Minamoto no Yoshinaka (Kiso Yoshinaka) (1154–1184)

Minamoto no Yoshinaka was a general at the end of the Heian Period.

His father Minamoto no Yoshitaka was involved in a power struggle and was killed in the following year of Yoshinaka’s birth. He then moved to Kiso in Shinano Province [now Nagano Prefecture] and sought the help of his wet nurse’s husband, Nakahara no Kaneto. He met Imai Kanehira, Kaneto’s fourth son, who was later named as one of the four most loyal retainers of Kiso, and grew up as his milk brother in Kiso.

In 1180, Yoshinaka received the command of Prince Mochihito to hunt down and destroy the Taira Clan. He raised an army with Minamoto no Yoritomo. In 1183, they achieved a great victory at the Battle of Kurikara with an unusual strategy by tying lit torches on bulls’ horns. They then went on the Hokkoku Highway and entered Kyoto; however, since Yoshinaka’s army was rude and arrogant, they fell out with retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa ordered Minamoto no Yoritomo to hunt down and kill Yoshinaka’s army. In 1184, Yoshinaka was defeated at the Battle of Uji and the Battle of Seta. Yoshinaka’s army dispersed and fled to the north. On his way to the north, he reunited with Imai Kanehira at Uchidenohama in Omi Province; however, soon after Yoshinaka was surrounded by his enemies and killed at a pine grove in Awazu. Kanehira reportedly followed Yoshinaka’s death and killed himself.

Yoshinaka’s graveyard still remains in Gichuji Temple. Beside his graveyard is the burial mound of Tomoe-Gozen, his loving concubine [and a female warrior] who accompanied Yoshinaka from battlefield to battlefield.