Battle of Uji (1184)

Second Battle of Uji Part of the Genpei War Uji River Date February 19, 1184 Location Uji, just outside Kyoto Result Minamoto no Yoshitsune et al. victory Belligerents Minamoto clan faction Minamoto clan faction Commanders and leaders Minamoto no Yoshitsune Minamoto no Yoshinaka

Genpei War 1st Uji Nara Ishibashiyama Fujikawa Sunomata-gawa Yahagi-gawa Hiuchi Kurikara Shinohara Mizushima Fukuryūji Muroyama Hōjūjidono 2nd Uji Awazu Ichi-no-Tani Kojima Yashima Dan-no-ura

Kajiwara Kagesue, Sasaki Takatsuna, and Hatakeyama Shigetada racing to cross the Uji River before the second battle of Uji, New Year's Day, A.D. 1184, as depicted in a print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

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, burned the Hōjūji Palace, kidnapped Emperor Go-Shirakawa and had 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 Yoshinaka had torn 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

Bibliography

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