Minamoto no Yoshitomo 源義朝 | |
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| Head ofKawachi Genji | |
| Preceded by | Minamoto no Tameyoshi |
| Succeeded by | Minamoto no Yoritomo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1123 |
| Died | February 11, 1160 |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Spouse(s) | Yura Gozen |
| Relations | Tokiwa Gozen (concubine) |
| Children | |
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| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Minamoto clan |
| Branch/service | Minamoto clan |
Minamoto no Yoshitomo (源 義朝) (1123 – 11 February 1160) was the head of theMinamoto clan and a general of the lateHeian period ofJapanese history. His sonMinamoto no Yoritomo becameshōgun and founded theKamakura shogunate, the first shogunate in the history ofJapan.
HisDharma name wasShōjō Juin (勝定寿院).
With the outbreak of theHōgen Rebellion in 1156, the members of the Minamoto andTairasamurai clans were called into the conflict. Yoshitomo andTaira no Kiyomori both threw their support behindEmperor Go-Shirakawa andFujiwara no Tadamichi, while Yoshitomo's father,Minamoto no Tameyoshi, sided with the retiredEmperor Sutoku andFujiwara 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 ofKyoto. However, despite attempts to have his father pardoned, Tameyoshi was executed. 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.[1]
In the first months of 1160 whileTaira no Kiyomori was absent from the capital of Kyoto, Yoshitomo andFujiwara no Nobuyori placed Go-Shirakawa under house arrest and killed his retainers, including the scholarFujiwara no Michinori, in what is called theHeiji 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.[1]: 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 andNoriyori, were spared execution and exiled by the victorious Kiyomori. However, Yoshitomo's allies Yoshihira and Nobuyori were both executed.[2]
His grave inAichi Prefecture is surrounded on all sides by wooden swords (bokuto), as by legend his last words were "If only I'd had a bokuto...".
Yoshitomo fathered five sons in total. His two sons,Yoshihira andTomonaga, lost their lives following the Minamoto Clan's defeat in theHeiji Rebellion in 1160. At the time of the outbreak of theGenpei War in 1180,Minamoto no Yoritomo was his eldest surviving son. His other two surviving sons wereMinamoto no Noriyori andMinamoto no Yoshitsune.
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