"Generally speaking, the way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death." - Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings, The Ground Book

The samurai came to prominence as more than just another group of fighting men. Like the medieval knights of Europe, the samurai were the leaders of common foot soldiers, although it was possible to win promotion to the ranks of the samurai. And like the knights, to be samurai also implied a degree of service to a superior. In the case of the samurai, this service was to the Emperor, a noble or a warlord.

The Imperial government found the samurai incredibly useful in putting down rebellions, but with the shift in power to mighty land-owners, the loyalties of the samurai also shifted. The samurai came to serve and protect the great lords, fighting against other great landlords, bandits and rebellious locals. Although some of these samurai were from humble families, the clans that prospered and attracted allies could trace their ancestors back for centuries, often to some (minor) Imperial relative banished from court to seek his fortune elsewhere. Among these clans of aristocratic samurai were the Minamoto in the east and the Taira in the south west of Japan.

No longer content to merely serve, the samurai began to interfere in government politics. It?s worth considering all the political and military action that happened over the next decades, because it set the pattern for later Japanese history: a pattern of ruthless power politics with the winner taking all and losers, well, losing their heads!

In 1155 there was a crisis in the Imperial succession. There were two ex-Emperors at the Imperial Court and Emperor Konoe was a sickly child. When Konoe was poisoned the Fujiwara clan backed Ex-Emperor Sotoku. His father, however, the ex-Emperor Toba insisted that another of his sons should be the new Emperor, and Go-Shirakawa duly ascended the throne. Toba, however, died in 1156 and both the Emperors summoned their supporters to the capital. The Taira and Minamoto clans were divided by personal loyalties, but the important point was that it was the samurai that were to decide the course of Imperial politics, not the Fujiwara court officials.

"The Way of the warrior is death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. It means nothing more than this. It means to see things through, being
resolved." - Yamamoto Tsunenori, Ha Gakure (Hidden Leaves)

At the Battle of Hogen, Sotuku's samurai were defeated. Emperor Go-Shirakawa had an expectation that the defeated samurai would pay the price for their defiance. The only important Taira samurai to support Sotuku was so unpopular among his kinsmen that his execution was an easy one to order for the leader of the clan, Taira Kiyomori. The Minamoto
family had backed Sotuku in greater strength and their clan leader, Minamoto Tameyoshi was put to death on the orders of his son, Yoshitomo, in an act of loyalty. Tameyoshi's son (and Yoshitom's brother), Tametomo, was deliberately maimed and exiled, but became among the first samurai to kill himself by cutting open his own stomach in an act of hara-kiri.

All these deaths helped the Taira clan rise rapidly to power in the Imperial Court. Once he was secure, Emperor Go-Shirakawa decided that he had had enough of ruling and abdicated in favour of his son, Nijo. Taira Kiyomori took a leaf out of the Fujiwara book, had himself declared Prime Minister and began a policy of making sure that Imperial wives and
concubines came from his clan. There were, however, still members of the Minamoto clan at court, and some of the Fujiwara clan persuaded them that revenge was a good idea. All in all, the Minamoto didn't take much persuading.

This time, in 1159-60, the civil war that followed was a straightforward fight between the Taira and the Minamoto. Although the war seemed to go well initially for the Minamoto, events soon turned against them. The Taira attacked the Minamoto headquarters, and then lured them into a counter-attack that failed when Minamoto Yorimasa refused to join in because he could not violate his duty to the Emperor. The surviving Minamoto were pursued and slaughtered without mercy.

Minamoto Yoshitomo fled with three of his sons, one of whom, Tomonaga, was so badly wounded that he begged his father to kill him so that the others could flee with more speed. Yoshimoto did this, but to no avail. He was caught and murdered in his bath, taken when he thought hehad outrun his pursuers. Taira Kiyomori then beheaded the Minamoto clan - literally.
Even Tomonaga didn't escape further punishment, even though his father had already killed him, his body was dug up and beheaded too!