At the beginning of 1183, a temporary lull that had existed as the Minamoto and Taira clans fought each other to exhaustion subsided, and the Taira turned their attention from fighting Minamoto Yoritomo in the east to his cousin, Minamoto Yoshinaka in his power base along the Sea of Japan.1 They did so with a change of leadership, as Taira Kiyomori’s death brought his less capable son Munemori into overall command.2 Munemori realized that while his clan had been busily fighting Yoritomo as well as other minor rebellions, Yoshinaka had been steadily building up his strength and now posed the greatest threat to the Taira. To fight Yoshinaka, Munemori raised an army of reportedly 100,000 men under the command of Taira Koremori. Unfortunately for Koremori, the actual fighting effectiveness of this host was not as great as its number would imply, since many of the men in this force were mere conscripts.3
The campaign opened on May 20 with the Taira advancing into Yoshinaka’s territory and besieging his fortress at Hiuchijo. Despite fierce resistance and initial setback, the Taira force managed to take Hiuchijo when they diverted the water that made up the fortress’ moat, making the final assault much easier.4 After taking the Hiuchijo, Koremori split his army in two. The smaller force, numbered at 30,000 and commanded by Taira Michimori, was sent along the northerly path that the Taira force had been following. The other, commanded by Koremori and comprised of the remaining 70,000, followed the Hokurikudo road as it turned east. It was in the path of this force that Yoshinaka positioned his army.5
To face Koremori, Yoshinaka had around 40,000 men.6 Despite being outnumbered by the Taira, he devised a ruse to keep them in place so that he could fight them on the ground that would be most advantageous to him. To do so, he sent about 3,000 troops up the pass to take up positions astride the road. With these 3,000, Yoshinaka sent an inordinate number of flags, so that the Taira believed themselves to be facing a large and powerful enemy.7 Any attempt by the Taira to push further up the road would seemingly expose them to a flank attack from the Yoshinaka’s decoy force. Therefore, Koremori ordered his troops to halt and set up their fortified camp, essentially committing himself to fighting on ground of Yoshinaka’s choosing.8
For the battle, Yoshinaka relied on surprise for success. While he brought his main force up the road to face the Taira, he detached four units from his force; the first three he sent to take up positions behind the Taira camp, on the other side of a deep valley. These detachments had 13,000 men between them.9 The fourth force was only 4,000 men, but its mission was to circle behind the Taira and come up the road from the same direction that the Taira had come.10 With this complex set of flanking and rear forces, Yoshinaka hoped to overcome his numerical disadvantage.
The battle was fought on June 2, 1183, and opened with Yoshinaka leading his 20,000 troops of the main body up the Hokurikudo road.11 In response, the Taira troops drew up their main body and prepared for battle. Through much of the day, only minor action occurred, as competing champions and set numbers of troops clashed in the traditional duels that made up a traditional samurai battle.12 However, through only committing small numbers of samurai to these exchanges, Yoshinaka conserved his force and bought time for his various detached units to get into position. Once they were, it was almost dusk, but Yoshinaka nevertheless launched an all out attack.13 Being attacked from three sides, panic quickly spread among the Taira troops. One popular story holds that one of the primary reasons for the extent of the panic was 100 head of bulls, which had had torches tied to their horns by the Minamoto force coming up the road and were driven into the rear of the Taira forces.14 In any event, the Taira were driven into the ravine behind their camp, where they were barred from escaping by the three detachments on the other side. There, the Taira were slaughtered wholesale, with the Tale of Heike claiming that 70,000 heads were taken.15
The Kurikara campaign was in many ways a turning point in the Genpei wars. It opened the path for Yoshinaka to take Kyoto, where his uncouth actions supposedly alarmed the people of Kyoto and the rest of the Minamoto clan.16 When Yoshinaka eventually proclaimed himself Shogun, he declared war on the rest of his clan by proxy. This eventually led to his own death at the hands of his cousin, Minamoto Yoshitsune.17
The battle of Kurikara is also interesting from a military historical perspective, since it was extremely representative of the types of warfare in the period. It opened with the sort of stand up, honorable dueling that was considered proper in the period.18 The small unit cohesion necessary for the 50 and 100 man duels was also a celebrated part of traditional samurai warfare.19 However, the trickery that Yoshinaka employed was also a very common feature of the reality of samurai warfare. The massive slaughter that followed the Taira loss also reflects the tradition of eradicating a defeated enemy.20
1 Stephen Turnbull, THE GEMPEI WAR 1180-85 The Great Samurai Civil War, Campaign 297 (Osprey Publishing, 2016), 44-48.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Anthony J Bryant, Early Samurai AD 200-1500, Elite 35 (Osprey Publishing, 1991), 19.
17 Ibid.
18 Stephen Turnbull, THE GEMPEI WAR 1180-85 The Great Samurai Civil War, Campaign 297 (Osprey Publishing, 2016), 44-48.
19 Karl Friday, Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan, Warfare and History (Routlegde, 2004), 112.
20 Karl Friday, Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan, Warfare and History (Routlegde, 2004), 115-116.
Works Consulted
Bryant, Anthony J. Early Samurai AD 200-1500. Elite 35. Osprey Publishing, 1991.
Karl Friday. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Warfare and History. Routlegde, 2004.
Turnbull, Stephen. THE GEMPEI WAR 1180-85 The Great Samurai Civil War. Campaign 297. Osprey Publishing, 2016.
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