Sanadaraisha on the site of the battle of Mt. Ishibashi during the Genpei Wars that ended with the crowning of the first Shogun.
The court is in turmoil. The child Emperor has died, leaving no heirs. The two most powerful noble families each have their favorite successor. The head of one family serves has served as chancellor for the last twenty years after a brief civil war, killing or banishing much of the leadership of the other family. As such, he was easily able to place his two year old grandson on the throne. Meanwhile, a retired Emperor, who had been controlling the last three Emperors behind the scenes, chaffed under the control of the new military leadership. He sent his third son to make contact with the exiled leaders of the other powerful family for their support in seizing the throne. Sounds like something out of a novel, but this is the 1180s in Japan, and this is the beginning of the Genpei Wars, which will spell the end of the Taira Clan (Heike in the old Chinese used by the court at the time) and the rise of the first Shogunate. A few weeks ago, I talked about the first command of the first Shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo, and today I thought I would go into more detail about the opening chapters of the Genpei War and how we wound up with Yoritomo being on that mountainside in the first place. Especially since the opening movements of the war took place at a couple places we’ve already visited in the course of this blog.
The main hall of Todaiji. The temple was founded in the 700s, but the original structures and the original great Buddha were destroyed by Taira forces during the Genpei War. Read the rest of Todaiji’s story here.
So, the year is 1180. Taira no Kiyomori, head of the Taira Clan, sits in Kyoto, called Heiankyou at the time, at the head of the first military government of Japan. Kiyomori rescued the Emperor Nijo and his father, retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa (later Shirakawa or Shirakawa II by western naming conventions), from a combined force of Minamoto and Fujiwara usurpers. In the resulting battles, many of the Minamoto clan leadership was killed, and Yoritomo and his brothers were exiled. This left Kiyomori in control while Go-Shirakawa wanted to remain the real power behind the throne. In spite of the fact that the retired Emperor originally requested Taira help in restoring his power, once the fighting was done, Kiyomori started taking power for himself, since he commanded the largest, and pretty much only, army in the land. The Minamoto, however, were largely scattered and were left to seek allies in the outlying areas on the fringes of Japan’s influence.
Byodoin in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Featured on the back of the ten yen coin, Byodoin was the site of the first major battle of the Genpei Wars. Read our article on rest of Byodoin’s history here.
By 1180, Emperor Nijo had died, leaving Go-Shirakawa’s infant grandson the throne. Sadly, the boy soon died as well, leaving a power vacuum. Shirakawa wanted his third son, Prince Mochihito, to become the new Emperor, but Kiyomori had other plans and put his own grandson’s daughter and one of Shirakawa’s sons on the throne. He further took the Imperial court into his own lands in modern Kobe to keep them under tight control. In response, Shirakawa sent Mochihito to make contact with their former captors and the traditional enemies of the Taira, the Minamoto (also called Genji in old Chinese) clan, who gladly offered to help. And so the war was on.
The Phoenix Hall of Byodoin, in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. On June 23rd, 1180 Prince Mochihito and a small troop of Minamoto Samurai were attacked here by a larger Taira force. It was in this hall at the end of the battle that the Minamoto commander, Yorimasa, became one of the first samurai leaders to commit ritual suicide rather than face defeat in combat.
The first major battle of the war took place in modern day Uji. Prince Mochihito was traveling from Mii-dera accompanied by a group of fighting monks. Along the way, he found himself being pursued southward by Taira forces. The chase, joined by Minamoto no Yorimasa and a few hundred warriors and monks, eventually spilled into the grounds of Byodoin. Minamoto forces made a brief stand, pulling up a nearby bridge to slow the Taira advance, but were ultimately defeated. Minamoto no Yorimasa became one of the first Samurai to commit seppuku, committing ritual suicide in the Phoenix Hall. Mochihito escaped the battle, but he was subsequently caught and killed by Taira forces. Byodoin itself, however, survived the battle unscathed and the Phoenix Hall still stands today. After the battle, the Taira, in an act of brutal vengeance toward the monks who aided Prince Mochihito and the Minamoto Clan, marched on Nara, intent on punishing the monks for supporting their enemies. The monks and residents put up a valiant defense, using spears and bows, but they were no match for the Taira cavalry. Nara and all of its temples were ultimately burned, including Todaiji and the Great Buddha housed there. Much was rebuilt, but it is believed that the original structures were much grander than any that came after, and historians at the time and today lament the loss of so much ancient culture and architecture. These two serious defeats left the Minamoto clan in a bad position and left Minamoto no Yoritomo as the head of the Minamoto clan. As such, he set off into the northern provinces to recruit new allies and raise another army, which is how he found himself at Mt. Ishibashi.
Nara as seen from a hillside hall of Todaiji. The city was mostly razed by Taira forces in retaliation because many of the local monks supported the Minamoto clan in the nearby Battle of Uji.
It is of note that the Samura battles of this era were not like a lot of the old Samurai movies or Hollywood. Japanese combat up until the Mongol Invasions of the 1280s and even to some extent in the years following were very formal, ritualized affairs. Set battles always opened with mutual archery barrages, even if one side greatly outnumbered the other. After the samurai shot at each other with arrows, the horsemen and foot soldiers would step forward, starting with the highest social status, declare their linage and fighting spirit, then step forward to battle their opposing numbers in honorable combat – often with spears rather than swords. From there, the battle would descend into the usual chaos as one side would get the upper hand. Defeating and beheading enemy warriors was seen as the greatest honor, which is part of what lead to the practice of defeated generals slipping away as a battle turned against them to commit sepukku. By dying on their own terms, by the own hand, and having a trusted servant carry away and hide their head, they spared themselves the dishonor of falling to an enemy and denied their enemy the honor of defeating them in combat. This is why Minamoto no Yorimasa, injured by an arrow while helping Prince Mochihito escape and seeing his sons overwhelmed and falling in battle fled to the temple hall and ended his own life.
Samurai Reenactors demonstrate musket firing at Matsumoto Castle. This is what most people think of when they think samurai, but the samurai of the Genpei War were very different. They valued honorable combat above all else and battles often consisted of a long series of successive duels between individuals. By the Edo period, this was no longer the case, as the Mongol Invasions of the late 1280s demonstrated that no one else fought like the Japanese. That and the Portuguese gave the Japanese guns in the mid 1500s. Also of note, the samurai valued the manly arts of poetry writing, calligraphy, and flower arranging when they were trying to cut each other’s heads off.
And so, we leave Minamoto no Yoritomo as head of the Minamoto forces, trying to raise and army on the side of Mt. Ishibashi. You can read more about the battle he fought there here. Perhaps in the future, when I have had the chance to visit some of the other sites related to the Genpei War, I’ll pick this story back up and follow Yoritomo on his quest to become the undisputed military ruler of all Japan.
References:
Warfare History Blog: http://warfarehistorian.blogspot.jp/2014/09/gempei-war-of-1180-1185-minamoto-taira.html
The History of Fighting: http://www.historyoffighting.com/the-japanese-samurai-at-war.php.
Samurai: A Life of Art and War: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/asianart/resources/pdf/Sheet21_AsianEduRes_A4_sheets_DVD.pdf
And, of course, Wikipedia.