Taira clan

Taira 平氏
Mon: Agehachō, the Swallowtail butterfly
Home province	Hitachi Province, Ise Province
Parent house	Imperial House of Japan (Emperor Kanmu)
Titles	Various
Founder	Taira no Takamochi
Final ruler	Taira no Munemori
Founding year	c. 825
Cadet branches	Hōjō Chiba Miura Nagao Uchima Tajiri Hatakeyama Oda Tanegashima others

The Taira (平) was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period of Japanese history – the others being the Minamoto, the Fujiwara, and the Tachibana.^[1] The clan is divided into four major groups, named after the emperors they descended from: Kanmu Heishi, Ninmyō Heishi, Montoku Heishi, and Kōkō Heishi,^[2] the most influential of which was the Kanmu Heishi line.

In the twilight of the Heian period, the Taira controlled the boy emperor Antoku (himself the grandson of former daijō-daijin Taira no Kiyomori) and had effectively dominated the Imperial capital of Heian. However, they were opposed by their rivals the Minamoto clan, which culminated in the Genpei War (1180-1185 AD). The Taira were decisively defeated, their leaders would perish alongside Antoku. Following the war, the victorious Minamoto established Japan's first shogunate in Kamakura. The name "Genpei" comes from alternate readings of the kanji "Minamoto" (源 Gen) and "Taira" (平 Hei).

The clan is commonly referred to as Heishi (平氏, "Taira clan") or Heike (平家, "House of Taira"), using the character's On'yomi hei (平) for Taira, while shi (氏) means "clan", and ke (家) is used as a suffix for "extended family".^[3] The clan is the namesake of The Tale of the Heike, an epic account of the Genpei War.