Kiso Yoshinaka

Kiso Yoshinaka (1154–1184) was a Minamoto warrior raised in the Kiso valley of Shinano province, a cousin of both Minamoto no Yoritomo and Minamoto no Yoshitsune. In 1183 he crushed a large Taira army at the Battle of Kurikara Pass and marched into Kyoto, driving the Taira clan out of the capital. Once in the city, however, he struggled to control his own troops, and his relationship with the retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa quickly soured. He briefly seized real power after defeating the retired emperor's forces in the Hōjūji Incident, but an army sent by Yoritomo under Yoshitsune and Noriyori pursued him, and he was killed in battle at Awazu in Ōmi province (present-day Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture).