Minamoto no Yoriyoshi
Encyclopedia
was a head of Japan's Minamoto clan
Minamoto clan
was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were demoted into the ranks of the nobility. The practice was most prevalent during the Heian Period , although its last occurrence was during the Sengoku Era. The Taira were another such offshoot of...

 who is perhaps most notable for having led, along with his son Minamoto no Yoshiie
Minamoto no Yoshiie
Minamoto no Yoshiie , also known as Hachimantarō, was a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period, and Chinjufu shogun...

, the Imperial forces against rebellious forces in the north. This campaign would be called the Zenkunen War
Zenkunen War
The Zenkunen War , also known by the English translation Early Nine-Years War, was fought from 1051 to 1063, in Japan's Mutsu province, at the far north of the main island of Honshū...

, and would be followed some years later by the Gosannen War
Gosannen War
The Gosannen War , also known by the English translation Later Three-Year War, was fought during Japan's Heian period in the province of Mutsu at the far north of Japan's main island of Honshū. Though some scholars date the war to the period of 1086 to 1089, others place it a few years earlier,...

.

He held the title, passed down from his father, of Chinjufu-shogun, Commander-in-chief of the Defense of the North. Yoriyoshi accompanied his father Minamoto no Yorinobu
Minamoto no Yorinobu
was a samurai commander and member of the powerful Minamoto clan. He was the son of Minamoto no Mitsunaka . Along with his brother Yorimitsu, Yorinobu served the regents of the Fujiwara clan, taking the violent measures the Fujiwara were themselves unable to take. He held the title, passed down...

 on his own missions to defend the Empire, quelling rebellions and disturbances. Thus he gained much of his knowledge of tactics and strategy. The Zenkunen War in which he fought began in 1051 and lasted, with some brief breaks, twelve years. In 1063, Yoriyoshi founded Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Kamakura
Kamakura, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...

 which was to become, roughly a century later, the primary shrine of the Minamoto clan when they began the Kamakura shogunate
Kamakura shogunate
The Kamakura shogunate was a military dictatorship in Japan headed by the shoguns from 1185 to 1333. It was based in Kamakura. The Kamakura period draws its name from the capital of the shogunate...

.

Source

  • Sansom, George (1958). 'A History of Japan to 1334'. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
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