Battle of Uji (1180)
The Phoenix Hall of the Byōdō-in
| date | June 23, 1180 to July 6, 1180 |
|---|---|
| place | Uji at Kyōto and the Byōdō-in |
| Casus Belli | Succession to the throne |
| output | Victory of the Taira, Seppuku of Minamoto no Yorimasa, Prince Mochihito is later caught and killed |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
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Taira no Tomomori , Taira no Shigehira
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The First Battle of Uji is the first of three battles of Uji and is considered to be the beginning of the Gempei War .
In 1180 Prince Mochihito , who was favored by the Minamoto for the succession to the imperial court, was persecuted by forces of the Taira to the Mii-dera temple in front of Kyoto .
Because of the interference of a monk who sympathized with the Taira, the Minamoto army was too late to help defend the temple.
Minamoto no Yorimasa led Mochihito together with forces of the Minamoto and a number of warrior monks from Miidera, south towards Nara .
They crossed the Uji River in front of the Byōdō-in temple and tore out the planking of the bridge to stop the Taira. The Taira managed to cross the river anyway and advanced against the Minamoto.
Yorimasa tried to allow the prince to escape, but was hit by an arrow. He committed seppuku (suicide) in the phoenix hall of the Byōdō-in . This was the first recorded case of a samurai suicide in the face of defeat. The prince managed to escape at first, but a short time later he was captured and killed by the Taira.
swell
- George Sansom: A History of Japan to 1334 . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1958
- Stephen Turnbull: The Samurai Sourcebook . Cassell & Co., London 1998
- Stephen Turnbull: Japanese Warrior Monks AD 949-1603 . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2003