Genpei War 1: How the Samurai Took Over Japan | History of Japan 60 — Transcript

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1. 0:00What would you do if people all across the country wanted to smash your face in?
2. 0:05Today on History for People Quarantining Because of the Virus Yokai,
3. 0:08I bring you the Genpei War (1180 - 1185).
4. 0:10It was a civil war in the Heian Period that kicked off the age of samurai rule in Japan.
5. 0:15Nothing like a good old war to end the Era of Peace.
6. 0:19It was a fight for independence for the Kanto region, a region of misfit warriors and troublemakers
7. 0:25whose hobby was to once in a while drive thorns into the side of the capital.
8. 0:29The Genpei War is often said to be a war between the seafaring Taira in the west
9. 0:35and the horse-riding Minamoto to the east.
10. 0:37And I’m here to tell you that that’s WRONG.
11. 0:39Just kidding, but it is a simplification.
12. 0:42There were Taira, Minamoto, and allies of both on all sides, and minor clans that switched
13. 0:48sides depending on which way the wind blew.
14. 0:51The most well-known document that tells the story of the war is the Heike Monogatari,
15. 0:56or Tale of the Heike.
16. 0:57It’s very popular, people sing songs and play music about it even today.
17. 1:01It’s a work of historical fiction.
18. 1:04Plenty of talk about ghosts and supernatural things, so you can’t take it at face value.
19. 1:09Luckily there are oodles and noodles of different sources about the war.
20. 1:12The war had three main players: Taira no Kiyomori, Minamoto no Yoritomo, and Kiso Yoshinaka.
21. 1:20Let’s talk about the first guy.
22. 1:23When the first arrows of the war started flying, Taira no Kiyomori was the most powerful man
23. 1:28in the country.
24. 1:29How did it happen?
25. 1:30There was a conflict 20 years before called the Heiji Rebellion, where Kiyomori rescued
26. 1:36the Emperor Nijo and Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa from the hands of the Minamoto.
27. 1:41The emperor’s kidnapper, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, died in the war, but in a show of mercy, the
28. 1:47victor Kiyomori did not kill his young sons.
29. 1:50He only exiled them.
30. 1:52Three of the sons would be important to our story later:
31. 1:55Yoritomo, Noriyori, and samurai baby Yoshitsune.
32. 2:00To many of the civilized, effeminate nobles in court, the Heiji Rebellion was like when
33. 2:06you were at Disneyland and saw Mickey take off his head and he turned out to be a guy
34. 2:10with one eye, two teeth, and three arrest warrants.
35. 2:13Their world was shattered.
36. 2:16The rebellion destroyed palaces, killed noblemen, noblewomen suffered all kinds of abuse, and
37. 2:21soldiers displayed heads in public like takoyaki in blood sauce.
38. 2:26The ruling aristocracy was shook, and probably hesitant to challenge Kiyomori,
39. 2:32a member of the warrior class.
40. 2:34After he swept the Minamoto out of the way in the Heiji Rebellion, Kiyomori’s Taira
41. 2:38clan became the top warrior clan.
42. 2:41Taira stock was soaring, like the Dow before a certain pandemic hit.
43. 2:46Now this guy, Kiyomori, if he took one of those tests to see which Game of Thrones character
44. 2:50he was, he would’ve gotten Tywin Lannister.
45. 2:53Smart and ruthless.
46. 2:55He was part of a warrior house, but unlike the typical meathead warrior in the countryside
47. 3:00at the time, he was a master politician.
48. 3:03Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the power behind the throne at the time, and because
49. 3:08Kiyomori saved his life, Go-Shirakawa became his elevator to the top.
50. 3:13Kiyomori rose the ranks to become daijo daijin (太政大臣), or chancellor, or chief minister,
51. 3:18the highest office in the government.
52. 3:21He also married a daughter into the Imperial Family, to the displeasure of a certain clan.
53. 3:26Kiyomori’s influence just kept growing.
54. 3:29He built a trade empire across the sea with Song China.
55. 3:32He put Taira men in the governor’s seat of many provinces.
56. 3:36He accumulated men all across the country who swore their bows to his name.
57. 3:40Kiyomori even overshadowed the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa.
58. 3:44When Go-Shirakawa allies plotted to overthrow him, he either executed or exiled the conspirators,
59. 3:51placed the Retired Emperor himself under house arrest, and stripped other Go-Shirakawa allies
60. 3:56of their offices.
61. 3:58The government was effectively ruled by the Taira, and specifically by Taira no Kiyomori.
62. 4:04In 1180, Kiyomori’s grandson became emperor, Emperor Antoku, purely due to Antoku’s own
63. 4:09intelligence and impressive achievements as a 2-year-old.
64. 4:13His significant accomplishments thus far included walking, and peeing inside the toilet without
65. 4:19friendly fire.
66. 4:20One prince, whose name is really hard to pronounce so let’s call him Prince Mochi,
67. 4:23Prince Mochi was mad that a 2-year-old took the throne that was rightfully his.
68. 4:28“I am mad,” he said.
69. 4:30He was insulted, and irritated.
70. 4:32And he wasn’t alone.
71. 4:34Taira domination of the Heian court irritated many in the capital.
72. 4:38Kiyomori also pissed off temples and religious leaders because he passed laws suppressing
73. 4:43religious protestors.
74. 4:44If you didn’t know, Buddhist monks back then were fierce and would come down from
75. 4:49their mountains and eff shit up if there was a law they didn’t like.
76. 4:53Prince Mochi typed “#tiredoftaira” in Google Trends
77. 4:57and saw that the people were ready.
78. 4:59He put out a call to arms for people across the country to rise up against Taira tyranny.
79. 5:05A Minamoto no Yorimasa answered the call first.
80. 5:09These two opened the first chapter of the Genpei War, and closed the last chapter of
81. 5:14their lives because they would die pretty quickly.
82. 5:17In the grand opening, the Battle of Uji in 1180, their rebel army fled across the Uji
83. 5:22River and destroyed the bridge behind them.
84. 5:25The Taira army saw the broken bridge and said, “that’s cute” and crossed the river
85. 5:29on their horses anyways and smashed the other side, and not in the good way.
86. 5:34Prince Mochi ran but was captured and killed.
87. 5:37Minamoto no Yorimasa committed ritual suicide, the second recorded instance of seppuku.
88. 5:42The first instance happened 10 years ago, and Minamoto no Tametomo held that honor.
89. 5:48It was written later that a loyal follower of Yorimasa cut off his lord’s head, tied
90. 5:52it to a stone, and threw it in the river so that the head wouldn’t fall into enemy hands,
91. 5:58because ew.
92. 5:59The Taira had crushed the first of the rebels, but the floodgates were opened,
93. 6:02and haters poured out.
94. 6:04Remember the three brothers that Kiyomori spared 20 years ago?
95. 6:08Well, now they were older, they were bolder, and they had broad shoulders I dunno.
96. 6:12Minamoto no Yoritomo, the second important person in our story, assumed leadership of
97. 6:17the Minamoto clan and raised his own banner of rebellion.
98. 6:21His younger brothers backed him, Noriyori and Yoshitsune.
99. 6:24Yoshitsune here actually became a legendary samurai.
100. 6:27They wrote a bunch of stories about him.
101. 6:29Maybe I’ll retell some of them.
102. 6:31Would you like that? Huh, would ya? Would ya??
103. 6:33Independently from Yoritomo, his cousin, Kiso Yoshinaka, also raised his hand and said,
104. 6:38“I wanna revolt too.”
105. 6:39He was also a Minamoto, he just decided to change his surname to Kiso after the place
106. 6:44he was raised, the Kiso Mountains.
107. 6:46We’ll call him Lord Kiso, to make it easier to remember.
108. 6:49According to the history books, Kiyomori saw what happened and said,
109. 6:53“Well, that sucks,
110. 6:54now I have to deal with both of these guys--
111. 6:56OMG!”
112. 6:57Because at that very moment, all across the country, warriors rose up independently against
113. 7:01Taira rule.
114. 7:03The brewing Taira hate was now coming to the surface.
115. 7:05Turns out, the Taira made a lot of enemies in the provinces.
116. 7:09They were governors of many provinces, maybe almost half of them.
117. 7:12The governors stayed in the capital and sucked tax revenue
118. 7:15from the provinces into Taira coffers.
119. 7:18Warriors in the provinces thought that was mighty rude.
120. 7:21Kiyomori also imported cash from the Song Chinese, causing massive inflation.
121. 7:26People were just itching to overthrow the Taira, the Minamoto were just lucky to be
122. 7:30in a position to scratch their itch.
123. 7:32Most of these warriors joined either Lord Kiso or Yoritomo.
124. 7:36The three sides were locked and loaded.
125. 7:37Oh it’s on madafakas.
126. 7:39Hold on to your bean bag chair, hit the notification bell, it’s about to get real.
127. 7:43Alright, today’s quiz question is this.
128. 7:46What does a kitsune need to put on its head to shapeshift?
129. 7:50Winner gets one of these things.
130. 7:51I’ll choose a winner in 24 hours, good luck.
131. 7:53The new patrons this week are Claudia Gonzalez, Oda1444, and Sean Williams.
132. 7:59Thanks so much, you guys!
133. 8:00Alright stay safe, don't get sick, much love, and spread the knowledge!