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*''Japanese'': [[平]]氏 ''(Heishi)'' or 平家 ''(Heike)''
The Taira clan was one of the four most prominent families of court aristocracy in the [[Heian period]], along with the [[Minamoto clan|Minamoto]], [[Tachibana clan|Tachibana]], and [[Fujiwara clan]]s; in the 1150s-1180s, under [[Taira no Kiyomori]], they became the most powerful clan in the realm. The Taira were defeated by the Minamoto, however, in the [[Genpei War]] of [[1180]]-[[1185]], and all but destroyed. The Taira would never achieve prominence again, but many prominent [[samurai]] clans claimed descent from the Taira, whether legitimately, or in order to claim more elite ancestry, and legitimacy as rulers.
The story of the fall of the Taira is related in the eponymous romantic / fictionalized epic, ''[[The Tale of the Heike]]''.
==Prominent Members of the Taira==
*[[Taira no Masamori]]
**[[Taira no Tadamori]] - son of Masamori
***[[Taira no Kiyomori]] - son of Tadamori, clan head, dominates Court politics for much of 1160s-1170s
***[[Taira no Tokitada]] - brother of [[Kenshunmon-in]], brother-in-law of Kiyomori
****[[Kenreimon-in]] - daughter of Kiyomori, consort of [[Emperor Takakura]]
****[[Taira no Shigemori]] - son of Kiyomori, Kiyomori's successor as clan head
*****[[Taira no Sukemori]] - son of Shigemori
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==References==
*Helen McCullough trans., ''The Tale of the Heike'', 3-4.
[[Category:Clans]]
[[Category:Heian Period]]