Completed entry!
Genpei War Map - hanging scroll is complete!
GENPEI WAR 1180 - 1185
The Genpei War really began in 1161 when the Emperor Go-Shirakawa retired from office, a situation that began to occur more and more at the end of the Heian Period (792 - 1185) when emperors found themselves more as ceremonial figureheads and not ruling members of the government, which was maintained by the various Ministers of the court. By retiring, a former emperor is still considered a god with much power, passing on ceremonial duties to his chosen heir, while working politics in the background of the Imperial throne.
His choice for replacement was met with mixed emotions by various members of the court. Minamoto Yorimasa (the father of Yoritomo and Yoshi-tsune) backed a different heir, but their plot was discovered and emperor want-to-be was slain in his escape attempt. In dishonor Minamoto Yorimasa committed seppuka (ritual suicide), having done so, this incident of seppuka set the precedant for what it means to be samurai, and death if one fails his master. Ritual suicide was not intrinsicly tied to the samurai until after Yorimasa did so.
His senior sons were executed and his three youngest sons sent away in exile.
Twenty years later, the exiled sons returned, and the current emperor forgave their father's crimes, and they were granted their familial lands and properties. In return they served the emperor as military generals to quell rebellions or the borders from barbarians. Thus the Minamoto name was restored to honor.
The emperor died. Kiyomori no Taira, the head of the Taira family took control of the court, essentially kidnapped the emperor's youngest son, under his care named the infant the next emperor of Japan, Prince Antoku as he was called. Kiyomori named himself Minister, but acted as Regent and Shogun.
The former emperor's father, the retired Go-Shirakawa was still alive and asked Yoritomo, the eldest Minamoto, to remove the Taira from power and retore the throne to his choice, Go-Toba, his elder son.
The call to restore the Imperial line went out to all the provinces. Thus the war began, not yet a war between two families, but each province was to decide which faction they would support, the retired emperor backed Minamoto or the residing Imperial court backed by Taira. The first year and a half of war, was internal to each province as cousins and brothers fought to decide where each family stood in supporting which imperial heir.
In 1181, Go-Shirakawa died of old age, his son and chosen heir took charge.
Late during 1182 a drought and plague struck everywhere throughout Japan and the war simmered down, while each took care of their own lands and people. All except Yoritomo's cousin, Yorinaka who put his own army in charge of Heian-Kyo (Kyoto) the Imperial Capital, while the emperor escaped west to Edo, under Minamoto protection, and forced the Taira into their homelands outside the capital. It was said, Yorinaka was a brute and pleasured himself at the expense of the court and people.
In 1184, Go-Toba asked Yoritomo to remove his cousin from Heian-kyo and restrain the armies of the Taira, then end this disruptive war. Yoritomo being the consumate bureaucrat sent his two warlike younger brothers to serve as the field generals, while he negotiated for a permanent position of power at court with Go-Toba.
Yoshi-tsune, the elder of the two brothers sent to fight became a hero of history and legend with his great battle at Ichi no tane. A fort in the mountains west of Fukuhara-kyo, the Taira homeland city, Ichi no tane sat at the feet of a small mountain with a steep incline behind it, allowing the fort to command the box canyon before it to the sea. Yoshi-tsune sent his younger brother, Noriyori with 3000 men to attack the outer gate forts to attract the Taira at the main fort. This occurred March 18, 1184.
Meanwhile, Yoshi-tsune led a force of 50,000 to the top of that mountain behind the main fort. In a hair-raising charge down a mountainside, the army of Yoshi-tsune moved straight to the main fort, behind the Taira army who saw this act, which they considered an impossibility, and routed.
A year of skirmishes to settle the formerly Taira strong provinces of Honshu, while the Taira escaped to their secondary fortress of Yashima on the Island of Shikoku, across the Inland Sea from Honshu and the war.
On March 22, 1185 the Battle of Yashima let a confused Taira host lose their superior defensive position with an inferior force, though the bulk of the army escaped on ships west heading to Shimonoseki - the Straits between Honshu and Kyushu in the south. They were meeting up with their surviving armies on Honshu to build a stronghold in their Kyushu properties. The small village of Dan no ura sits near that place.
The Minamoto led a superior force of 500 ships to the Taira waiting fleet of 300 ships, on April 14, 1185. Some of the Minamoto ships landed ashore to sent forces against the Taira on shore. In the early hours, the tide which is very forceful in the narrows straits between the main islands were favoring the forces of Taira, they held their line against the superior numbers of the Minamoto ships. But then the tide turned and the Minamoto ships had the advantage.
A Taira spy gave away the identify to the specific Taira ship that held the Taira family and Prince Antoku. A force of 10 ships concentrated archer fire onto that ship, felling all on the decks. The Taira in desperation leaped from the ships with the infant emperor and died in the rough seas there.
The Taira forces on the shore were forced off the land and were destroyed in the surf between their dying fleet and the Minamoto army on shore.
Thus ended the Taira, and the Genpei War in 1185.
Historical background aside. Here is my final entry for the February Challenge.
GP
### Latest WIP ###
Reply With Quote
