Minamoto clan


Minamoto was a noble surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility since 814. Several noble lines were bestowed the surname, the most notable of which was the Seiwa Genji, whose descendants established the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates following the Heian era. The Minamoto was one of the four great clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period in Japanese history—the other three were the Fujiwara, the Taira, and the Tachibana.
In the late Heian period, Minamoto rivalry with the Taira culminated in the Genpei War. The Minamoto emerged victorious and established Japan's first shogunate in Kamakura under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself as shōgun in 1192, ushering in the Kamakura period of Japanese history. The name "Genpei" comes from alternate readings of the kanji "Minamoto" and "Taira".
The Kamakura Shogunate was overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo in the Kenmu Restoration of 1333. Three years later the Kenmu government would then itself be overthrown by the Ashikaga clan, descendants of the Seiwa Genji who established the Ashikaga shogunate.
The Minamoto clan is also called the Genji, or less frequently, the Genke, using the on'yomi readings of gen for "Minamoto", while shi or ji means "clan", and ke is used as a suffix for "extended family".

History

The Emperors of Japan bestowed noble surnames upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility. In May 814, the first emperor to grant the surname "Minamoto" was Emperor Saga, to his seventh son—Minamoto no Makoto, in Heian-Kyō. The practice was most prevalent during the Heian period, although its last occurrence was during the Sengoku period. The Taira were another such offshoot of the imperial dynasty, making both clans distant relatives. File:Seiryoji0332.jpg|thumb|Seiryō-ji, a temple in Kyoto, was once a villa of Minamoto no Tōru, a prominent member of the Saga Genji|leftThe most prominent of the several Minamoto families, the Seiwa Genji, descended from Minamoto no Tsunemoto, a grandson of Emperor Seiwa. Tsunemoto went to the provinces and became the founder of a major warrior dynasty. Minamoto no Mitsunaka formed an alliance with the Fujiwara. Thereafter the Fujiwara frequently called upon the Minamoto to restore order in the capital, Heian-Kyō.Mitsunaka's eldest son, Minamoto no Yorimitsu, became the protégé of Fujiwara no Michinaga; another son, Minamoto no Yorinobu suppressed the rebellion of Taira no Tadatsune in 1032. Yorinobu's son, Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, and grandson, Minamoto no Yoshiie, pacified most of northeastern Japan between 1051 and 1087.
The Seiwa Genji's fortunes declined in the Hōgen Rebellion, when the Taira executed most of the line, including Minamoto no Tameyoshi. During the Heiji Disturbance, the head of the Seiwa Genji, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, died in battle. Taira no Kiyomori seized power in Kyoto by forging an alliance with the retired emperors Go-Shirakawa and Toba and infiltrating the kuge. He sent Minamoto no Yoritomo, the third son of Minamoto no Yoshimoto of the Seiwa Genji, into exile. In 1180, during the Genpei War, Yoritomo mounted a full-scale rebellion against the Taira rule, culminating in the destruction of the Taira and the subjugation of eastern Japan within five years. In 1192, he received the title shōgun and set up the first bakufu in the history of Japan at Kamakura—Kamakura shogunate.
The later Ashikaga, Nitta, Takeda, and Tokugawa clans claim descents from the Minamoto clan.
The protagonist of the classical Japanese novel The Tale of Genji —Hikaru Genji, was bestowed the name Minamoto for political reasons by his father the emperor and was delegated to civilian life and a career as an imperial officer.
The Genpei War is also the subject of the early Japanese epic The Tale of the Heike.

Members of the Minamoto clan (Genji clan)

Even within royalty there was a distinction between princes with the title, who could ascend to the throne, and princes with the title, who were not members of the line of imperial succession but nevertheless remained members of the royal class. The bestowing of the Minamoto name on a prince or his descendants excluded them from the royal class altogether, thereby operating as a reduction in legal and social rank even for ō-princes not previously in the line of succession.
File:Old silver coin with family crest of Minamoto clan, Edo period.png|left|thumb|291x291px|Old silver coin with mon of the Minamoto clan, found in Edo period
Many later clans were formed by members of the Minamoto clan, and in many early cases, progenitors of these clans are known by either family name. There are also known monks of Minamoto descent; these are often noted in genealogies but did not carry the clan name.
File:Kabuto attached with family crest of Minamoto clan 源氏家紋の笹竜胆付ける兜.jpg|thumb|Kabuto attached with Mon of Minamoto clan
The Minamoto is the ancestor and parent clan of many notable descendant clans, some of which are Ashikaga, Tokugawa, Matsudaira, Nitta, Takeda, Shimazu, Sasaki, Akamatsu, Kitabatake, Tada, Ota, Toki, Yamana, Satomi, Hosokawa, Satake, Yamamoto, Hemi, Ogasawara, Yasuda, Takenouchi, Hiraga, Imagawa, Miyake, etc.
There were 21 branches of the clan, each named after the emperor from whom it descended. Some of these lineages were populous, but a few did not produce descendants.

Saga Genji

The Saga Genji are descendants of Emperor Saga. As Saga had many children, many were bestowed the uji Minamoto, declassing them from imperial succession. Among his sons, Makoto, Tokiwa, and Tōru took the position of Minister of the Left ; they were among the most powerful in the Imperial Court in the early Heian period. Some of Tōru's descendants in particular settled the provinces and formed buke. Clans such as the Watanabe, Matsuura, and Kamachi descend from the Saga Genji.File:Murasaki-Shikibu-composing-Genji-Monogatari.png|thumb|279x279px|Murasaki Shikibu composing Genji Monogatari
Noted Saga Genji and descendants include:
  • Minamoto no Makoto, seventh son of the Emperor
  • Minamoto no Hiromu, eighth son of the Emperor
  • * Minamoto no Hitoshi, grandson of Hiromu
  • Minamoto no Tokiwa, son of the Emperor
  • * Minamoto no Okoru, first son of Tokiwa
  • Minamoto no Sadamu, son of the Emperor
  • * Minamoto no Shitagō, great-grandson of Sadamu
  • Minamoto no Hiroshi, son of the Emperor
  • Minamoto no Tōru, son of the EmperorFile:Minamoto no Yoritomo.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1179, by Fujiwara no Takanobu|left
  • * Minamoto no Anbō, great-grandson of Tōru
  • * Watanabe no Tsuna, great-great-grandson of Tōru
  • ** Matsuura Hisashi, great-grandson of Tsuna
  • * Minamoto no Koreshige, grandson of Tōru
  • ** Minamoto no Mitsusue, great-great-grandson of Koreshige
  • Minamoto no Tsutomu, son of the Emperor
  • Minamoto no Hiraku, son of the Emperor
History records indicate that at least three of Emperor Saga's daughters were also made Minamoto, but few records concerning his daughters are known.

Ninmyō Genji

They were descendants of Emperor Ninmyō. His sons Minamoto no Masaru and Minamoto no Hikaru were udaijin. Among Hikaru's descendants was Minamoto no Atsushi, adoptive father of the Saga Genji's Watanabe no Tsuna and father of the Seiwa Genji's Minamoto no Mitsunaka's wife.

Montoku Genji

These were descendants of Emperor Montoku. Among them, Minamoto no Yoshiari was a sadaijin, and among his descendants were the Sakado clan who were Hokumen no Bushi.

Seiwa Genji

These were descendants of Emperor Seiwa. The most numerous of them were those descended from Minamoto no Tsunemoto, son of Prince Sadazumi. Hachimantarō Yoshiie of the Kawachi Genji was a leader of a buke. His descendants set up the Kamakura shogunate, making his a prestigious pedigree claimed by many buke, particularly for the direct descendants in the Ashikaga clan and the rival Nitta clan. Centuries later, Tokugawa Ieyasu would claim descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Nitta clan.

Yōzei Genji

These were descendants of Emperor Yōzei. While Minamoto no Tsunemoto is termed the ancestor of the Seiwa Genji, there is evidence suggesting that he was actually the grandson of Emperor Yōzei rather than of Emperor Seiwa. This theory is not widely accepted as fact, but as Yōzei was deposed for reprehensible behaviour, there would have been a compelling motive to claim descent from more auspicious origins if it were the case.

Kōkō Genji

These were descendants of Emperor Kōkō. The great-grandson of his firstborn Prince Koretada, Kōshō, was the ancestor of a line of busshi, from which various styles of Buddhist sculpture emerged. Kōshō's grandson Kakujo established the Shichijō Bussho workshop.

Uda Genji

These were descendants of Emperor Uda. Two sons of Prince Atsumi, Minamoto no Masanobu and Minamoto no Shigenobu became sadaijin. Masanobu's children in particular flourished, forming five dōjō houses as kuge, and as buke the Sasaki clan of the Ōmi Genji, and the Izumo Genji.

Daigo Genji

These were descendants of Emperor Daigo. His son Minamoto no Takaakira became a sadaijin, but his downfall came during the Anna incident. Takaakira's descendants include the Okamoto and Kawajiri clans. Daigo's grandson Minamoto no Hiromasa was a reputed musician.

Murakami Genji

These were descendants of Emperor Murakami. His grandson Morofusa was an udaijin and had many descendants, among them several houses of dōjō kuge. Until the Ashikaga clan took it during the Muromachi period, the title of Genji no Chōja always fell to one of Morofusa's progeny.
File:Painting of Minamoto no Sanetomo by Yashima Gakutei, 1825.jpg|thumb|220x220px|Painting of Minamoto no Sanetomo – Kamakura Udaijin