Japan's Dan-no-Ura and Ōnin Battles
The Dan-no-Ura Battle
The image above is the Naval Battle of Dan-no-Ura a woodblock print by Kunitsuna Utagawa (1805 – 68). Dan-no-Ura was the showdown, the last and decisive sea battle of the Genpei Wars, between the Minamotos and Tairas, fought at Shimonoseki Straits. It was the benchmark of the start of the Bakufu regime, aka Shogunate, with the Shogun assuming supreme powers.
The Genpei War (1180–1185) was the culmination of a decades-long conflict between the two dominant warrior clans, the Minamoto (or Genji) and the Taira (or Heike) of the late-Heian Period of Japan. The power of Fujiwara Regents, who swayed the country and the Imperial House from the second half of the Asuka Period and most of the Heian Period had waned by the negligence of the rulers to realise that the country was in deep trouble. Rebellions rose up in the provinces, the seas were swarmed with pirates, crime was rife, and disorder had engulfed the country. When at last the Imperial Court were knocked out of their reverie by the disgruntled society the ruling class had to rely on the warriors to keep order in the country.
This was when the warrior clans, the samurai, foremost the Minamotos and their arch-rivals the Tairas, stepped into the political arena. The five-year war, where fifteen battles were fought and four sieges staged, concluded with a decisive Minamoto victory in the naval battle of Dan-no-ura and the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate under Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192. Genpei (Gen+Hei) War thus lies at the foundations of the 650-year era of the shogunate system, which was essentially a military rule with the emperor serving as a figurehead. The warring sides were known by their colours: red for the Taira clan and white for the Minamotos, which combined are the colours of the Japanese flag today. The Minamoto family can trace their roots back to the 56th Emperor Seiwa. Though, the ancestor whom later members of the clan worshipped almost as a deity was Minamoto Yoshiie, an extremely talented samurai, established in the northern area.
Yoshiie’s military prowess so awed his enemies that they called him Hachiman-Tarō, ‘the firstborn of the God of War’. By 1063, Yoshiie’s sudden rise to power created hostilities from the court, who even denied him the commendation of estates. The Taira then took advantage of this relative decline of the influence of the Minamotos at the court to advance their own fortunes. The Taira family lineage can be traced to Emperor Kammu. Taira Tadamori; an equivalent to Yoshiie of the Minamotos; was a warrior whose military and diplomatic skills made the Taira clan the most powerful family in Japan at the beginning of the twelfth century. Whereby currying favour with retired emperors, they built up their own power in the area of the western provinces. Tadamori also initiated trade with the Song Dynasty of China as a means of amassing wealth, and after some years, had laid the groundwork for his offspring to assume virtual control over the country.
The next formidable generation of these two clans was Minamoto Yoshitomo and Taira Kiyomori. Yoshitomo was killed by Taira’s men, but two of his surviving sons: Yoshitsune and Yoritomo united their forces and defeated the Tairas in the showdown battle of Dan-no-Ura twenty years later. Dan-no-Ura was a major sea battle fought in the Shimonoseki Strait, off the southern tip of Honshū. On April 25, 1185, the fleet of the Minamoto, led by Yoshitsune, defeated the fleet of the Taira, led by Munemori (Kiyomori’s son). The Taira were outnumbered, but they had the advantage over the Minamoto in understanding the tides of that particular area, as well as naval combat tactics in general. The Taira split their fleet into three squadrons, while their enemy arrived en masse, their ships abreast, and archers ready. The beginning of the battle consisted mainly of a long-range archery exchange, before the Taira took the initiative, using the tides to help them try to surround the enemy ships.
The Dan-no-Ura Battle that took place in the Shimonoseki Straits
The archery eventually gave way to hand-to-hand combat with swords and daggers after the crews of the ships boarded each other. However, the tide changed, and the advantage was given now to the Minamoto. One of the crucial factors that allowed the Minamoto to win the battle was that a Taira general, Taguchi Shigeyoshi, defected and attacked the Taira from the rear. He also revealed to the Minamoto which ship the six-year-old Emperor Antoku was on. Antoku, a grandson of Taira Kiyomori, had been controversially crowned in 1180. Go-Toba another claimer to the throne from a branch related to the Minamoto was proclaimed emperor by the Minamoto in 1183; thus, there were two proclaimed emperors and one had to go. When it became clear that the Tairas would lose the battle, Antoku’s grandmother Taira no Tokiko took him and plunged with him into the water in the Shimonoseki Straits, drowning the child emperor rather than allowing him to be captured by the opposing forces. According to military dispatches, the Three Sacred Imperial Regalia had been brought to the battle with Antoku.
They sunk to the bottom of the sea but have been recovered by divers; though several versions and romantic stories had been told about the plight of the sword, which some claim, has never been found. Emperor Go-Toba prevailed and Minamoto Yoritomo was bestowed the title of Sei-i Taishōgun, or Shōgun in 1192, which at that point of time had not only the control of the military but was de facto sovereign of the entire country. A precedent that would last for the next six and half centuries to come had been established. The conflict between the clans led to numerous legends and tales. The story of Emperor Antoku and his mother’s family became the subject of the Kamakura epic account ‘Heike Monogatari’ (the Tale of the Heike). The work was translated into English at least five times, has provided material for many artistic works ranging from Noh plays to woodblock prints and became the theme of TV historical drama series.
The Onin War
The image above is a depiction of the Battle of Onin by Yoshitora, an ukiyo-e painter of the mid-nineteenth century. Not much is known about him, just that he excelled at warrior painting, actor portraits and pieces representing Japan’s enlightenment.
The Ōnin War (1467 – 1477) was the catalyst that sparked the 136-year long period of Japanese history known as the Sengoku Jidai, the ‘Warring States Period’. The battle began because of a dispute over the succession of the high office of the shōgun. Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the 8th member of the Ashikaga clan and the sitting shōgun wanted to retire but had no son. Hence, he made his younger brother, Yoshimi, his heir. One year later in 1465, his wife Tomiko, bore him a son at last. The infant was named Yoshihisa. Tomiko commissioned the help of Yamana Sōzen, a Buddhist monk to make her son shōgun. Whereas Yoshimi relied on Hosokawa Katsumoto, one of the Three Butlers of the Ashikaga clan to make his brother honour his initial agreement. Ironically, these two powerful men of Kyōtō, the capital at the time, were father (Yamana) and son (Hosokawa) in-law but had been engaged in a feud since the 1450s when they had meddled in the succession disputes of other families.
Both men called for support from family relations and vassals, and before long the entire capital district was nearly clogged with Yamana and Hosokawa supporters. The armies numbered 80,000 and 85,000 respectively, the largest yet seen in Japanese history; though, both factions were not yet waging war. Then in February of 1467, a Hosokawa mansion ‘mysteriously’ went up in flames. The war was on. Destruction around Kyōtō was severe, many large temples and residences were burned, and large numbers of citizens fled the city. By July the fighting was so devastating that all of northern Kyōtō was in ruins and the remainder of the city resembled the battlefields of the First World War. Even the deaths of both Yamana Sōzen and Hosokawa Katsumoto in 1473 did not slow the bloodshed. The shogunate was still embroiled in the very succession crisis that had precipitated the Ōnin War. After 11 years the war ended and Yoshihisa, the son became the next shōgun and continued to rule until 1489. Nevertheless, it was too late.
The Onin War in 1467. The allies of Hosokawa are shown in pink and Yamana's are shown in green
The fighting had already spread to the provinces after devastating the capital. As a result, farming villages got organised and mounted armed uprisings in self-defence. The leaders of these uprisings were local samurais with village roots. Such men established themselves as daimyō (domain lord) during the disturbances. They formed associations and often rallied rebellions that extended over an entire province and challenged the local officials and fought over land claims, knowing that the Ashikaga Shogunate was powerless to intervene in the growing anarchy. During this constant warfare, the civil aristocracy and temple complexes lost much of their income. Many of them left the capital, moved to Sakai or Nara or even took up residence in the castle towns under the protection of local daimyō. A new class of warriors was born. Henceforth, the daimyō would be the key figure in the Sengoku Jidai struggles that engulfed the country for over a century. They would fight amongst themselves to conquer the lands of rivals, hiring a huge army of samurais, for ambition, greedy and ultimately to become the next shōgun.
Although at first perceived as another military ruler, the Ashikaga shōguns considered themselves true aristocrats of the Northern Court in Kyōtō. Rather than the countrified shōguns at Kamakura, the Ashikagas considered themselves to be patrons of the arts. So much so, that the style of the period derives its name from the Muromachi District in Kyōtō where they established their mansion. With each generation, the Ashikagas became more imperial courtiers and less military shōguns. The shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, is hugely blamed for his incompetence in dealing with the Ōnin War, which next caused havoc to the country. He did indeed turn his back on the troubled world and built a detached residence, the Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion), in the Higashiyama section of Kyōtō, where he lived in elegance and refinement, paying little attention to matters of government.
Nonetheless, his patronising of arts gave origin to the Higashiyama Culture, which was based largely on the ideals and aesthetics of Zen Buddhism and the concept of wabi-sabi (beauty in simplicity). It developed the sadō (Japanese tea ceremony), ikebana (flower arranging), Noh drama, and sumi–e ink painting. Much of what is commonly seen today as traditional Japanese culture. Yoshimasa’s retirement villa was turned into the Temple of the Silver Pavilion after his death. The Pavilion is revered for its simple beauty; despite the name, the silver has never been added. The rock garden (karesansui) next to it is likewise one of the most famous in Japan and praised for its Zen and aesthetics. It is a quintessential example of the idea that only the trained expert should be able to recognise the subtle beauty within art and architecture; the beauty of the object should not be underscored and emphasized, but gently hidden.