, , or Lord Kiso was a general from the late

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

Japanese history The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new invent ...

. A member of the

Minamoto 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 ...

clan,

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

was his cousin and rival during the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...

between the Minamoto and the

Taira The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided i ...

clans. Yoshinaka was born in

Musashi province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, S ...

. His

dharma name A Dharma name or Dhamma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism (where it is more proper to call it Dhamma or Sangha name). The nam ...

was Tokuon'in Gisan Senkō (徳音院義山宣公).

Early life

Yoshinaka's father, Minamoto no Yoshikata, was killed by Minamoto no Yoshihira in 1155. Yoshihira also sought to kill Yoshinaka who escaped to

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

. He was raised by Nakahara Kaneto, Imai Kanehira's father, together with his milk-brother

Imai Kanehira Imai Kanehira (今井兼平, 1152-1184) was a military commander of the late Heian Period of Japan. He was the milk brother of Minamoto no Yoshinaka. He became joint commander of Yoshinaka's faction during the Genpei War after Yoshinaka met up wit ...

, who would later become his best friend and most loyal retainer. Yoshinaka later changed his name from Minamoto to , to reflect the

Kiso Mountains are a mountain range in Nagano and Gifu prefectures in Japan. They are also called the and they combine with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Akaishi Mountains ("Southern Alps") to form a group collectively known as the Japanese ...

where he was raised.

Genpei War

Dai_Nihon_Rokujūyoshō%2C_Shinano_Asahishōgun_Minamoto_no_Yoshinaka_by_Yoshitora

Yoshinaka accepted

Prince Mochihito (died June 1180), also known as the Takakura Prince, and as Minamoto no Mochimitsu (源以光), was a son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan. He is noted for his role in starting the Genpei War. Believing that Taira no Kiyomori was causing suffe ...

's call to the

clan to rise against the

in 1181. He entered the

by raising an army and invading Echigo Province. He then defeated a Taira force sent to pacify the area. The Taira army captured the fortress of Hiuchi in 1183. Yoshinaka later that year was confronted by his cousin,

, whose army had entered Shinano. They reconciled and resolved to unite against the Taira. Yoshinaka to seal the agreement sent his son Yoshitaka (or Yoshimoto) to

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

as a hostage. However, having been shamed by the process, Yoshinaka was now determined to beat Yoritomo to

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, defeat the Taira on his own, and take control of the Minamoto clan. Yoshinaka defeated the army of

Taira no Koremori (1158 – 1184) was one of the Taira clan's commanders during the Genpei War of the late Heian period of Japanese history. He was the eldest son of Taira no Shigemori, who was the eldest regent and heir of Taira no Kiyomori. Early life Taira ...

at the Battle of Kurikara Pass and marched to Kyoto. The Taira retreated out of the capital, taking the child

Emperor Antoku was the 81st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1180 through 1185. During this time, the Imperial family was involved in a bitter struggle between warring clans. Minamoto no Yo ...

with them. Yoshinaka's army entered the capital with the cloistered

Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His de jure reign spanned the years from 1155 through 1158, though arguably he effectively maintained imperial power for almost thirty-seven years through the ''ins ...

who issued a mandate for Yoshinaka to join with Yukiiye in "destroying Munemori and his army". The emperor also bestowed upon Yoshinaka the title of ''Asahi

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'' (). Yoshinaka plotted with Yukiie in "setting up a government in their own northern province". Learning Go-Shirakawa had sought help from his cousin Yoritomo, Yoshinaka seized the cloistered emperor and burned his palace. Yoritomo ordered his brothers Yoshitsune and Noriyori to destroy Yoshinaka. He was subsequently driven out of Kyoto and killed by his cousins at the

Battle of Awazu Minamoto no Yoshinaka made his final stand at Awazu, after fleeing from his cousins' armies, which confronted him after he attacked Kyoto, burning the Hōjūjiden, and kidnapping Emperor Go-Shirakawa. During the pursuit he was joined by his ...

Ōmi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countrie ...

(present-day

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the nort ...

) along with Kanehira. With night coming and with many enemy soldiers chasing him, he attempted to find an isolated spot to kill himself. However, the story says that his horse became trapped in a field of partly frozen mud and his enemies were able to approach him and kill him.

Legacy

Yoshinaka was buried in

Ōtsu 270px, Ōtsu City Hall is the capital city of Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 343,991 in 153458 households and a population density of 740 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ōtsu is ...

, in Ōmi; a temple was built in his honor during the later

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

. Its name, Gichū-ji, has the same two

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

as his given name. Kanehira's grave is also in Otsu, but it is not close to Yoshinaka's. The

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

poet

Matsuo Bashō born then was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest ma ...

, pursuant to his last wishes, was buried next to Minamoto no Yoshinaka in Gichū-ji. Minamoto no Yoshinaka is one of many main characters in the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

epic, the ''

Tale of Heike is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being the ''on'yo ...

''. The story of Yoshinaka and Kanehira is fairly well known in Japan; it is also the subject of the

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

play ''Kanehira'', in which Kanehira's tormented ghost describes his and Yoshinaka's death, and his wish to go to the other side.

Early life

Genpei War

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading