The Genpei War (1180-1185), pitting against one another the two most
powerful clans of the era, the Minamoto and the Taira, is one of the most
crucial turning points in Japanese history. Movies and video games have
usually overlooked this conflict in favor of the civil wars of the warring
states period of the 1500s. Big mistake since the story of the Genpei War
is packed with drama and larger than life characters—from the tragic hero
Minamoto Yoshitsune, his brother in arms the gigantic warrior monk Benkei,
the female samurai Tomoe Gozen and many others. And on top of it, this
civil conflict ushered major changes in Japanese society, shifting power
from a nobility made of imperial bureaucrats into the hands of landowning
samurai families. In this first of two episodes dedicated to the Genpei
War, we’ll tackle one of the most important works in Japanese literature,
Buddhist impermanence, the 1156 Hogen Rebellion, the 1160 Heiji Rebellion,
revenge, exorcisms, the rise of the Taira family, emperors struggling with
loss of power, warrior monks, the battle at the Uji River, announcing your
family lineage before cutting heads off, inviting the gods to witness
battle, Minamoto Yorimasa’s suicide, Yoshitsune learning swordsmanship from
the demons of the forest, the duel between Yoshitsune and Benkei, the Taira
burning down the monasteries of Nara, Kiyomori’s death, and much more.
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