Minamoto no Yoshitsune
- In this Japanese name, the family name is Minamoto.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源 義経 1159 – June 15,1189?) was a general of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura period. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo. Yoshitsune's older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo (the third son of Yoshitomo) founded the Kamakura shogunate. Yoshitsune's name in childhood was Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸).
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Biography
Yoshitsune was born during the Heiji Rebellion of 1159 in which his father and oldest two brothers were killed. His life was spared and he was put under the care of Kurama Temple 鞍馬寺, nestled in the Hiei Mountains near the capital of Kyoto, while Yoritomo was banished to Izu Province. Eventually, Yoshitsune was put under the protection of Fujiwara no Hidehira, head of the powerful regional Northern Fujiwara clan in Hiraizumi, Mutsu Province.
A skillful swordsman, he defeated the legendary warrior monk Benkei in a duel. From then on, Benkei became Yoshitsune's right-hand man, eventually dying with him at the Siege of Koromogawa.
In 1180, Yoshitsune heard that Yoritomo, now head of the Minamoto clan, had raised an army at the request of Prince Mochihito to fight against the Taira clan which had usurped the power of the emperor. Yoshitsune shortly thereafter joined Yoritomo, along with Minamoto no Noriyori, all brothers who had never before met, in the last of three conflicts between the rival Minamoto and Taira samurai clans, known as the Genpei War.
Yoshitsune defeated and killed his rival cousin Minamoto no Yoshinaka at the Battle of Awazu in Ōmi Province in the first month of 1184 and in the next month defeated the Taira at the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani in present day Kobe. In 1185, Yoshitsune defeated the Taira again at the Battle of Yashima in Shikoku and destroyed them at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in present day Yamaguchi Prefecture.
After the Gempei War, Yoshitsune joined the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa against his brother Yoritomo. Fleeing to the temporary protection of Fujiwara no Hidehira in Mutsu again, Yoshitsune was betrayed, defeated at the Battle of Koromo River, and forced to commit seppuku along with his wife and daughter, by Hidehira's son Fujiwara no Yasuhira. Yoshitsune is enshrined in the Shinto shrine Shirahata Jinja in Fujisawa.
Yoshitsune has long been a popular figure in Japanese literature and culture due to his appearance as the main character in the third section of the Japanese literary classic Heike Monogatari (Tale of the Heike). The Japanese term for "sympathy for a tragic hero", hangan-biiki, comes from Yoshitsune's title hangan, which he received from the Imperial Court.
Contemporary media
See Japanese historical people in popular culture for more information on Yoshitsune.
Yoshitsune Minamoto has a namesake in the KOEI Video Game, Warriors Orochi 2, as one of the new characters, and wields a gauntlet that projects a blade made of light. In the game, he fights alongside the Leaders of the Wu army, and fights evenly against the Reputable "Strongest Warrior" of China, Lu Bu. He is known as a traitor. His mortal nemesis in the game is Kiyomori Taira, leader of an army charged with Reviving the Serpent King Orochi.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune is one of the main characters in the otome game series, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3 (遙かなる時空の中で3), in which he is known by the name Minamoto no "Kurou" Yoshitsune (源九郎義経).
In the Playstation 2 game, "Genji: Dawn of the Samurai", you play as Yoshitsune, and befriend Benkei. Both characters return (along with new ones) in the Playstation 3 game, "Genji: Days of the Blade".
Traditional arts
In addition to The Tale of the Heike and Chronicle of Yoshitsune (Gikeiki), which relates events of Yoshitsune's life after the defeat of the Heike, a great many other works of literature and drama feature him, and together form the sekai ("world") of Yoshitsune, a concept akin to the Western notion of the literary cycle.
These include:
See also
- Saito Musashibo Benkei
- Seiwa Genji