Taira no Munemori

Taira no Munemori was the third son of Taira no Kiyomori and became head of the Taira clan after the deaths of his elder brothers Shigemori and Motomori. He rose as high as Minister of the Interior. After Kiyomori's death he was in a position to lead the clan, but he lacked military talent, and the Heike Monogatari often portrays him as an inferior commander when compared with his father Kiyomori and elder brother Shigemori. In the Genpei War, which originated in Prince Mochihito's call to arms of 1180, relations with the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa gradually deteriorated. In 1183, on the eve of Kiso Yoshinaka's entry into the capital, Munemori was compelled to leave the capital, taking Emperor Antoku and the Three Sacred Treasures with him.

The Taira moved their base first to Fukuhara and then to Yashima in Sanuki Province, and suffered repeated defeats at Ichi-no-tani and Yashima. On April 25, 1185 (Juei 4, 3rd month, 24th day), the clan was finally annihilated at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in Nagato Province. As Emperor Antoku, Kenreimon'in, and many other clan members threw themselves into the sea, Munemori could not bring himself to die. He drifted at sea until he was pulled out by Minamoto forces together with his son Kiyomune, and became a prisoner.

The Taira clan is said to have possessed a family heirloom tachi known as Kogarasu-maru. It is said that Taira no Sadamori received it from the imperial court as a reward for suppressing the Jōhei-Tengyō Rebellions, and that it was thereafter handed down to the clan heads as a treasure of the Taira house. Munemori was the last inheritor of this treasure. With the clan's annihilation at Dan-no-ura, the sword's whereabouts are said to have been lost for a time. It was later found to have been held by the Ise family, who claimed descent from the Taira.

Taken prisoner, Munemori was escorted to Kamakura, where he met Minamoto no Yoritomo, but he was not spared. On the return journey to Kyoto, he and his son Kiyomune were beheaded at Shinohara post station in Ōmi Province.

In the Heike Monogatari, Munemori is harshly judged as lacking the qualities of a military leader. However, variant texts such as the Genpei Jōsuiki depict a fatherly affection, describing how even after his capture he remained anxious for the safety of his son Kiyomune. He thus stands as a symbolic figure who bore responsibility for the clan's ruin, and at the same time he is remembered by later generations as a father who was swept along by the chaos of the age.