The Gempei War 1180–85 by Stephen Turnbull

Author:Stephen Turnbull
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472813862
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-09-07T16:00:00+00:00

This fine modern statue of Minamoto Kiso Yoshinaka stands on the site of his greatest victory at the pass of Kurikara in 1183.

Probably ignorant of the fate of his vanguard Taira Koremori continued on up the Hokurikudō, much of which still exists in its original form as a footpath that intersects the modern road at various intervals, and the overall topography of mountains and valleys is also relatively unchanged. The Taira climbed steadily, passing the peak of Jōgamine (195m) and shortly afterwards levelling out through the Pass of Kurikara, of which the highest point is marked by a Buddhist temple called the Fudōji at a height of 277m above sea level. The pass then continues downwards to the east beneath Tonamiyama (263m), but just to the south of the Fudōji is a fairly extensive area of flat ground called Sarugababa, and there the Taira stopped. It was a decision forced on them by Kiso Yoshinaka, who was currently based at the foot of the pass on its eastern side. Yoshinaka wanted them to stay at the top of the Pass of Kurikara. To achieve this he detached 3,000 men under Yoda Jirō from his total army of about 40,000 and sent them up the pass on 1 June with a number of white banners that was far in excess of what would be expected for a small force. They took up their decoy positions just to the north of the road on a hill. This served to discourage the Taira from continuing any further down the pass when what appeared to be a huge army lay to their left flank. They therefore set up a fortified camp at Sarugababa to await attack on ground of their own choosing, aligned towards Yoda’s force.

All this was perfectly in accord with Yoshinaka’s plans because to the south-east the flat ground of Sarugababa dropped away very steeply into a valley now called Jigokudani or ‘Hell Valley’. It would be so named after the ‘hell’ the Taira encountered there during the battle, because Yoshinaka’s intention was to force the Taira down into this enclosed death trap that divided Sarugababa from another hill now called Gempeigamine. There they would be caught by three units of his army who were stationed overlooking the dead end of Hell Valley. They were under the command of Imai Kanehira (6,000), Nenei Yukichika (4,000) and 3,000 under one other, whom a persistent tradition identifies as Tomoe Gozen, Yoshinaka’s famous warrior wife, whose career will be discussed later. There was certainly a third unit present, but no name for their commander is given in Heike Monogatari. The Taira would be driven down into Hell Valley by a surprise flank attack under Higuchi Kanemitsu, who was now heading up the pass behind the Taira army with 4,000 men. To keep its move secret, that unit had been forced to carry out a long and time-consuming sweep round to the north and then follow the Taira up the pass, so to buy the time

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