Battle of Ichihara

Battle of Ichihara
	Part of Genpei War
	; Woodblock Print of Minamoto no Yoshinaka by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳)
Date	September 7, 1180 (Jishō calendar)
Location	"Ichihara", Shinano Province (modern day Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture)
Result	Minamoto victory
Belligerents
Minamoto clan	Taira clan
Commanders and leaders
Minamoto no Yoshinaka; Kakuhan; Murayama Yoshitada;	Kasahara Yorinao;

The Battle of Ichihara (市原合戦, Ichihara Kassen) was a battle which took place in Shinano Province on September 7, 1180 (Jishō calendar) (September 29, 1180 in the Julian calendar).^[a]^[b] It took place during the Genpei War, a civil war over control of Japan from 1180–1185. This is the first battle in which Minamoto no Yoshinaka appears in historical documents.

Background

Minamoto no Yoshinaka was the son of Minamoto no Yoshikata [jp],^[1] a swords chief under the Seiwa Genji. Yoshikata died in the battle of Battle of Okura [jp]. The Azuma Kagami says that Yoshinaka was only a 3-year-old infant when this occurred,^[2] while the Heike Monogatari claims he was 2-years-old.^[3] After this, Yoshinaka's wet nurse fled with him to Kiso, where she requested her husband raise him, which he accepted.^[4]^[5] Once he became of age, he wanted to establish his own house to defeat the Taira clan.

Kasahara Yorinao, a powerful samurai from Shinano, under the Taira clan, planned to invade Kiso.^[6]

Battle

The Inoue clan of the Shinano Minamoto [jp] branch sensed an incoming attack from the Taira clan, which caused them to send an army to Kiso, led by Murayama Yoshitada. The battle took place near Ichihara, at Kurita Temple [jp] (now Kankei Temple).^[7]

The battle continued until sunset, when the Murayama side, outnumbered and low on arrows, sent a messenger to Minamoto no Yoshinaka camp for deployment of reinforcements and to inform him of the situation.^[8] Yoshinaka then marched a large army to the battlefield, after which Kasahara and his army retreated immediately to the Jou Clan [jp], a powerful clan in Echigo Province (also under the Taira).^[9]

Aftermath

For this reason, Jou Nagamochi [jp] alongside Kasahara Yorinao led a large army and invaded Shinano Province in hopes of annihilating Minamoto no Yoshinaka's army. This led to the Battle of Yokotagawara [jp] in which Jou Nagamochi failed to achieve his objective.^[10]

Notes

^ For differences between the Jishō and Julian calendars, see 治承#西暦との対照表
^ As 1180 was a leap year, the difference is 22 days, not 21.

References

^ Heike Monogatari. p. 272. Now there was in Shinano a certain Minamoto called Kiso Jiro Yoshinaka. He was the second son of the late Tatewaki Senjo Yoshikata
^ "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 義賢去る久壽二年八月、武蔵の国大倉館に於いて、鎌倉の悪源太義平主の為討ち亡ぼさる。時に義仲三の嬰児たるなり/In August of the Second year of Kyūju (1156), Yoshikata was killed at Okura in Kamakura in the province of Musashi by Minamoto no Yoshihira. At the time, Yoshinaka was a 3 year old infant.
^ Heike Monogatari. p. 272. and when his father was killed at Kamakura on the twelfth day of the eighth month of the second year of Kyuju by Akugenda Yoshihira, he was but a child of two years old.
^ "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 乳母夫中三権の守兼遠これを懐き、信濃の国木曽に遁れ下り、これを養育せしむ。/The husband of Yoshinaka's wet nurse embraced him, and brought him to Kiso in Shinano Province to raise him.
^ Heike Monogatari. p. 272. His mother, in her grief, fled with him to the province of Shinano to Kiso Chuzo Kaneto, and begged him to take the child and bring him up. So Kaneto granted her request and took him and reared him
^ "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 爰に平家の方人小笠原の平五頼直と云う者有り。今日軍士を相具し木曽を襲わんと擬す。/Here, there is a Taira warrior named Kasahara Yorinao. Today, he has gathered a force of warriors to attack Kiso.
^ "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 爰に平家の方人小笠原の平五頼直と云う者有り。今日軍士を相具し木曽を襲わんと擬す。/When the Kiso residents, Murayama no Yoshitada and Kurita Temple heard of this, they (took up arms and) met in Ichihara of this region and decided to battle each other.
^ "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 飛脚を木曽の陣に遣わし事の由を告ぐ。/A messenger was sent to the Kiso/Yoshinaka camp to inform them of the incident.
^ "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 仍って木曽大軍を率い競い到るの処、頼直その威勢に怖れ逃亡す。城の四郎長茂に加わらんが為、越後の国に赴くと。/As Kiso arrived with a large army, Yorinao was frightened and fled. In order to join Jou Nagamochi in the castle, he goes to Echigo Province.
^ Heike Monogatari. pp. 41–42. on the day that I went forth from Shinano, Jō-no-Shirō Nagamochi opposed me with many tens of thousands of horsemen and a battle was fought at Yokotagawa. There with but three thousand men behind me I routed and destroyed that mighty host.

[a-1] For differences between the Jishō and Julian calendars, see 治承#西暦との対照表

[b-2] As 1180 was a leap year, the difference is 22 days, not 21.

[3] Heike Monogatari. p. 272. Now there was in Shinano a certain Minamoto called Kiso Jiro Yoshinaka. He was the second son of the late Tatewaki Senjo Yoshikata

[4] "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 義賢去る久壽二年八月、武蔵の国大倉館に於いて、鎌倉の悪源太義平主の為討ち亡ぼさる。時に義仲三の嬰児たるなり/In August of the Second year of Kyūju (1156), Yoshikata was killed at Okura in Kamakura in the province of Musashi by Minamoto no Yoshihira. At the time, Yoshinaka was a 3 year old infant.

[5] Heike Monogatari. p. 272. and when his father was killed at Kamakura on the twelfth day of the eighth month of the second year of Kyuju by Akugenda Yoshihira, he was but a child of two years old.

[6] "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 乳母夫中三権の守兼遠これを懐き、信濃の国木曽に遁れ下り、これを養育せしむ。/The husband of Yoshinaka's wet nurse embraced him, and brought him to Kiso in Shinano Province to raise him.

[7] Heike Monogatari. p. 272. His mother, in her grief, fled with him to the province of Shinano to Kiso Chuzo Kaneto, and begged him to take the child and bring him up. So Kaneto granted her request and took him and reared him

[8] "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 爰に平家の方人小笠原の平五頼直と云う者有り。今日軍士を相具し木曽を襲わんと擬す。/Here, there is a Taira warrior named Kasahara Yorinao. Today, he has gathered a force of warriors to attack Kiso.

[9] "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 爰に平家の方人小笠原の平五頼直と云う者有り。今日軍士を相具し木曽を襲わんと擬す。/When the Kiso residents, Murayama no Yoshitada and Kurita Temple heard of this, they (took up arms and) met in Ichihara of this region and decided to battle each other.

[10] "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 飛脚を木曽の陣に遣わし事の由を告ぐ。/A messenger was sent to the Kiso/Yoshinaka camp to inform them of the incident.

[11] "１１８０年（治承四年) Entry:９月７日" [1180 (4th year of Jishō)]. Azuma Kagami [Mirror of the East] (in Japanese). 仍って木曽大軍を率い競い到るの処、頼直その威勢に怖れ逃亡す。城の四郎長茂に加わらんが為、越後の国に赴くと。/As Kiso arrived with a large army, Yorinao was frightened and fled. In order to join Jou Nagamochi in the castle, he goes to Echigo Province.

[12] Heike Monogatari. pp. 41–42. on the day that I went forth from Shinano, Jō-no-Shirō Nagamochi opposed me with many tens of thousands of horsemen and a battle was fought at Yokotagawa. There with but three thousand men behind me I routed and destroyed that mighty host.

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