Minamoto no Yoshitomo

Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123–c. 1160) built his power between eastern warrior households and the Kyoto court. The eldest son of Tameyoshi, he cultivated dependents in Sagami, in present-day Kanagawa, and the surrounding southern Kantō region. His expansion included forceful intrusion into estates whose rights belonged to religious institutions, as well as provincial office. The regional following he assembled did not place every Minamoto branch under his command. [S01, S02]

In the Hōgen conflict of 1156 he fought for Emperor Go-Shirakawa beside Taira no Kiyomori. His father and brothers supported retired Emperor Sutoku. Victory brought advancement, but the court’s punishment required Yoshitomo to execute defeated members of his own family. His alliance with Kiyomori then broke down. In 1159 he joined Fujiwara no Nobuyori’s rising while Kiyomori was away from the capital. [S01, S03]

Kiyomori returned and defeated the coalition in the Heiji conflict. Yoshitomo fled east but was killed at Noma in Owari, in present-day Aichi, by Osada Tadamune, a man in his following. His son Yoritomo survived capture through exile to Izu. Yoshitomo’s own career ended with the collapse of the coalition he had chosen, before his son’s later government at Kamakura. [S01, S04]