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It pitted one against the other; If the
Taira showed turbulence, the aid of the Minamoto was enlisted; and
when a Minamoto rebelled, a Taira received a commission to deal with
him. Thus, the Throne purchased peace for a time at the cost of
sowing, between the two great military clans, seeds of discord
destined to shake even the Crown. In the capital the bushi served as
palace guards; in the provinces they were practically independent.
Such was the state of affairs on the eve of a fierce struggle known
in history as the tumult of the Hogen and Heiji eras (1150-1160).

*It is of this noble that history records an incident illustrative of
the superstitions of the eleventh century. The cloistered Emperor
Shirakawa kept Tadamori constantly by his side. One night, Shirakawa,
accompanied by Tadamori, went to visit a lady favourite in a detached
palace near the shrine of Gion. Suddenly the two men saw an
apparition of a demon covered with wirelike hair and having a
luminous body. The Emperor ordered Tadamori to use his bow. But
Tadamori advanced boldly and, seizing the demon, found that it was an
old man wearing straw headgear as a protection against the rain, and
carrying a lamp to kindle the light at the shrine. This valiant deed
on Tadamori's part elicited universal applause, as indeed it might in
an era of such faith in the supernatural.

THE HOGEN INSURRECTION

It has been related in Chapter XXII that Taiken-mon-in, consort of
the Emperor Toba, was chosen for the latter by his grandfather, the
cloistered Emperor Shirakawa, and that she bore to Toba a son who
ultimately ascended the throne as Sutoku. But, rightly or wrongly,
Toba learned to suspect that before she became his wife, the lady's
relations with Shirakawa had been over-intimate and that Sutoku was
illegitimate. Therefore, immediately after Shirakawa's demise, Toba
took to himself an Empress, Kaya-no-in, daughter of Fujiwara
Tadazane; and failing offspring by her, chose another Fujiwara lady,
Bifuku-mon-in, daughter of Nagazane. For this, his third consort, he
conceived a strong affection, and when she bore to him a prince, Toba
placed the latter on the throne at the age of three, compelling
Sutoku to resign. This happened in the year 1141, and there were
thenceforth two cloistered Emperors, Toba and Sutoku, standing to
each other in the relation of grandfather and grandson. The baby
sovereign was called Konoe, and Fujiwara Tadamichi, brother of
Bifu-ku-mon-in, became kwampaku.

Between this Tadamichi and his younger brother, Yorinaga, who held
the post of sa-daijin, there existed acute rivalry. The kwampaku had
the knack of composing a deft couplet and tracing a graceful
ideograph. The sa-daijin, a profound scholar and an able economist,
ridiculed penmanship and poetry as mere ornament. Their father's
sympathies were wholly with Yorinaga, and he ultimately went so far
as to depose Tadamichi from his hereditary position as o-uji of the
Fujiwara. Thus, the enmity between Tadamichi and Yorinaga needed only
an opportunity to burst into flame, and that opportunity was soon
furnished.

The Emperor Konoe died (1155) at the early age of seventeen, and the
cloistered sovereign, Sutoku, sought to secure the throne for his son
Shigehito, whom Toba's suspicions had disqualified. But
Bifuku-mon-in, believing, or pretending to believe, that the
premature death of her son had been caused by Sutoku's incantations,
persuaded the cloistered Emperor, Toba, in that sense, and having
secured the co-operation of the kwampaku, Tadamichi, she set upon the
throne Toba's fourth son, under the name of Go-Shirakawa (1156-1158),
the latter's son, Morihito, being nominated Crown Prince, to the
complete exclusion of Sutoku's offspring. So long as Toba lived the
arrangement remained undisturbed, but on his death in the following
year (1156), Sutoku, supported by the sa-daijin, Yorinaga, planned to
ascend the throne again, and there ensued a desperate struggle.
Stated thus briefly, the complication suggests merely a quarrel for
the succession, but, regarded more closely, it is seen to derive
rancour chiefly from the jealousies of the Fujiwara brothers,
Yorinaga and Tadamichi, and importance from the association of the
Minamoto and the Taira families. For when Sutoku appealed to arms
against the Go-Shirakawa faction, he was incited by Fujiwara Yorinaga
and his father Tadazane, and supported by Taira Tadamasa as well as
by jthe two Minamoto, Tameyoshi and Tametomo; while Go-Shirakawa's
cause was espoused by Fujiwara Tadamichi, by Taira no Kiyomori, and
by Minamoto Yoshitomo.

Among this group of notables the most memorable in a historical sense
are Minamoto Tametomo and Taira Kiyomori. Of the latter there will
presently be occasion to speak again. The former was one of those
born warriors illustrated by Yamato-dake, Saka-no-ye no Tamura-maro,
and Minamoto no Yoshiiye. Eighth son of Minamoto Tameyoshi, he showed
himself so masterful, physically and morally, that his father deemed
it wise to provide a distant field for the exercise of his energies
and to that end sent him to Bungo in the island of Kyushu. Tametomo
was then only thirteen. In two years he had established his sway over
nearly the whole island, and the ceaseless excursions and alarms
caused by his doings having attracted the attention of the Court,
orders for his chastisement were issued to the Dazai-fu, in
Chikuzen--futile orders illustrating only Kyoto's ignorance.
Tameyoshi, his father, was then removed from office as a punishment
for his son's contumacy, and thereupon Tametomo, esteeming filial
piety as one of the bushi's first obligations, hastened to the
capital, taking with him only twenty-five of his principal retainers.
His age was then seventeen; his height seven feet; his muscular
development enormous, and he could draw a bow eight feet nine inches
in length. His intention was to purchase his father's pardon by his
own surrender, but on reaching Kyoto he found the Hogen tumult just
breaking out, and, of course, he joined his father's party.

The relationship of the opposing nobles deserves to be studied, as
this was probably one of the most unnatural struggles on record.

CLOISTERED EMPEROR'S SIDE REIGNING EMPEROR'S SIDE

Sutoku (the Jo-o) Go-Shirakawa, younger brother of Sutoku.

Fujiwara Yorinaga Fujiwara Tadamichi, son of Tadazane
and brother of Yorinaga.

Fujiwara Tadazane

Minamoto Tameyoshi Minamoto Yoshitomo, son of Tameyoshi
and brother of Tametomo.

Minamoto Tametomo

Taira no Tadamasa Taira no Kiyomori, nephew of Tadamasa

Sutoku's party occupied the Shirakawa palace. Unfortunately for the
ex-Emperor the conduct of the struggle was entrusted to Fujiwara
Yorinaga, and he, in defiance of Tametomo's advice, decided to remain
on the defensive; an evil choice, since it entailed the tenure of
wooden buildings highly inflammable. Yoshitomo and Kiyomori took full
advantage of this strategical error. They forced the Shirakawa
palace, and after a desperate struggle,* the defenders took to
flight. Thus far, except for the important issues involved and the
unnatural division of the forces engaged, this Hogen tumult would not
have differed materially from many previous conflicts. But its sequel
acquired terrible notoriety from the cruel conduct of the victors.
Sutoku was exiled to Sanuki, and there, during three years, he
applied himself continuously to copying a Buddhist Sutra, using his
own blood for ink. The doctrine of the Zen sect had not yet prevailed
in Japan, and to obtain compensation in future happiness for the
pains he had suffered in life, it was essential that the exile's
laboriously traced Sutra should be solemnly offered to the Buddha. He
sent it to Kyoto, praying that the necessary step should be taken.
But by the orders of his own brother, the Emperor, the request was
refused, and the manuscript returned. Superstition ultimately
succeeded where natural affection had failed; for the ex-Emperor,
having inscribed maledictions on each of the five volumes of the
Sutra with blood obtained by biting his tongue, and having hastened
his demise by self-inflicted privations,--he died (1164) eight years
after being sent into exile--the evils of the time were attributed to
his unquiet spirit and a shrine was built to his memory.

*One incident of the fight has been admiringly handed down to
posterity. The duty of holding the west gate of the Shirakawa palace
fell to Tametomo and his handful of followers. The duty of attacking
it happened to devolve on his brother, Yoshitomo. To avert such an
unnatural conflict, Tametomo, having proclaimed his identity, as was
usual among bushi, drew his bow with such unerring aim that the arrow
shore off an ornament from Yoshitomo's helmet without injuring him in
any way. Yoshitomo withdrew, and the Taira took up the attack.

Not less heartless was the treatment of the vanquished nobles. The
Fujiwara alone escaped. Yorinaga had the good fortune to fall on the
field of battle, and his father, Tadazane, was saved by the
intercession of his elder son, Tadamichi, of whose dislike he had
long been a victim. But this was the sole spot of light on the sombre
page. By the Emperor's orders, the Taira chief, Kiyomori, executed
his uncle, Tadamasa; by the Emperor's orders, though not without
protest, the Minamoto chief, Yoshitomo, put to death his father,
Tameyoshi; by the Emperor's orders all the relatives of Yorinaga were
sent into exile; by the Emperor's orders his nephew, Prince
Shigehito, was compelled to take the tonsure, and by the Emperor's
orders the sinews of Tametomo's bow-arm were cut and he was banished
to the Izu island.* In justice it has to be noted that Go-Shirakawa
did not himself conceive these merciless measures. He was prompted
thereto by Fujiwara Michinori, commonly known as Shinzei, whose
counsels were all-powerful at the Court in those days.

*The celebrated littérateur, Bakin, adduced many proofs that Tametomo
ultimately made his way to Ryukyu and that his descendants ruled the
island.