Who Is Kiso no Yoshinaka (Kiso Yoshinaka)?
The fierce Kiso general who drove the Heike from the capital
Minamoto no Yoshinaka
Kiso no Yoshinaka is Minamoto no Yoshinaka, a Minamoto general raised in Kiso in Shinano Province and a cousin of Minamoto no Yoritomo. He defeated a huge Heike army and was the first Minamoto leader to enter the capital.
In The Tale of the Heike, at the Battle of Kurikara Pass, he buys time with small skirmishes during the day, then at night raises war cries from the front and rear all at once, driving the huge Heike army into a deep valley. After the Battle of Shinohara, he weeps when the head of an old warrior with dyed black hair turns out to be Saitō no Sanemori, whom he had seen as a child. After entering the capital, he is attacked by the army Yoritomo sends under Yoshitsune and others. He sends away Tomoe, the last of his followers to remain by his side, and is killed at Awazu in Ōmi together with his foster brother Imai Kanehira.
The famous "fire-ox tactic," in which oxen with torches tied to their horns were sent charging at Kurikara, does not appear in The Tale of the Heike. It comes from other works such as the Genpei Jōsuiki.
Episodes featuring this character3
NEWEpisode 7
He Won the Battle, Then Wept Over His FoeBattle of Kurikara Pass / Saitō Sanemori
At Kurikara Pass, Kiso no Yoshinaka drives the vast Heike army into a valley under cover of night. In the battle at Shinohara that follows, a nameless old warrior fights on alone to the very end. When his head is washed, the black dye runs out of his hair—and the white beneath is revealed.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 9
He Sent Away His Best Samuraia Woman — The Death of Kiso Yoshinaka
Driven from the capital, Kiso no Yoshinaka flees to a lakeshore with only a handful of riders. He orders Tomoe, the fiercest woman warrior of all, to leave him, and resolves to die beside his childhood friend Imai no Kanehira. A lord and two loyal followers each choose their own path in this tale of a lakeside in the season of melting snow.
21 pages
NEWEpisode 14
He Doomed Her ClanThen Came to Visit — The Imperial Visit to Ōhara (Kenreimon-in)
the series finale. Kenreimon-in was the only one of her clan pulled alive from the sea at Dan-no-Ura. Now she spends her days in prayer at a mountain hermitage in Ōhara. One early summer, Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, the man who ordered the war that destroyed her family, comes to see her in secret. She tells him to his face how much she has resented him. Then she begins to tell her life story as a journey through six realms.
19 pages