If you had a chance to create a state ruled by you, would you do it?
Taira no Masakado did, right inside Japan.
Up until this point, Masakado had been fighting a personal war, a war against his family,
mainly his uncle Yoshikane (who died) and his cousin Sadamori (who hadn’t died but
was still a loser).
The personal war was about to become national.
It all started when Masakado’s friend decided to go around Hitachi province robbing people,
stealing food, evading taxes, you know, overall being a good provider for the wife and kids.
The assistant governor to Hitachi province didn’t appreciate his devotion to his family,
and got a warrant for his arrest.
Masakado found some allies and amassed an army of more than a thousand, then marched
into Hitachi Province.
Masakado said he only wanted to fight the warrant and demand that the court let his
friend off the hook.
That’s what he said, but was that his main purpose?
Or did he have more invade-y intentions?
We don’t know.
It could be that the purpose of his large army was only to discourage others from attacking.
Cousin Sadamori was living in Hitachi Province at the time and blocked Masakado’s way with
a government army three times bigger than his own.
Then Cousin Sadamori the loser proceeded to lose the battle.
Masakado’s men then seized the government headquarters of Hitachi Province.
His men went all mob-crazy and robbed and burned the place, and did what men did to
women in war.
They didn’t touch the factory that made the Hitachi mgic wand massager though, that’s
a national treasure.
This was probably when Masakado said, “Oops.”
He just took over a government building and massacre’d government officials.
There was no way he’d get invited to the emperor’s poetry jams now.
He became an enemy of the state.
Now Masakado had a choice.
He could turn himself in like a good citizen, or he could f--k s--t up.
He chose the latter.
Thank gods, otherwise this would’ve been a short video.
He regrouped his army and marched to the headquarters of nearby Shimotsuke Province.
Now Shimotsuke Province had an army and a governor.
This governor was there to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and he was all out of the motivation
to kick ass so he just stood there chewing bubblegum as Masakado took over the provincial
headquarters without resistance.
He sent the government officials and their families back to the capital of Kyoto, with
some of his men as escort.
Those deported did not have a nice time of it.
They cried as they walked the snowy road back to Kyoto.
Women and children used to the cozy indoor life were forced to brave the difficulties
of sunlight and dirt in their nails.
Masakado then marched to Kozuke Province and did the same thing, taking over the headquarters
and sending the officials off on their own Trail of Privileged Tears.
He probably expected the Japanese court to send an army after him, and thought controlling
a bunch of provinces was his best way of winning.
After this, governors of the nearby provinces got pissed off, prepared their armies, then
abandoned their offices and ran back to the capital.
And so Taira no Masakado and his band of merry warriors gained control of all of the provinces
in the Kanto region,
and a legend was born.
He even called himself the New Emperor.
Now the Kanto region is a pretty significant area.
It was the stage for a lot of major events in Japanese history, and it was where the
Taira and Minamoto clans made names for themselves.
Masakado’s Rebellion gained a lot of support from the people of the Kanto.
Many saw it as a war of the people against the government.
At the time, the people of the Kanto felt oppressed and exploited.
Why?
Well, Japan was going through some big changes.
Local lords began to hire warriors for protection and tax collection, and pretty soon warrior
gangs started popping up saying, “Hey choose us for your violence needs.”
Warriors liked to rally behind strongmen.
When the Taira clan came to the Kanto, they were rock stars because they came from royal
blood, they descended from Emperor Kanmu.
So they were able to win the hearts and horses of a lot of warriors.
The Taira became so strong that they were able to collect taxes for the provincial government,
and of course take a little off the top for themselves when no one was looking.
The Kanto peasants and local landowners were being squeezed by taxes and felt exploited
by the government.
That’s why when Masakado kicked out the governors and government officials, the people
of the Kanto cheered him on.
The irony was that Masakado didn’t really want his rebellion to overthrow the Japanese
state.
Sure, he called himself the new emperor and explained it by saying he had royal blood,
so dude was full of himself.
But he always denied being treasonous.
His goal was to make the Kanto a mini state under his control, but it would have been
a state subservient to the larger Japanese state, like a vassal state.
The Japanese court and the emperor did not see it that way.
They were furious.
And the emperor, to show he was serious, the emperor immediately
got down on his knees
and prayed for Masakado’s death.
He told the monks at the big Buddhist temples to do the same.
That’ll show him.
Just to make sure though, they sent an army after him.
The court also did something that they would do throughout the Heian Period.
They appointed some of Masakado’s enemies with government offices, and basically put
out a Wanted ad for his head, or a Fiverr order for you youngins.
That’s right, any freelance murderer or warlord with a good attitude and strong work
ethic who killed Masakado would be rewarded land and government titles.
The court would use this little divide-and-conquer strategy over and over again.
It was part of the reason the Heian court was able to control the rising warrior class.
If one warrior was causing trouble, get other warriors to go after him with promises of
land and prestige.
Get the warriors to fight each other.
It worked.
Masakado was being chased all around the Kanto region, his army dwindling as time went on.
His cousin Sadamori and another guy named Fujiwara no Hidesato were among the chasers
in this game of bow-and-arrow tag.
One day, Masakado, tired and not-yet-expired, decided to make one last stand against the
armies of Cousin Sadamori and Other Guy Hidesato.
It was Masakado’s 400 men against a few thousand.
At first, the gods were smiling upon him.
The wind was fierce and was at his back.
That was good because it carried his arrows further and apparently the enemy had a hard
time holding their shields straight.
The historical accounts say the enemy troops were like those guys in the street corners
waving those signs about.
Masakado used the advantage like the boss that he was and forced 3000 enemy soldiers
to run.
And then the wind changed direction and the battle flipped.
A small arrow ended Masakado’s large ambitions, possibly an arrow from Cousin Sadamori.
Fujiwara no Hidesato cut off his head and carried it to the capital, where they put
it up for display like some dragon’s used toothpick.
It was the end of Taira no Masakado, but the beginning of weird stories about him.
Rumors spread that his head didn’t decompose, that it would call out in the night, that
it flew from the capital of Kyoto to a small village that would someday become Edo, or
modern day Tokyo.
He became a folk hero, someone who fought against a corrupt government.
Masakado was the first major samurai leader, and others would follow as a warrior class
arose in Japan to f--k s--t up for everyone.
Alright today’s quiz question is this.
Why are you so awesome?
Just kidding, it’s
In the Battle of Okinawa, the Himeyuri students initially went to a
field hospital.
What town was it in?
You have 24 hours before I randomly choose a winner.
Winner gets one of these.
The last winner was Ree Taylor.
Good luck!
This week’s new patrons are AuthorEASetser, Judith Jade sounds like a superhero name,
Elizabeth Calvert, and John Atkinson.
Thank you so much you guys.
Alright much love and spread the knowledge!