Heiji Rebellion
Encyclopedia
The was a short civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....

 fought in order to resolve a dispute about political power. The Heiji no ran encompassed clashes between rival subjects of the cloistered
Cloistered rule
The Insei system , or cloistered rule, was a specific form of government in Japan during the Heian period. In this bifurcated system, an Emperor abdicated, but he retained power and influence. The emperors who withdrew to live in monasteries continued to act in ways which were intended to...

 Emperor Go-Shirakawa
Emperor Go-Shirakawa
Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession...

 of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 in 1159. It was preceded by the Hōgen Rebellion
Hogen Rebellion
The was a short civil war fought in order to resolve a dispute about Japanese Imperial succession. The dispute was also about the degree of control exercised by the Fujiwara clan who had become hereditary Imperial regents during the Heian period....

 in 1156. This struggle is seen as a direct outcome of that earlier armed dispute; but unlike Hōgen no ran, this is not a dispute between members of the same clan. Rather, it becomes a struggle for power between two rival clans; and it is also seen as a precursor of a broader civil war.

Context

Emperor Go-Shirakawa stepped back from his formal role as emperor, but his abdication implied no ceding of political and other powers to his successor.
  • September 5, 1158 (Hōgen
    Hogen (era)
    was a after Kyūju and before Heiji. This period spanned the years from April 1156 through April 1159. The reigning emperors were and .-Change of era:* January 24, 1156 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events...

     3, 11th day of the 8th month
    ): In the 3rd year of Go-Shirakawa-tennō 's reign (後白河天皇25年), the emperor abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by his eldest son. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Nijō is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).


After Nijō was formally enthroned, the management of all affairs continued to rest entirely in the hands of Go-Shirakawa.

In late 1159, Taira no Kiyomori
Taira no Kiyomori
was a general of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan.After the death of his father Taira no Tadamori in 1153, Kiyomori assumed control of the Taira clan and ambitiously entered the political realm in which he...

, head of the Taira clan and supporter of Emperor Nijō
Emperor Nijo
Emperor Nijō was the 78th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spaned the years from 1158 through 1165.- Genealogy :...

, left Kyōto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 with his family, on a personal pilgrimage. This left his enemies, Fujiwara no Nobuyori
Fujiwara no Nobuyori
was one of the chief allies of Minamoto no Yoshitomo in the Heiji Rebellion of 1159. As a member of the Fujiwara clan, Nobuyori might have been in line to become regent, and he desired power, which he obtained for a short while following the Rebellion....

 and the Minamoto clan, a perfect opportunity to effect an uprising.
  • January 19—February 5, 1160 (Heiji
    Heiji
    was a after Hōgen and before Eiryaku. This period spanned the years from April 1159 through January 1160. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:* January 21, 1159 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events...

     1, 9th—26th day of the 12th month
    ): The Heijirebellion|, also known as the Heiji disturbance or the Heiji insurrection or the Heiji war.

Combat

In the Siege of Sanjō Palace
Siege of Sanjo Palace
The Siege of the Sanjō Palace was the primary battle of the 1159 Heiji Rebellion. In early January of 1160, after Taira no Kiyomori left Kyoto on a family pilgrimage, Fujiwara no Nobuyori and Minamoto no Yoshitomo saw an opportunity to effect changes they sought in the government...

, Nobuyori and his Minamoto allies abducted the former emperor Emperor Go-Shirakawa
Emperor Go-Shirakawa
Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession...

 and Emperor Nijō and set fire to the Palace.

Minamoto no Yoshitomo
Minamoto no Yoshitomo
was the head of the Minamoto clan and a general of the late Heian period of Japanese history. His son Minamoto no Yoritomo became shogun and founded the Kamakura Shogunate, the first shogunate in the history of Japan.-Hōgen Rebellion:...

 and Fujiwara no Nobuyori
Fujiwara no Nobuyori
was one of the chief allies of Minamoto no Yoshitomo in the Heiji Rebellion of 1159. As a member of the Fujiwara clan, Nobuyori might have been in line to become regent, and he desired power, which he obtained for a short while following the Rebellion....

 placed Go-Shirakawa under house arrest and killed his retainer, the scholar Fujiwara no Michinori
Fujiwara no Michinori
, also known as ', an aristocratic Confucian scholar and monk, was one of the chief advisors to Emperor Nijō, and one of the chief allies of Taira no Kiyomori, particularly during the Heiji Rebellion of 1159....

. Nobuyori had himself declared imperial chancellor, and began to see his plans for political power fall into place.

However, the Minamoto did not plan well enough, militarily, and were unprepared to defend the city against Kiyomori's return. Upon his return, the Minamoto made no decisive moves and hesitated.

Kiyomori, who returned to Kyōto, offered to surrender to Nobuyori. However, this was a plot. While Nobuyori was careless, Kiyomori let the Emperor Nijō and the former emperor Go-shirakawa escape to Kiyomori's side.

Kiyomori received an imperial grant from the Emperor for attacking Yoshitomo and Nobuyori. Taira no Shigemori
Taira no Shigemori
was the eldest son of the Taira clan patriarch, Taira no Kiyomori. He took part in the Hōgen and Heiji rebellions. He died of illness in 1179....

 (the eldest son of Kiyomori) led 3,000 cavalry and attacked the Imperial Palace where Yoshitomo and Nobuyori were holed up. Nobuyori ran away immediately, but Minamoto no Yoshihira
Minamoto no Yoshihira
Minamoto no Yoshihira was a Minamoto clan warrior who fought alongside his father, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, in the Heiji Rebellion....

 (the eldest son of Yoshitomo) fought back and a fierce battle ensued. Yoshihira fought hard and chased Shigemori within the Imperial Palace.

The Taira force retreated and the Minamoto force left the Imperial Palace in pursuit. This was a plot of Kiyomori. A detached Taira force occupied the Imperial Palace. The Minamoto force was cut off from the way of retreat. The Minamoto force charged at Rokuhara of a base of Kiyomori. It became a fierce battle, but finally the Minamoto force fled in disorderly retreat.

Outcome

Ultimately, Taira no Kiyomori
Taira no Kiyomori
was a general of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan.After the death of his father Taira no Tadamori in 1153, Kiyomori assumed control of the Taira clan and ambitiously entered the political realm in which he...

 defeated Yoshitomo, killed his two eldest sons and Nobuyori, and released Go-Shirakawa. Yoshitomo was eventually betrayed and killed by a retainer while escaping from Kyōto in Owari
Owari Province
was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of present day Aichi Prefecture, including much of modern Nagoya. Its abbreviation is Bishū .-History:The province was created in 646....

.

Afterwards, Taira no Kiyomori banished Yoshitomo's son Minamoto no Yoritomo
Minamoto no Yoritomo
was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate of Japan. He ruled from 1192 until 1199.-Early life and exile :Yoritomo was the third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, heir of the Minamoto clan, and his official wife, a daughter of Fujiwara no Suenori, who was a member of the...

, seized Minamoto wealth and land, and eventually formed the first of four samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 dominated governments during the feudal history of Japan
History of Japan
The history of Japan encompasses the history of the islands of Japan and the Japanese people, spanning the ancient history of the region to the modern history of Japan as a nation state. Following the last ice age, around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese Archipelago fostered human...

.

Legacy

The rivalry between the Minamoto and Taira clans was exacerbated by the Heiji rebellion. This led to the Genpei War
Genpei War
The was a conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late-Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the fall of the Taira clan and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192....

, ending with the decisive Taira defeat at the Battle of Dan-no-ura
Battle of Dan-no-ura
The ' was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshū. On March 24, 1185, the Genji clan fleet, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the Heike clan fleet, during a half-day engagement.The Taira were outnumbered, but...

 in 1185.

The Kamakura period
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 shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

 epic Tale of the Disturbance in Heiji
Tale of Heiji
The Tale of Heiji is a Japanese war epic detailing the events of the Heiji Rebellion of 1159-1160, in which samurai clan head Minamoto no Yoshitomo attacked and besieged Kyoto, as part of an Imperial succession dispute, in which he was opposed by Taira no Kiyomori, head of the Taira clan...

 is about the exploits of the samurai that participated in the Heiji Rebellion. Together with the Tale of the Disturbance in Hōgen
Tale of Hogen
is a Japanese war chronicle or military tale which relates the events and prominent figures of the Hōgen Rebellion. This literary and historical classic is believed to have been completed in the Kamakura period ca. 1320. Its author or authors remain unknown...

 and the Tale of Heike, these war stories (gunki monogatari
Monogatari
is a literary form in traditional Japanese literature, an extended prose narrative tale comparable to the epic. Monogatari is closely tied to aspects of the oral tradition, and almost always relates a fictional or fictionalized story, even when retelling a historical event...

) describe the rise and fall of the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans.
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