Minamoto no Yoshitomo

In this Japanese name, the surname is Minamoto.
Minamoto no Yoshitomo
源義朝
Head of Kawachi Genji
Preceded byMinamoto no Tameyoshi
Succeeded byMinamoto no Yoritomo
Personal details
Born1123 (1123)
DiedFebruary 11, 1160(1160-02-11) (aged 36–37)
SpouseYura Gozen
RelationsTokiwa Gozen (concubine)
Children
Parents
Military service
AllegianceMinamoto clan
Branch/serviceMinamoto clan

Minamoto no Yoshitomo (源 義朝) (1123 – 11 February 1160) was a Japanese samurai and the head of the Minamoto clan and a general of the late Heian period of Japanese history. His son Minamoto no Yoritomo became shōgun and founded the Kamakura shogunate, the first shogunate in the history of Japan.

His Dharma name was Shōjō Juin (勝定寿院).

Hōgen Rebellion

With the outbreak of the Hōgen Rebellion in 1156, the members of the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans were called into the conflict. Yoshitomo and Taira no Kiyomori both threw their support behind Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Fujiwara no Tadamichi, while Yoshitomo's father, Minamoto no Tameyoshi, sided with the retired Emperor Sutoku and Fujiwara no Yorinaga. Yoshitomo, defeating his father and the forces of Sutoku and Yorinaga, became head of the Minamoto clan and established himself as the main political power in the capital of Kyoto. However, despite attempts to have his father pardoned,[1] he was forced to execute Tameyoshi personally.[2] In the aftermath of the rebellion, the Taira and Minamoto became two of the strongest and most influential clans in Japan, which turned the two clans into bitter rivals.[3]

Heiji Rebellion

In the first months of 1160 while Taira no Kiyomori was absent from the capital of Kyoto, Yoshitomo and Fujiwara no Nobuyori placed Go-Shirakawa under house arrest and killed his retainers, including the scholar Fujiwara no Michinori, in what is called the Heiji rebellion. The civil war wasn't to go on for very long as Kiyomori declared his support for the Emperor and rapidly defeated the rebel forces within the span of a month.[3]: 255–258 

While making his escape from Kyoto, Yoshitomo was forced to sacrifice his son Tomonaga to buy time. Even so, Yoshitomo was eventually betrayed and murdered while taking a bath. Three of his surviving sons, Yoritomo, Yoshitsune and Noriyori, were spared execution and exiled by the victorious Kiyomori. However, Yoshitomo's allies Yoshihira and Nobuyori were both executed.[4]

His grave in Aichi Prefecture is surrounded on all sides by wooden swords (bokuto), as by legend his last words were "If only I'd had a bokuto...".

Family

Yoshitomo fathered nine sons and at least one daughter. His second son, Tomonaga, died during the Heiji rebellion in 1160; having been grievously wounded, he worried about being captured and begged his father to kill him. His eldest, Yoshihira, died following the rebellion. Minamoto no Yoritomo was his eldest surviving son; Yoritomo and all his younger brothers, including Minamoto no Noriyori and Minamoto no Yoshitsune[5] and Yoshitsune's brothers from the same mother, Tokiwa Gozen, Ano Zenjō and Gien, were spared on account of their youth.

Father: Minamoto no Tameyoshi (源為義, 1096–1156)

Mother: Daughter of Fujiwara no Tadakiyo (藤原忠清の娘)

Wife: Yura Gozen (由良御前, ?–1159), "Urahime" (由良姫), daughter of Fujiwara no Suenori (藤原季範)

  • Third son: Minamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝, 1147–1199)
  • Fifth son: Minamoto no Mareyoshi (源希義, 1152–1180 or 1182)
  • Daughter: Bomonhime ("坊門の姫", 1145 or 1155-1190)

Concubine, either a courtesan or the daughter of Miura Yoshiaki

Concubine, sister of Hatano Yoshimichi:

Courtesan from Totomi province

Concubine: Tokiwa Gozen (常盤御前, 1138–?)

  • Seventh son: Ano Zenjō (阿野全成, 1153–1203)
  • Eighth son: Gien (義円, 1155–1181)
  • Ninth son: Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源義経, 1159–1189)

Unknown

  • Fourth son: Minamoto no Yoshikado (源義門, ?-?), may have been the son of Yura Gozen

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Minamoto no Yoshitomo.

References

  1. ^ 保元物語 [The Tale of Hōgen].
  2. ^ See 愚管抄, Shimomukai, Tatsuhiko (下向井龍彦) (2001). 武士の成長と院政 [Bushi no seichō to insei] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Kodansha. ISBN 4062689073.
  3. ^ a b Sansom, George (1958). A history of Japan to 1334. Stanford University Press. pp. 210–211, 255–256. ISBN 0804705232. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  4. ^ Turnbull, Stephen (1977). The Samurai, A Military History. MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 40. ISBN 0026205408.
  5. ^ Oyler, Elizabeth (2014). Swords, Oaths, and Prophetic Visions: Authoring Warrior Rule in Medieval Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-8248-6453-8.

Bibliography

  • Turnbull, Stephen (1998). The Samurai Sourcebook. London: Cassell & Co. page 60.
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