Minamoto no Yoritomo
Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199) was a warrior of the late Heian period and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. After his father, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, was killed following defeat in the Heiji Rebellion of 1159, he was exiled to Izu province. In 1180 he raised an army against the Taira clan, but his opening battle, the Battle of Ishibashiyama, ended in a crushing defeat, and he barely escaped through the mountains of Hakone to Awa province (in present-day southern Chiba). From there he rallied the warrior bands of eastern Japan, made Kamakura his base, destroyed the Taira clan, and was appointed shogun in 1192.
Historical Stories
The Founding of the Kamakura Shogunate
Read moreThe Battle of Ishibashiyama: Yoritomo's Crushing Defeat
Read moreSheltered by Hakone Gongen, and the Origin of the "Nisho Mode"
Read moreSpots
Traditional Birthplace of Minamoto no Yoritomo
ViewIshibashiyama Battlefield
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