Taira Kiyomori, (born 1118, Japan—died March 21, 1181, Kyōto), first of the Japanese soldier-dictators, whose victories in the Hōgen and Heiji disturbances marked the ascendancy of the provincial warrior class to positions of supreme power.
Kiyomori succeeded his father, Tadamori (died 1153), as head of the powerful Taira, a warrior clan in the Inland Sea area of western Japan, where its members had become the major military support of the Imperial court.
In 1156 a conflict for power erupted between the retired emperor Sutoku and his younger brother, the reigning emperor Go-Shirakawa. Sutoku attempted a coup d’état with the support of the Minamoto warrior clan, led by Minamoto Tameyoshi. Kiyomori supported Go-Shirakawa in the ensuing conflict, known as the Hōgen Disturbance (Hōgen no ran), one of the bloodiest and bitterest in Japanese history, and emerged victorious, partly because of the defection of Tameyoshi’s son, Yoshitomo. Kiyomori ruthlessly executed his enemies and ordered Yoshitomo to cut off his own father’s head. Yoshitomo refused, but another Minamoto eventually carried out the order.
Dissatisfied with his share of the spoils, Yoshitomo took advantage of Kiyomori’s absence from the capital during the winter of 1159–60 to seize power, an act that precipitated the Heiji Disturbance. Although taken by surprise, Kiyomori gathered what forces he could muster and advanced in a series of daring, cleverly executed maneuvers. Victorious, he returned to the capital and annihilated his enemies, allowing only Yoshitomo’s two infant sons to live, a leniency he later regretted. The Heiji Disturbance became the subject of many stories and legends.
In 1167 Kiyomori was made dajō-daijin, or prime minister, which was the highest position of any court official. Preferring to exercise his authority in the traditional manner—by marrying his daughters into the Imperial family and having his relatives appointed to high positions—Kiyomori dominated the Emperor instead of ruling directly. He also managed to marry his wife’s younger sister to the then retired Go-Shirakawa, whose son became the crown prince. In 1180 Kiyomori placed his two-year-old grandson on the throne as the emperor Antoku and moved the capital to his own city of Fukuhara (modern Kōbe), which provided ready access to the Inland Sea and the rich trade routes with China. In the same year one of Kiyomori’s trusted chieftains issued a call to his followers throughout the country to revolt. The initial rebellion was crushed, but Minamoto Yoritomo, Yoshitomo’s son who had been spared in his youth, seized the opportunity to raise a revolt, in which he gained the support of many warriors in the outlying provinces.
An army was dispatched from the capital to quell the rebellion, but the Taira forces, weakened by many years of luxurious living, were no match for the frontier troops and were immediately defeated. Turning over all government administration to his son, Kiyomori devoted himself to building a new army, but he died before the task could be accomplished. In 1185 Yoritomo annihilated the last of the Taira clan, including the emperor Antoku, and established Minamoto supremacy throughout Japan.
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This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.