Battle of Uji (1184)

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Second Battle of Uji
Part of the Genpei War
Panorama of the Uji River.
Date February 19, 1184 Location Uji, just outside Kyoto Result Minamoto no Yoshitsune et al victory Casus belli Minamoto no Yoshinaka seeks to gain command of the clan
Combatants
Minamoto clan faction	Minamoto clan faction
Commanders
Minamoto no Yoshitsune	Minamoto no Yoshinaka

Genpei War
1st Uji – Nara – Ishibashiyama – Fujigawa – Sunomata – Yahagigawa – Hiuchi – Kurikara – Shinohara – Mizushima – Fukuryūji – Muroyama – Hōjūjidono – 2nd Uji – Awazu – Ichi-no-Tani – Kojima – Yashima –Dan-no-ura

Minamoto no Yoshinaka tried to wrest power from his cousins Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, seeking to take command of the Clan. To that end, he sacked Kyoto, burning the Hōjūji Palace, kidnapping Emperor Go-Shirakawa and having himself named shogun. However, his cousins caught up with him soon afterwards, following him across the Bridge over the Uji, which he tore up to impair their crossing, in an ironic reversal of the first Battle of the Uji, only four years earlier. Much as the Taira did four years ago, Minamoto no Yoshitsune led his horsemen across the river, and defeated Yoshinaka, and pursued him away from the capital.

[edit] References

• Sansom, George (1958). 'A History of Japan to 1334'. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
• Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.