The battle of Kawasaki was the first major battle of the Early Nine Years' War (

Zenkunen War The , also known in English as the Former Nine Years' War or the Early Nine Years' War, was fought between the Imperial Court and the Abe clan in Mutsu Province, in Northeast Japan, from 1051 to 1063. It resulted in Imperial Court victory and t ...

) (1051-1063). It was fought between the forces of the

Abe clan The was one of the oldest of the major Japanese clans (''uji''); and the clan retained its prominence during the Sengoku period and the Edo period.Meyer, Eva-Maria"Gouverneure von Kyôto in der Edo-Zeit." Universität Tübingen (in German). The ...

, led by

Abe no Sadato was a samurai during the Heian period of Japan. In the Zenkunen War, Sadato fought alongside his father against the Minamoto. Life Sadatō was born in 1019, to the Abe clan, as the son of Abe no Yoritoki, the '' chinjufu-shōgun'' (general ...

, and those of the

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...

, acting as agents of the Imperial Court, and led by

Minamoto no Yoriyoshi was a Japanese samurai lord who was the head of the Minamoto clan and served as '' Chinjufu-shōgun''. Along with his son Minamoto no Yoshiie, he led the Imperial forces against rebellious forces in the north, a campaign called the Zenkunen War, ...

and his eighteen-year-old son Yoshiie.

History

Much of the battle took place during a snowstorm, and consisted of Minamoto assaults on Abe no Sadato's entrenched army of 4000 warriors. In the end, the Minamoto were driven off, due to a combination of Abe resistance and the weather, and were pursued through the blizzard by Sadato and his men. "In the end only six officers on horseback were left. These were Yoshiie, Junior Secretary of Palace Repairs Fujiwara no Kagemichi, Oyake no Mitsuto, Kiyohara no Sadahiro, Fujiwara no Norisue and Noriakira." The ''Mutsu Waki'' states, "The 200 horse-riding rebels half-circled and attacked them from the solid left and right wings, shooting arrows like rain. But Yoshiie kept shooting down enemy commanders. Finally, the rebels, deciding that these men were gods, retreated, so Yoriyoshi's men were also able to retreat."

References

{{Reflist *Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co. Kawasaki Kawasaki 1057 in Asia 1050s in Japan ja:前九年の役#黄海の戦い