Imai Kanehira
今井兼平
Foster-Brother and Loyal Retainer of Minamoto no Yoshinaka — One of the "Four Guardians of Yoshinaka" Who Died with His Lord at Awazu
Description
Life
Imai Kanehira was born in 1152, the son of the Shinano warrior Nakahara no Kanetō. Kanetō was also the foster father who raised Minamoto no Yoshinaka (Kiso Yoshinaka) in the Kiso valley, and Kanehira grew up alongside Yoshinaka as his foster brother, serving him as a close retainer throughout his life.
Relationship with Minamoto no Yoshinaka
Kanehira, together with his elder brother Higuchi Kanemitsu and other members of the Imai and Higuchi families, is counted among the "Four Guardians of Yoshinaka," and is said to have remained constantly at his lord's side supporting his military campaigns from the time of his uprising.
Major Campaigns
During the Genpei War, Kanehira took part in nearly all of Yoshinaka's major battles, including the Battle of Yokotagawara (1181) and the battles of Hannyano, Kurikara Pass, and Shinohara (1183), helping to defeat the Taira forces. He also accompanied Yoshinaka's entry into Kyoto in the seventh month of 1183 and fought at the Hōjūji Palace battle.
Death at Awazu
In the first month of 1184, as Yoshinaka was pursued by the forces of Minamoto no Noriyori and Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Kanehira fled with him to Awazu in Ōmi Province. After watching his lord be overtaken and killed when his horse became mired in a paddy field, Kanehira is said to have cried out, "Let this be an example of how the bravest warrior in Japan takes his own life," placed the tip of his sword in his mouth, and threw himself headfirst from his horse to die impaled upon it, as recorded in the Tale of the Heike. He was 33 years old.
Later Reputation
Imai Kanehira's final act is regarded as the high point of "The Death of Kiso" chapter in the Tale of the Heike, embodying loyalty to one's lord, and has been repeatedly retold in later war chronicles and theater as an archetype of the devoted retainer.
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