Minamoto no Tameyoshi

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Minamoto no Tameyoshi (源為義) (1096-1156) was head of the Minamoto samurai clan during his lifetime, and grandson of Minamoto no Yoshiie; he led the Minamoto against the Taira clan in the Hōgen Rebellion. Tameyoshi is also known as Mutsu Shirō.

Though most famous for his involvement in the Hōgen Rebellion, Tameyoshi is also said to have intervened in a number of other conflicts earlier in his life. Around 1113, the ongoing rivalry between the warrior monks of Mii-dera and Enryaku-ji erupted into outright violence in the streets of Kyoto. Though the palace guard mobilized quickly to protect the Emperor, it is said that Tameyoshi, with a handful of mounted samurai, drove the mobs away himself.

Upon being defeated in the Hōgen Rebellion, Tameyoshi was sentenced to death, and his son Minamoto no Yoshitomo was ordered to kill him. Yoshitomo refused, and another Minamoto officer, insisting that Tameyoshi not die at the hands of a Taira, dispatched him and then committed suicide himself.

[edit] References

• Sansom, George (1958). 'A History of Japan to 1334'. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.