The was a short civil war fought in order to resolve a dispute about Japanese Imperial succession. The dispute was also about the degree of control exercised by the Fujiwara clan who had become hereditary Imperial regents during the Heian period.

Hōgen no ran produced a series of unanticipated consequences. It created a foundation from which the dominance of the samurai clans would come to be established. It is considered the beginning in a chain of events which would produce the first of three samurai-led governments in the history of Japan.

Context

A simmering power struggle in the Imperial court was focused on three figures in 1155. After the former Emperor Toba and the former Emperor Sutoku abdicated, each intended to continue to wield various kinds of power behind the throne during the reign of Emperor Konoe in cloistered rule. However, when young Konoe died, the dynamics of the contending factions changed.

  • August 23, 1155 (Kyūju 2, 24th day of the 7th month) <!-- 久寿二年七月二十四日 -->: In the 14th year of Konoe-tennōs reign (近衛天皇14年), the emperor died; and despite an ensuing dispute over who should follow him as sovereign, contemporary scholars then construed that the succession (senso) was received by a younger brother, the 4th son of former-Emperor Toba. Shortly after that, Emperor Go-Shirakawa is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).

When Go-Shirakawa ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, a new phase of this multi-faceted power struggle began to unfold. A bitter dispute between two of Toba's sons was paralleled by divisions within the several kuge families and others. Toba had forced one of his sons to abdicate in favor of the son of another consort; and after 1142, former Emperor Sutoku harbored the expectation that his son would follow Emperor Konoe on the throne. Sutoku's hopes were frustrated by the elevation of another brother who would become known as Go-Shirakawa.

  • July 20, 1156 (Hōgen 1, 2nd day of the 7th month)<!-- 保元一年七月二日 -->: The former-Emperor Toba died at the age of 54.

After the death of the Toba, forces loyal to reigning Emperor Go-Shirakawa and the forces supporting retired former Emperor Sutoku disputed the accession of Go-Shirakawa and his continued possession of the throne.

  • July 28, 1156 (Hōgen 1, 10th day of the 7th month)<!-- 保元一年七月十日 -->: Both forces faced each other in Kyōto. On the Sutoku side, Minamoto no Tametomo (son of Minamoto no Tameyoshi and younger brother of Yoshitomo) suggested a night attack on an enemy palace, but Fujiwara no Yorinaga rejected this strategy. Meanwhile, their enemy Minamoto no Yoshitomo suggested the same, and followed through on it.

Legacy

The outcome of the Hōgen Rebellion and the rivalry established between the Minamoto and Taira clans led to the Heiji Rebellion in 1159.

The Kamakura period epic Tale of the Disturbance in Hōgen is about the exploits of the samurai who participated in the Hōgen Rebellion.

See also

  • Ōba Kagechika
  • Matsuyama tengu

Notes

References

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  • Keene, Donald. (1999). Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century. New York: Columbia University Press. ; OCLC 246429887
  • Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida. (1975). The Tale of the Heike. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. OCLC 262297615
  • Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
  • Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
  • Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. ; OCLC 59145842