Minamoto no Tameyoshi

Minamoto no Tameyoshi was a son of Minamoto no Yoshichika and, as head of the Kawachi Genji, held offices such as Kebiishi. He was the grandfather of Minamoto no Yoritomo, who later founded the Kamakura shogunate, and of Minamoto no Yoshitsune. To revive the Kawachi Genji, which had nearly fallen into decline after Yoshichika's rebellion, he served the retired emperors Shirakawa and Toba, serving the court as a Kebiishi and engaging in the maintenance of order around the capital and the suppression of forceful petitions (gōso). He fathered many children, including Yoshitomo, Yorikata, and Tametomo, who made his name in Chinzei as Chinzei Hachirō, and the clan's influence had spread from the eastern provinces as far as Kyushu.

In 1156, following the death of retired Emperor Toba, the Hōgen Rebellion broke out, pitting the faction of retired Emperor Sutoku against that of Emperor Go-Shirakawa. When it broke out, Tameyoshi led his sons Yorikata and Tametomo and sided with Sutoku. However, his eldest son Minamoto no Yoshitomo had sided with Go-Shirakawa, and together with Taira no Kiyomori and others, defeated Sutoku's forces. This arrangement of father and son fighting on opposing sides is known as an event that symbolized the internal division of the Kawachi Genji.

After the defeat, Tameyoshi surrendered to Yoshitomo and took Buddhist vows, but on the orders of Shinzei, a central figure on the Go-Shirakawa side, clemency was not granted, and Yoshitomo himself had him executed. This tragedy, in which he had to kill his own father, is described in detail in the Hōgen Monogatari, and as a victim of the Hōgen Rebellion, which heralded the age of the warrior, it has left a strong impression on later generations.

The Kawachi Genji are said to have possessed heirloom tachi known as Higekiri and Hizamaru, which had been handed down through generations of the Minamoto, and Tameyoshi was also one of those in a position to inherit them. These tachi were later passed on to Yoshitomo, then to Yoritomo, Yoshitsune, and others, and as heirlooms symbolizing the martial fortunes of the Minamoto, they frequently appear in later war chronicles. Near Shichijō Suzaku, which the Hōgen Monogatari identifies as the place of execution, stands Gongen-ji in Shimogyō Ward, Kyoto, where Tameyoshi's grave still remains and memorial services have continued to this day as a historic site associated with the Minamoto and Taira. Born into the house of warrior leaders yet losing his life amid his own clan's political strife, Tameyoshi's life is told as a story symbolizing the contradictions of the warrior society of the late Heian period.