ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

I have been a big fan of history ever since I was a young child. Originally I read books on classical Greece and Rome, but later I became more interested in more recent history. This drove me to read biographies of many different people while I was in middle school. One of these people was Hirohito. This was essentially my first exposure to Japanese culture and history. Ever since then I have been fascinated with Japanese history. The more I study Japanese history, the more interested I become in the Heian period, and the Bakumatsu period. Today, I wanted to write about Minamoto no Yoshiie.




Minamoto no Yoshiie was the ancestor of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Minamoto no Yoritomo. He was the son of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi. Many prestigious military families from this time period in Japan could trace their ancestry back to various emperors. This particular branch of the Minamoto was descended from Emperor Seiwa, making them the Seiwa Minamoto. Yoshiie reached national prestige, power, wealth, and influence through a series of military victories in the north of Japan. He became so famous and powerful that he was deified with the title Hachimantaro. This means “first son of Hachiman”. Hachiman is a kami who is the patron deity of warriors. He is also the divine protector of Japan, and ujigami of the Minamoto clan. An ujigami is a kami of a place, thing, or family. Needless to say, this is a very prestigious title.




Little is known about Yoshiie’s adulthood or childhood, and what is known is shrouded in myth and legend. What we do know is that him and his family began securing Minamoto prestige during a war against the Abe clan, which took place in a province in northern Japan called Mutsu. This was called the Early Nine Years’ War. Mutsu province was unique, in that it was ruled by a military governor and civilian governor. This was because the northern region of Japan was populated by emishi who had been defeated by the Japanese in previous years. They were a distinct ethnic group, and the military governor was in charge of them. This led to conflicts between the civilian governor and military governor over control of the province. At this time Abe no Yoritoki was the military governor, and began abusing his power. The civilian governor appealed to Kyoto for help, so Minamoto no Yoriyoshi was appointed to be the new governor. Him and his son of fifteen years old, Yoshiie, set off to stop Yoritoki. There were few major battles in this war until the battle of Kawasaki. Yoritoki had been killed shortly before the battle, so his son Abe no Sadato was leading. They defeated the Minamoto. Here, Yoshiie distinguished himself by leading a counter attack, which allowed the rest of the Minamoto forces to retreat. For years the war waged on without much progress or success. Eventually the Minamoto assaulted the Abe at a fortress called Kuriyagawa. This battle lasted two days, and ended when the Minamoto set the fortress on fire. These events earned him a reputation of great military prowess.

More than twenty years later, after he had become the head of the Minamoto clan, he gained another chance to advance his reputation and family name. Again, in Mutsu province, problems arose. After the defeat of the Abe clan, the Kiyohara clan took up control of Mutsu. They proved to be poor rulers. Eventually the clan began to fight amongst themselves. Yoshiie took it upon himself to end the fighting and secure peace in the region. He likely did this to accrue greater prestige. He did not have the backing of the imperial court for this. The war was mostly a series of minor or major skirmishes. The war culminated at Kanazawa. Here there were months of fighting. Eventually, though, the Minamoto set the stockade the enemy was quartered up in aflame and ended the war. It’s said that the Minamoto suffered great losses but were encouraged by Yoshiie’s superb leadership skills. He also brandished his generalship by avoiding an ambush by spotting a flock of birds who were spooked by the would-be ambushing army.




Through these two campaigns Yoshiie established himself as one of the most important military figures in Japanese history, was deified, and is still famous to this day. Most importantly, his actions had a profound effect on the events which later created the first samurai government. Attached are pictures of him, and his ujigami Hachiman.

Thanks for anyone who read this whole blog. I have a deep passion for Japanese history. Next month I want to write about some famous women from Japanese history who I admire.

Jesse Street