was a general of the late Heian Period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

 of Japanese history

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...

. A member of the Minamoto 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...

 clan, 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...

 was his cousin and rival during 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....

 between the Minamoto and the Taira clans.

Born in Musashi

Musashi Province

was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Prefecture, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama...

 province, Yoshinaka's father Minamoto no Yoshikata was killed and his domain was seized by 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....

 in an intrafamily feud while he was still an infant. Yoshihira sought to kill Yoshinaka also, but he escaped into the care of Nakahara clan in Kiso, Shinano Province

Shinano Province

or is an old province of Japan that is now present day Nagano Prefecture.Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces...

 (present-day Nagano Prefecture

Nagano Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...

) where he was then raised. He was raised with Nakahara Shiro who was his milkbrother (Shiro's mother Chizuru nursed Yoshinaka and Shiro). This Shiro would later become Imai no Shiro Kanehira, Yoshinaka's best friend and most loyal retainer. Yoshinaka later changed his name from Minamoto to Kiso.

In 1180, Yoshinaka received Prince Mochihito

Prince Mochihito

' , also known as the Takakura Prince, and as Minamoto Mochimitsu, was a son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa. He is noted for his role in starting the Genpei War....

's call to the members of the Minamoto clan to rise against the Taira. Yoshinaka entered 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....

 raising an army in Shinano and quickly conquered the province. In 1181, Yoshinaka sought to regain his father's domain in Musashi which was already under the control of his cousin 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...

. The two reconciled and resolved to not fight one another but Yoshinaka had to accept Yoritomo as the leader of the Minamoto clan, give up his aspirations for his father's domain, and send his son Yoshitaka to 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...

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

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:...

, defeat the Taira on his own, and take control of the Minamoto for himself.

Yoshinaka defeated the army of Taira no Koremori

Taira no Koremori

' was one of the Taira clan's commanders in the Genpei War of the late Heian period of Japanese history.He was the eldest son of Taira no Shigemori, who was the eldest son and heir of Taira no Kiyomori....

 at the Battle of Kurikara Pass

Battle of Kurikara

The battle of Kurikara, also known as the battle of Tonamiyama , was a crucial battle of Japan's Genpei War; in this battle the tide of the war turned in the favor of the Minamoto clan.-Background:...

 and marched to Kyoto. The Taira retreated out of the capital, taking the child Emperor Antoku

Emperor Antoku

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...

 with them. Three days later Yoshinaka's army entered the capital and the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa

Emperor Go-Shirakawa

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

 bestowed upon him the title of Asahi Shogun. However, his army ransacked Kyoto, and the emperor ordered him to attack the Taira in order to get the army out of the capital.

Later, returning to Kyoto after a battle, Yoshinaka was angered to find out that the Emperor had sided with his cousin Yoritomo. He extended military control over the city, pillaging it and imprisoning the Emperor Go-Shirakawa, and forced the Emperor to bestow upon him the title of shogun

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

. Minamoto no Yoritomo, angry at Yoshinaka's actions, ordered his brothers Minamoto no Yoshitsune

Minamoto no Yoshitsune

was a general of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura period. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, and the third and final son and child that Yoshitomo would father with Tokiwa Gozen. Yoshitsune's older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo founded the Kamakura...

 and Minamoto no Noriyori

Minamoto no Noriyori

was a late Heian period general, who fought alongside his brothers Minamoto no Yoritomo and Minamoto no Yoshitsune at a number of battles of the Genpei War. The sixth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, he was spared along with his brothers in 1160 by Taira no Kiyomori following Yoshitomo's death.He...

 to attack and kill Yoshinaka.

Yoshinaka was driven out of Kyoto and killed by his cousins at the Battle of Awazu

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...

 in Ōmi Province

Omi Province

is an old province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. It is nicknamed as .Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, is located at the center of the province...

 (present-day Shiga Prefecture

Shiga Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan, which forms part of the Kansai region on Honshu Island. The capital is the city of Ōtsu.- History :Shiga was known as Ōmi Province or Gōshū before the prefectural system was established...

) along with his milk brother 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.

He was buried in Otsu

Otsu, Shiga

is the capital city of Shiga, Japan. The city was founded on October 1, 1898. As of October 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 338,629 with an average age of 40.7 years and a population density of 905.28 persons per km²...

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

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, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...

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

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

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

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 poet Matsuo Bashō

Matsuo Basho

, 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 a master of brief and clear haiku...

, 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

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

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

, the Tale of Heike. The story of Yoshinaka and Kanehira is fairly well known in Japan; it is also the subject of the Noh

Noh

, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...

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

Additional reading

• Yoshinaka's life is described in some detail in S. Turnbull's
  Stephen Turnbull (historian)
  Stephen Richard Turnbull is a historian specializing in eastern military history, especially the samurai of Japan. The books he wrote are mainly on Japanese and Mongolian subjects.He attended Cambridge University where he gained his first degree...
  
   book The Samurai (1977) pages 55 to 66).