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[[Image:UjiBridge.jpg|right|thumb|300px|[[Uji Bridge]], site of the opening clashes of the Genpei War.]]

[[Image:UjiBridge.jpg|right|thumb|300px|[[Uji Bridge]], site of the opening clashes of the Genpei War.]]

In the aftermath of the [[Hogen Disturbance|Hôgen Disturbance]] of [[1156]] and the [[Heiji Disturbance]] of [[1159]], [[Taira no Kiyomori]] had risen to power within the Imperial Court. Rising to the position of ''[[dajo daijin|dajô daijin]]'', he married his daughter [[Taira no Tokuko]] to [[Emperor Takakura]] (a son of Retired [[Emperor Go-Shirakawa]]), and in [[1180]]/4, arranged to have their infant son, his grandson, take the throne as [[Emperor Antoku]]. Passed over for the succession, Antoku's uncle, [[Prince Mochihito]] (another son of Go-Shirakawa) issued a statement urging the [[Minamoto clan|Minamoto]] to rise against the [[Taira clan|Taira]]. While Mochihito would be killed the following month and [[Minamoto Yorimasa]] crushed at the [[Battle of Uji]], a fire had been set. In September [[Minamoto Yoritomo]], who had recieved Mochihito's call from [[Miyoshi Yasukiyo]], set about raising an army in the Province of [[Izu province|Izu]], where he had been in exile. There was an irony in the preceeding events, as Taira no Kiyomori had himself sown the seeds of the war, so the poetic tale goes. His great error, we are told, had been to spare the sons of Minamoto Yoshitomo in the wake of the [[Heiji disturbance]], allowing these three boys - Yoritomo, [[Minamoto Noriyori|Noriyori]], and [[Minamoto Yoshitsune|Yoshitsune]] - to mature and form the leadership of a new and dangerous threat.

In the aftermath of the [[Hogen Disturbance|Hôgen Disturbance]] of [[1156]] and the [[Heiji Disturbance]] of [[1159]], [[Taira no Kiyomori]] had risen to power within the Imperial Court. Rising to the position of ''[[dajo daijin|dajô daijin]]'', he married his daughter [[Taira no Tokuko]] to [[Emperor Takakura]] (a son of Retired [[Emperor Go-Shirakawa]]), and in [[1180]]/4, arranged to have their infant son, his grandson, take the throne as [[Emperor Antoku]]. Passed over for the succession, Antoku's uncle, [[Prince Mochihito]] (another son of Go-Shirakawa) issued a statement urging the [[Minamoto clan|Minamoto]] to rise against the [[Taira clan|Taira]]. While Mochihito would be killed the following month and [[Minamoto Yorimasa]] crushed at the [[Battle of Uji]], a fire had been set. In September [[Minamoto Yoritomo]], who had recieved Mochihito's call from [[Miyoshi Yasukiyo]], set about raising an army in the Province of [[Izu province|Izu]], where he had been in exile. There was an irony in the preceeding events, as Taira no Kiyomori had himself sown the seeds of the war, so the poetic tale goes. His great error, we are told, had been to spare the sons of Minamoto Yoshitomo in the wake of the [[Heiji Disturbance]], allowing these three boys - Yoritomo, [[Minamoto Noriyori|Noriyori]], and [[Minamoto Yoshitsune|Yoshitsune]] - to mature and form the leadership of a new and dangerous threat.

In fact, Yoritomo's own call to arms in the east was recieved cautiously at best. He did manage to kill the local Taira governor, but was defeated at the [[Battle of Ishibashiyama]] by [[Oba Kagechika]]. In the wake of this hard setback, however, Yoritomo did recieve the valuable additon of [[Kajiwara Kagetoki]] to his staff. Elsewhere in the Kanto, local families began to respond to Yoritomo in varying degrees and in Shimosa and elsewhere set about eliminating Kyoto-appointed officals. This often provoked inter-province and occasionally inter-clan civil war, a common and oft-overlooked element of the Gempei War. By the Spring of the following year, Yoritomo could count on at least the tacit support of most of the notable families in the Kanto, although the Chubu, though by now nominally Minamoto dominated, existed beyond his immediate control. Yoritomo's Kanto domain is occasionally referred to as the Tôgaku, and rather then surge forward against the Taira, he contented himself for the time being with consolidating his hold locally.

In fact, Yoritomo's own call to arms in the east was recieved cautiously at best. He did manage to kill the local Taira governor, but was defeated at the [[Battle of Ishibashiyama]] by [[Oba Kagechika]]. In the wake of this hard setback, however, Yoritomo did recieve the valuable additon of [[Kajiwara Kagetoki]] to his staff. Elsewhere in the Kanto, local families began to respond to Yoritomo in varying degrees and in Shimosa and elsewhere set about eliminating Kyoto-appointed officals. This often provoked inter-province and occasionally inter-clan civil war, a common and oft-overlooked element of the Gempei War. By the Spring of the following year, Yoritomo could count on at least the tacit support of most of the notable families in the Kanto, although the Chubu, though by now nominally Minamoto dominated, existed beyond his immediate control. Yoritomo's Kanto domain is occasionally referred to as the Tôgaku, and rather then surge forward against the Taira, he contented himself for the time being with consolidating his hold locally.