Taira no Tomomori

Fictional representation of Taira no Tomomori, color woodcut by Kuniyoshi , ca.1845

Taira no Tomomori ( Japanese 平 知 盛 ; * 1152 ; † 1185 ) was the son of Taira no Kiyomori and one of the clan leaders and commanders of the Taira in the Gempei War .

He was the victor in the Battle of Uji (1180) at the beginning of the Gempei War in 1180 and in the Battle of Yahagigawa in 1181 . In the latter, he forced the enemy Minamoto to retreat, but Tomomori fell sick and the pursuit was broken off.

Tomomori won the Mizushima again two years later over the Minamoto . The Taira tied their ships together to form a larger stable platform from which to fire arrows and engage in hand-to-hand combat.

In the Battle of Dan-no-ura , when the Taira were decisively defeated by their rivals, Tomomori, like many of his clan members, committed suicide . He tied an anchor to his feet and jumped into the sea.

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  The spirit of Taira no Tomomori returns at Daimotsu Bay, representation of Yoshitoshi

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  Same motif, depiction of Kuniyoshi , who often used this motif

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  Another representation by Kuniyoshi

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• George Sansom: A History of Japan to 1334 . Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 1958.
• Stephen Turnbull: The Samurai Sourcebook . Cassell & Co., London 1998.