仁王), imperial prince.
    • Benkei (弁慶), Sōhei (僧兵), combined of Yoshitsune.
    • Tokimasa Hōjō (時政北条), chief of the Clan Hōjō (北条), father-in-law of Yoritomo.
    • Kagetoki Kajiwara (景時梶原), officially combined of Yoshitsune, in fact a spy for the account of Yoritomo.
    • Naozane Kumagai (直実熊谷), vassal samurai of Yoritomo.
    • Moritsuna Sasaki (盛綱佐々木), vassal of Noriyori ordering the attack with the Battle of Kojima.
    • Shigeyoshi Taguchi (重能田口), Taira general, who, seeing the course battles to turn to DaN-No-ura passes in the Minamoto camp, thus bringing the final victory to them.
    • Nasu No Yoichi (那須与一), celebrates archer and allied of Minamoto.
    • Yoshiyasu Yada, vassal of Yoshinaka, orders the Minamoto troops with the Bataille of Mizushima.
    • monk-warriors of the Mii-dera (三井寺) and of the majority of the monastic orders. Three in particular are quoted quoted in the Heike Monogatari for their role in the first battle of Uji:
      • Ichirai Hoshi (一来法師), which is famous to have jumped over the sōhei Jomyo to lead the monks of Mii-dera to the battle.
      • Gochin No Tajima (ごちん忽), known as Tajima the cutter of arrows , which cut with its Naginata the arrows drawn by Taira.
      • Tsutsui Jomyo Meishu (筒井浄妙めいしゅ), which, after having drawn 24 arrows, posed its arc and fought right in the middle of the Taira troops, initially with its naginata , then with its Tachi and to finish with its Tantō , before dying transpierced of 63 arrows.
  • In favor of Minamoto No Yoshinaka (源義仲), cousin of Yoritomo, after his rebellion:
    • Kanehira Imai (兼平今井), which joined Yoshinaka in its escape with Seta.
    • Tomoe Gozen (巴御前), wife or concubine of Yoshinaka, commander of one of his armies.

Clan Will conceal

The Taira clan is one of the families which dominated the political life of Japan at the 12th century. After the almost total elimination of the rival clan Minamoto at the time of the Rebellion of Heiji in 1160, Will conceal No Kiyomori, chief of the clan, is at the beginning of the war with the top of its power and directs in the facts the government of Japan. The end of the war sees the destruction of the clan.

  • Will conceal No Atsumori (平敦盛), young samurai killed by Naozane Kumagai (直実熊谷) whose death remained famous.

  • Will conceal No Kiyomori (平清盛), chief of the clan at the beginning of the war.
  • Will conceal No Koremori (平維盛), grandson of Kiyomori.
  • Will conceal No Munemori (平宗盛), wire and heir to Kiyomori.
  • Will conceal No Noritsune (平教経), warrior of the Taira clan.
  • Will conceal No Shigehira (平重衡), general, wire of Kiyomori.
  • Will conceal No Tadanori (平忠度), general, brother of Kiyomori.
  • Will conceal No Tokiko (平時子), widow of Kiyomori, commits suicide at the time of the Bataille of DaN-No-ura.
  • Will conceal No Tomomori (平知盛), general, wire of Kiyomori.
  • Will conceal No Yukimori (平行盛), ordering Taira army from the Bataille of Kojima.
  • Allied and vassal:
    • Antoku (安徳), emperor of Japan and grandson of Will conceal No Kiyomori
    • Kagechika Ōba (景親大庭), vassal of the Taira clan.
    • Sanemori Saitō (実盛斎藤), old vassal of Minamoto No Yoshitomo, become thereafter vassal of Munenori.
    • Kaneyasu Seno (兼康妹尾), vassal of Will conceal ordering the fortress of Fukuryūji.
    • Shigeyoshi Taguchi (重能田口), Taira general, who, seeing the course battles to turn to DaN-No-ura passes in the Minamoto camp, thus bringing the final victory to them.
    • monk-warriors of the Enryaku-ji (延暦寺), at least theoretically.

The war of Gempei in the literature and the fiction

The war of Gempei inspired by many accounts and works of art, to start with famous the Heike Monogatari (平家物語, the Known as one of Heike) of the 14th century. Thereafter, by many poems, parts of theater '' No '', Kabuki , novels, like more recently by films and the video games, will be also inspired some.

If the Heike Monogatari , of share its nature epic, cannot be regarded as a reliable source, the historians lay out on the other hand of a named chronicle Azuma Kagami (吾妻鏡) which describes day after day the events of 1180 with 1266.

See too

Sources

External bond

  • a chronology of the Heian period on the samurai-archives.com site, including the events of the war of Gempei.

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