What’s the best way to exterminate a clan?
Write down their destruction in a history book that will be read for a thousand years.
The Battle of Dan-no-ura (壇ノ浦) is popularly called the last battle of the Genpei War.
The Taira had retreated to a base in the Shimonoseki Straits.
Dan-no-ura was a beach area there, and the site of a sea battle between the Taira and
Minamoto clans.
Now you normally didn’t want to fight a sea battle with the Taira.
They were the masters of the sea.
The Minamoto had spent the entire war avoiding sea battles, but this time Minamoto no Yoshitsune
decided to attack them head-on in the waters.
Why?
Well the Minamoto had been winning so many battles that people couldn’t help but jump
on the Minamoto band-palanquin.
The people around those parts...they were simple men.
They see a winner, they provide winner with men and ships.
Just like when you see a good video, you provide that video with likes and comments.
You provide that video with likes and comments.
Yoshitsune found himself in command of the largest navy in the country.
We don’t know the exact number but he had around 700 to 840 ships
while the Taira probably had around 500.
We do know that Yoshitsune was confident enough in his numbers to row straight into the Taira’s
home turf and punch them in the faceplate.
Many of the details of the Battle of Dan-no-ura come from the Heike monogatari.
It’s historical fiction, so we don’t know what is real and what is really creative,
but we do know it was an important event.
This battle spawned more legends and stories than Sailor Moon spawned naughty fanfics.
Knowing that an attack was rowing their way, the Taira readied their ships.
They put the Imperial regalia and Emperor Antoku on a simple boat.
The Imperial regalia was the three symbols of the emperor’s divinity.
Emperor Antoku was a six-year-old.
They also made a flagship that was decorated and had banners and really looked like the
emperor was on it.
Strategy.
Taira no Munemori was the inept head of the Taira clan, but the commander of the fleet
was another guy, which was good because it meant they at least had a chance.
They did have more experience in the rough waters of the strait.
And if they won this battle, they could turn the whole war around.
But when Yoshitsune’s navy got there, the Taira commander got a bad case of ship envy.
Still he persisted.
When the tide flowed east against Yoshitsune, the Taira attacked, hoping to poke through
enemy lines before the tide turned.
By the way, about the ships of these two navies.
Ship is a generous word.
It’s like saying you’re having dinner but it’s Hot Pockets,
or god forbid Lean Pockets.
Their ships were mostly small boats that were little more than wooden floaties for samurai
to make sure they didn’t fall into the bad water.
They didn’t have advanced ship weapons like cannons or Gundams yet, so fighting on the
high seas meant either shooting arrows or boarding enemy ships.
You can see how the Minamoto’s skill with the horse was useless here.
The battle started with both sides lobbing arrows at each other,
and soon devolved into a free-for-all.
Taira and Minamoto boats mingled in a water dance of death.
This part of the story in the Heike monogatari is like a turkey,
a turkey stuffed full of
stories of samurai badassery that you devour alongside a mound of mashed awesomeness
slathered with blood gravy.
Take the case of a samurai called Taira no Noritsune (平教経) who fought his way onto
Yoshitsune’s boat.
He was so savage in hacking his way towards Yoshitsune that Yoshitsune was like
“I can’t deal with this right now”
and jumped 20 feet onto another boat to escape.
The Minamoto warriors surrounded Noritsune but he kicked one overboard.
And then this god among men grabbed two samurai, one under each arm, and jumped into the water,
killing himself but taking two enemies to the bottom of the sea with him.
The battle raged until the tide turned, literally, pushing the Taira fleet back.
It spelled trouble for the Taira, and they were already outnumbered.
Not only that, one of the Taira generals decided this was the perfect time for some treachery.
His name was Taguchi Shigeyoshi (田口重能) and he was a traitor.
He turned his men against the Taira lords that they had just been fighting for.
You see, earlier in the war, Shigeyoshi’s son had already surrendered and wrote a letter
to his father telling him to betray the Taira.
Funny thing was, the inept Taira leader Munemori was already warned by his fleet commander,
who was suspicious of Shigeyoshi.
The inept Taira leader Munemori refused to kill Shigeyoshi and instead allowed his men
to join the battle.
Not only did the traitor defect, he revealed which ship Emperor Antoku was actually on.
Yoshitsune was like, “Oof, strategy”
and told his men to stop attacking the decoy flagship
and attack Emperor Antoku’s boat instead.
It really looked like all hope was lost for the Taira.
It looked that way because it was that way.
The emperor’s grandmother was on the boat with him.
What do you do if you thought you were going to lose but you don’t want the emperor or
the Imperial regalia to fall into enemy hands?
Grandma grabbed two of the Imperial regalia, the jewel and the sword.
She also grabbed the six-year-old Emperor Antoku, and jumped into the sea,
drowning herself and her grandson.
Another Taira lady was right behind her
with a box that held the third piece of the Imperial regalia, the sacred mirror.
She was about to take a swim herself but a pesky life-saving arrow stuck her robe to
the side of the boat.
A few curious Minamoto samurai opened the box she was holding.
Suddenly, their eyes turned black and their noses spewed blood.
Someone said, “Stop! That is the sacred mirror not meant for impure eyes to gaze upon.”
No one else looked inside.
According to the Heike monogatari, the jewel was found later in the water,
but the sword was lost forever.
If that’s true, then the current sword is a replica, if it even exists.
Suicide by drowning became all the rage on the Taira side.
A bunch of the top Taira lords not only jumped into the sea,
they tied anchors to their bodies to make sure they drowned.
You can’t top that, right?
Well, the fleet commander Taira no Tomomori (平知盛) said “Hold my honor”
and not only tied an anchor to himself, he also wore a second heavy suit of armor
to make extra sure he drowned.
It would have been embarrassing if he had floated back up, you see.
Death resolves all embarrassment.
Inept Taira leader Munemori stayed on his ship taking his time, contemplating the merits
of suicide and would it really solve anything?
On the one hand, he would die with honor.
On the other hand, breathing water was unpleasant.
His internal debate was interrupted when a few soldiers ran past
and knocked him into the water.
His son jumped in with him.
They didn’t die though, a Minamoto samurai fished them up after a while,
but the inept Taira leader Munemori was later executed.
The mass self-drownings spawned a local legend about crabs.
There are crabs around the area that people call Heike crabs.
Their shells kind of look like faces of dead samurai.
Here, you can sort of see it if you look at this part of the shell
and then drink a couple of beers.
They say the spirits of dead Taira samurai inhabit these crabs.
The Battle of Dan-no-ura destroyed the Taira clan.
Yoshitsune, the commander on the Minamoto side, became a legend.
Too bad for him, because his brother Yoritomo, the leader of the Minamoto clan,
didn’t like competition.
Hey if you haven’t watched the other Genpei War videos, what the heck are you doing,
check them out here.
Alright we have a new emperor this week, David Lee Fish, thanks so much David!
Also the new patrons are Joshua Murchie and Zorathenne who sounds like an elf?
Thanks you guys, I appreciate it.
Alright much love to you, and spread the knowledge.