Minamoto no Yoshitomo

Minamoto no Yoshitomo ( Japanese 源 義 朝 ; * 1123 ; † February 11, 1160 ) was a chief of the Minamoto and a military leader in the late Heian period . His son Minamoto no Yoritomo became a shogun and founded the Kamakura shogunate , the first shogunate in Japanese history . He was the son of the previous chief, Minamoto no Tameyoshi .

Hogen rebellion

With the outbreak of the Hōgen rebellion in 1156, both the Minamoto and the Taira were drawn into the conflict. Yoshitomo sided with Taira no Kiyomori to support Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Fujiwara no Tadamichi . His father, Minamoto no Tameyoshi , then acting head of the clan, and his younger son Minamoto no Tametomo stood with Taira no Tadamasa on the side of the resigned emperor Sutoku and Fujiwara no Yorinaga .

After his side's victory in the dispute, he became head of the Minamoto and a political power factor in Kyoto . Despite his attempts to obtain mercy for his father, Tameyoshi was executed. The Hōgen rebellion established the Minamoto with Yoshitomo as head and the Taira as the strongest political rivals in the country. This was one of the causes that led to the Heiji Rebellion.

Heiji rebellion

Three years later, in 1159, Yoshitomo and Fujiwara no Nobuyori placed Emperor Go-Shirakawa under house arrest and killed his influential follower, scholar Fujiwara no Michinori in what is now known as the Heiji Rebellion . Yoshitomo was furious about the preference for the taira at court, despite the sacrifices the Minamoto had made in the Hogen rebellion.

Eventually, Taira no Kiyomori, who supported Emperor Go-Shirakawa, defeated Yoshitomo, killed his two eldest sons and Nobuyori, and freed Go-Shirakawa.

Yoshitomo managed to escape to Owari Province , but was betrayed and killed by a henchman there. His surviving sons Yoritomo, Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori were spared by Kiyomori and sent into exile.

It is said that Yoshitomo was killed unarmed while bathing in an onsen . His grave in Aichi Prefecture is surrounded on all sides by wooden swords, as legend has it that his last words were: "If only I had a broken Bokuto ...".