Bio Minamoto no Yorimasa (1106-1180)

In court society, he became known as Genzanmi (源三位), a title reflecting his court rank of Junior Third Rank (従三位 jusanmi), which he attained in 1178. After taking Buddhist vows in the same year, he came to be known as Genzanmi Nyūdō (源三位入道), a name by which later generations most often remembered him. For a time, like his father, he also used the name "Baba" and was known as Baba no Yorimasa.

Yorimasa's reputation as a warrior was first sealed in legend. In 1153, when a monstrous creature known as the nue (鵺), said to have the head of a monkey, the body of a tiger and the tail of a serpent, was seen flying over the imperial palace, Yorimasa is credited with shooting it down with a single arrow, thereby rescuing Emperor Konoe from tormenting nightly cries. Stories of this feat spread widely, cementing his fame in both martial and poetic circles.

In politics, Yorimasa trod carefully. During the Hōgen rebellion of 1156, he sided with Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa (後白河天皇, 1127–1192), who was his protector. In the Heiji disturbance of 1159–60, however, he offered just enough support to Taira no Kiyomori (平清盛, 1118–1181) to secure his own survival. This alignment contributed to the Taira's decisive victory and nearly ruined the Minamoto house. For many years afterwards, he managed to maintain cordial relations with Kiyomori and, for a long time, avoided the violent factional struggles that consumed the capital. Yet as Kiyomori's grip on power grew harsher, tensions between them deepened.

The final break came in 1180. That year, Kiyomori forced the young Emperor Takakura (高倉天皇, 1161–1181) to abdicate in favour of his own infant grandson Antoku (安徳天皇, 1178–1185), who was barely two years old. Many courtiers, monks and warriors saw this as the height of Taira arrogance. Yorimasa resolved to challenge the Taira regime by rallying support for Prince Mochihito (以仁王, 1151–1180), a son of Go-Shirakawa, as the rightful claimant to the throne. In May 1180, he sent out appeals to temples and monasteries, particularly those that had suffered under Kiyomori's policies. He instructed Minamoto no Yukiie (源行家, d. 1186) to travel through the provinces, raising adherents. The plan, however, did not remain secret. The conspiracy was betrayed, and Kiyomori dispatched an army under his son, Taira no Tomonori (平知盛, 1152–1185), to crush it.

Yorimasa urged Prince Mochihito to flee toward the great temple complexes of Nara, hoping the warrior monks of Tōdaiji and Kōfukuji might protect him. He himself withdrew with some three hundred loyal men to the banks of the Uji River, alongside warrior monks from Miidera. There, at the bridge of Uji (宇治橋), they made their stand. The defenders tore up the planks of the bridge in an attempt to halt the enemy, but the Taira soldiers boldly forded the river and pressed the attack. The battle was fierce and bloody. Both of Yorimasa's sons, Minamoto no Nakatsuna (源仲綱, d. 1180) and Minamoto no Kanetsuna (源兼綱, d. 1180), fell in the fighting. An arrow struck Yorimasa himself. Realising the battle was lost and unwilling to fall into enemy hands, he withdrew into the Byōdō-in (平等院), the great temple at Uji.

There, sitting calmly upon his war fan, he composed a death poem and performed the ritual of seppuku. His suicide is often cited as the earliest well-documented instance of a samurai taking his own life to preserve honour in defeat. However, Minamoto no Tametomo (源為朝, 1139–1170) had taken his own life earlier after being exiled. Yorimasa instructed Minamoto no Yukiie to ensure that Prince Mochihito's call to arms was conveyed to other Minamoto leaders, even as he faced his end. According to later tradition, a loyal retainer severed Yorimasa's head and cast it, fastened to a rock, into the waters of the Uji River to prevent it from being desecrated by the Taira.

Though his rebellion ended in tragedy, Yorimasa's act marked the beginning of the Genpei War (源平合戦, 1180–1185), the great struggle between the Minamoto and Taira that would reshape Japan. He left behind children, among them Nijōin no Sanuki (二条院讃岐, 1141–1217), a noted poetess whose works were included in imperial collections, and his sons Nakatsuna and Kanetsuna, who perished with him at Uji. His cousin, Minamoto no Mitsuyuki (源光行, 1163–1244), was likewise a poet and would go on to serve as an advisor to Minamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝, 1147–1199), the eventual founder of the Kamakura shogunate. In life and death, Yorimasa embodied the intersection of warrior duty, literary cultivation, and tragic resolve that came to define the early samurai tradition.

References:

• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. Japan Encyclopedia. Harvard University Press, 2005.
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