Battle of Uji (1184)

Second Battle of Uji

Uji River.

Date	February 19, 1184
Location	Uji, just outside Kyoto
Result	Minamoto no Yoshitsune et al. victory

Belligerents

Minamoto clan faction

Commanders and leaders

Minamoto no Yoshitsune

Minamoto no Yoshinaka

Genpei War

1st Uji Nara Ishibashiyama Fujikawa Sunomatagawa Yahagigawa Hiuchi Kurikara Shinohara Mizushima Fukuryūji Muroyama Hōjūjidono 2nd Uji Awazu Ichi-no-Tani Kojima Yashima Dan-no-ura

Minamoto no Yoshinaka tried to wrest power from his cousins Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, seeking to take command of the Clan. To that end, he sacked Kyoto, burning the Hōjūji Palace, kidnapping Emperor Go-Shirakawa and having himself named shogun. However, his cousins caught up with him soon afterwards, following him across the Bridge over the Uji, New Year's Day, 1184, which he tore up to impair their crossing, in an ironic reversal of the first Battle of the Uji, only four years earlier.

Much as the Taira did in that first battle, Minamoto no Yoshitsune led his horsemen across the river, and defeated Yoshinaka, and pursued him away from the capital.

References

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