Minamoto no Yoshiie

Minamoto no Yoshiie
Portrait of Minamoto no Yoshiie, by Kuniyoshi Utagawa
Bornc. 1039
Died4 August 1106(1106-08-04) (aged 66–67)
Native name源義家
Other namesHachimantarō Yoshiie (八幡太郎義家) Most Valorous Warrior in the Land (天下第一武勇之士)
ResidenceJapan
NationalityJapanese
TeamMinamoto clan

Minamoto no Yoshiie by Yashima Gakutei, 1825.
"Minamoto no Yoshiie" by Tsuioka Yoshitoshi. This woodblock print depicts a story from the 9th chapter of the Kokon Chomonju. A husband suspects his wife is having an affair with a samurai, Yoshiie, and surrounds his house with brambles. When Yoshiie simply jumps over the brambles, the husband places a Go board by the balcony in hopes of tripping him. Instead, Yoshiie slices the Go board.

Minamoto no Yoshiie (源 義家; 1039 – 4 August 1106), also known as Hachimantarō Yoshiie (八幡太郎義家) and his title Most Valorous Warrior in the Land (天下第一武勇之士), was a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period, and Chinjufu-shōgun (Commander-in-chief of the defense of the North).

The first son of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi,[1] he proved himself in battle with the Abe clan in the Zenkunen War (Former Nine Years' War) and the Kiyohara clan in the Gosannen War (Later Three Years' War). Subsequently, he became something of a paragon of samurai skill and bravery.[2] Oe no Masafusa was his teacher for the art of war.[1] He was the third generation leader of the Kawachi Genji.

In legends he is thought to be the son or avatar of Hachiman, and after his death, Yoshiie was elevated to Kami status, renamed “Hachimantaro”, lit. “son of Hachiman”, the Shinto god of war, and was made by the Minamoto clan into their Patron Ancestral Kami.

Yoshiie was also a great-great-great-grandson of Prince Sadasumi, a son of Emperor Seiwa, through a junior line.

  1. ^ a b Sato, Hiroaki (1995). Legends of the Samurai. Overlook Duckworth. pp. 74–75. ISBN 9781590207307.
  2. ^ Sansom, George (1958). A history of Japan to 1334. Stanford University Press. pp. 249–251. ISBN 0804705232.

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