Battle of Uji (1184)

Second Battle of Uji
Part of the Genpei War
Uji River.
Date February 19, 1184 Location Uji, just outside Kyoto Result Minamoto no Yoshitsune et al. victory
Belligerents
Minamoto clan faction	Minamoto clan faction
Commanders and leaders
Minamoto no Yoshitsune	Minamoto no Yoshinaka

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, New Year's Day, 1184, which he tore up to impair their crossing, in an ironic reversal of the first Battle of the Uji, only four years earlier.

Kajiwara Kagesue, Sasaki Takatsuna, and Hatakeyama Shigetada racing to cross the Uji River before the second battle of Uji, New Year's Day, A.D. 1184, as depicted in a print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Much as the Taira did in that first battle, Minamoto no Yoshitsune led his horsemen across the river, and defeated Yoshinaka, and pursued him away from the capital.

References

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