Japanese mini figure

The Great Samurai Leader
 Kiyomori Taira

BRAND-NEW!!
Authentic product in Japan

FIGURE SIZE: approx. 1.8 inches (approx. 4.5 cm)

ABOUT Kiyomori Taira

(1118–81). Prominent political figure of the late Heian period (794–1185). Of warrior origin, he rose to dominate the court and saw his grandson become emperor. He is the central figure in Japan's greatest war chronicle, Heike monogatari. His grandfather Masamori and his father, Taira no Tadamori, were military commanders in the service of retired emperors Shirakawa and Toba (see insei). Although official genealogies record Kiyomori as Tadamori's son, the Heike monogatari asserts that he was in fact the son of Shirakawa.

A skillful politician, Kiyomori benefited from his participation in two major factional struggles. In the Hogen Disturbance of 1156 Kiyomori and Minamoto no Yoshitomo defended Emperor Go-Shirakawa against an attempted coup. Yoshitomo, displeased with his rewards, attempted unsuccessfully to eliminate both Kiyomori and the retired Go-Shirakawa in the Heiji Disturbance of 1160, which was crushed by Kiyomori. Kiyomori held military control of the capital and dominated the court for 20 years. In 1160 he became an imperial adviser (sangi) and the first member of a warrior house to sit in the Grand Council of State (Dajokan). In 1167 he was made grand minister of state (dajo daijin). When Kiyomori tried to enthrone a Taira prince, opposition to him grew, and finally even his patron Go-Shirakawa turned against him.

In 1177 a plot against him by several of Go-Shirakawa's associates was suppressed. In 1180 Prince Mochihito (1150–80), a son of Go-Shirakawa, with Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104–80), enlisted the aid of warrior monks of the temple Onjoji, or Miidera, at what is now the city of Otsu, and called for the Minamoto and other loyal warriors to rise against the Taira. This revolt, too, was quickly put down. To guard against further conspiracies, Kiyomori transferred the court, together with the reigning and retired emperors, to Fukuharakyo (now part of Kobe) in his own domain, but public protests forced him to return the government to Kyoto after six months. Late in 1180 Kiyomori placed his grandson Emperor Antoku on the throne.

After Kiyomori's death in 1181 the Taira clung briefly to power, but their decline was rapid. Minamoto no Yoritomo, a son of Yoshitomo, had begun a revolt against them in 1180. In 1183 Minamoto forces drove the Taira from Kyoto, in 1184 dislodged them from their base of power in western Honshu, and in the spring of 1185 destroyed them in the Battle of Dannoura. See Taira family; Taira-Minamoto War.

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