SANEMOTO: Gotō [byōe] Sanemoto, experienced Genji warrior serving under Yoshitsune [11:3–5, 11:8, 12:9; 11.1].
SANESADA (also read JITTEI or SHITTEI): Fujiwara no Sanesada (1139–1191), Tokudai-ji minister of the left. Sanesada is a nobleman with close connections to the imperial family and a model of courtly elegance. His progress up the hierarchy is slowed by the Heike dominance over official appointments. When disappointed, however, he shows more patience and political savvy than does Narichika, with whom he is explicitly contrasted. He remains with Retired Emperor GoShirakawa when the Heike flee the capital and later accompanies him to Ōhara [Initiates 3, 5; 1:12, 2:11, 3:4, 5:1, 5:2, 8:1, 8:11, 10:1, 10:15].
SAZUKU: warrior on Prince Mochihito’s side at the battle of Uji [4:11].
SECOND NUN: see Tokiko.
SEIWA, EMPEROR (850–880, r. 858–878): members of the “Seiwa Genji” traced their ancestry to Emperor Seiwa’s son Prince Sadasumi (Rokusonō), who was given the Genji name [11:3; 1:8, 1:16, 8:2].
SENJU-NO-MAE: entertainer sent to Shigehira by Yoritomo [10:7].
SHIGEHIRA (1156–1185): fourth son of Taira no Kiyomori, captain of the third rank, and leader in the Heike’s attacks on Uji and Nara. Captured at Ichi-no-tani, he is brought as a prisoner to Kamakura. Held responsible for the destruction of the Nara temples, Shigehira is later handed over to the monks for execution. The important role of Shigehira in many of the Taira’s military successes is played down in the Kakuichi version, which credits his victories at Sunomata (1181) and Mizushima (1184) to his older brother Tomomori [4:11, 5:14, 9:15, 10:5, 10:7; 1:15, 2:3, 3:3, 4:16, 5:12, 6:10, 6:12, 7:12, 7:13, 7:19, 8:9, 10:1–4, 10:6, 10:8, 10:11, 10:13, 10:15, 11:17, 11:19].
SHIGEKAGE: Yosōbyōe Shigekage, accompanies Koremori from Yashima and drowns with him [10:8, 10:10].
SHIGEMORI (1138–1179): eldest son of Taira no Kiyomori, “Lord Komatsu.” He is depicted as a virtuous minister who attempts to curb the excesses of the ruler but with only limited success. The narrative also contrasts Shigemori and his half brother Munemori, who is portrayed as much inferior. Shigemori suffers from poor health, dying in his early forties. Predicting that his father’s sins will lead to the decline of the Taira, he contributes to Buddhist temples in Japan and China. After Shigemori dies, his father’s behavior goes unchecked [1:5, 2:6, 2:7, 3:1, 10:10, 10:12, 12:9; 1:9, 1:11–13, 1:15, 1:16, 2:4, 2:5, 2:8, 2:10, 2:11, 2:16, 3:3, 3:4, 3:6, 3:11–15, 3:18, 4:6, 5:10, 6:10, 10:11, 10:14].
SHIGEYOSHI: Awa no Minbu Shigeyoshi, trusted vassal of the Heike from Awa in Shikoku Province. He comes to the aid of the Heike when they take refuge in Yashima but loses confidence in their cause after his son is captured by a clever Genji ruse. Although his change of heart is suspected on the eve of the battle of Dan-no-ura, no action is taken, and his betrayal weakens the Heike at a crucial point in the battle. According to some versions of the narrative, the Genji victors, far from rewarding Shigeyoshi, bring him to Kamakura as a prisoner. After debating whether to execute or pardon him, they put him to death for his treachery to his hereditary lords, burning him alive, according to the Enkyō variant [11:8; 6:8, 9:17, 10:14, 11:2, 11:6, 11:7, 11:11].
SHIMA-NO-SENZAI: with Waka-no-mai, the first shirabyōshi dancer [1:6].
SHINSEI: Fujiwara no Michinori (d. 1159), known as (lay) Priest Shinsei (or Shinzei) after taking the tonsure. A scholar in the service of Emperor GoShirakawa, Shinsei’s influence at court is resented by Nobuyori, one of the ringleaders of the Heiji rebellion (1159). After the attempted coup d’état, Shinsei flees the city but is captured and executed. He is one of the subjects of The Tales of Hōgen (Hōgen monogatari), an earlier war tale about the Hōgen rebellion (1156) [Initiates 3; 1:12, 1:13, 2:4, 3:15, 8:2, 8:11].
SHIRŌ OF KŌZUKE: Nifu no Shirō, Genji warrior from Kōzuke Province [11:5].
SHIRŌ OF MIONOYA: Mionoya no Shirō, Genji warrior from Musashi Province [11:5].
SHUNCHŌ: warrior on Prince Mochihito’s side at the battle of Uji [4:11; 4:10].
SHUNKAN: one of the main Shishi-no-tani conspirators and the Hosshō-ji administrator. Shunkan is banished to Kikai-ga-shima, where he refuses to join his fellow exiles in religious practices. He is left on the island after Kiyomori explicitly omits him from the pardon granted to Yasuyori and Naritsune. Shortly before his death, his servant Ariō brings him news of his wife and daughter. This episode inspired later works, including the nō play Shunkan and Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s puppet (later kabuki) play The Heike and the Isle of Women (Heike nyogo no shima) [2:10, 3:1, 3:2, 3:8, 3:9; 1:12, 1:13, 2:3, 2:15, 3:3, 3:6, 3:18].
SHUNKAN’S DAUGHTER [3:8, 3:9].
SHUNZEI (also read TOSHINARI): Fujiwara no Shunzei (1114–1204), major poet and critic, author of poetic treatises, and compiler of Senzaishū, the seventh imperial anthology of poetry [7:16].
SUESHIGE: Hirayama Mushadokoro no Sueshige, Genji warrior from Musashi Province [9:9; 9:2, 9:7, 9:10].
SUKEKANE: Anhōgan (or Anhangan) Sukekane, police commissioner. He is sent to arrest Koremori’s son Rokudai [12:9].
SUKEMORI: second son of Taira no Shigemori. He takes his own life at the battle of Dan-no-ura. An important episode in book one relates how he shows great discourtesy to the regent [1:11, 4:2, 7:12, 7:14, 7:19, 8:4, 9:8, 10:1, 10:13, 10:14, 11:10].
TADAKIYO (d. 1185): governor of Kazusa Province and samurai commander. He participates in the Heike attack at the battle of Uji and is held responsible for the failure of the Heike army to engage the Genji at Fuji River. According to the tale, he dies of grief after the death of his son Tadatsuna, but historical sources record that he survives the war and is executed in the capital [4:11; 5:11–13, 7:9].
TADAMITSU: Kazusa no Gorōbyōe Tadamitsu (d. 1192), elder brother of Akushichibyōe Kagekiyo and Heike vassal. He is active as samurai commander in all major campaigns and continues to resist the Genji after the battle of Dan-no-ura [4:11; 7:2, 8:9, 9:10, 10:14, 11:11, 12:9].
TADAMORI (1096–1153): son of Taira no Masamori and father of Kiyomori, Tsunemori, Norimori, Yorimori, and Tadanori. According to a story told in section 6:10, Kiyomori is not his son but Emperor Shirakawa’s. Although it is uncertain whether this is true, Emperor Shirakawa and his successor Toba are important to Tadamori’s advancement and to the Heike’s rising fortunes [1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 9:16; 1:5, 2:3, 4:8, 6:10].
TADANARI: superintendent of the Kangaku-in academy. He fails to calm the Kōfuku-ji monks’ anger [5:14].
TADANOBU: Satō Saburōbyōe Tadanobu (1161–1186), Genji warrior of Fujiwara descent from Ōshū Province (northern Japan), younger brother of Tsuginobu, and one of Minamoto no Yoshitsune’s closest retainers. According to the later legends, when Yoshitsune is pursued by Yoritomo’s men in the mountains of Yoshino, Tadanobu enables him to escape and then takes his own life. Tadanobu is featured in nō, jorūri, and kabuki plays [11:3, 11:5, 11:7; 9:7].
TADANORI (1144–1184): son of Taira no Tadamori, younger brother of Kiyomori, governor of Satsuma Province, attendant of Retired Emperor Toba, pupil of the poetry master Fujiwara no Shunzei, and deputy commander in chief of several military campaigns. Tadanori dies at the battle of Ichi-no-tani. His parting from Shunzei and his death in battle are the subject of the nō plays Tadanori and Shunzei Tadanori [1:3, 4:11, 7:16, 9:14; 4:16, 5:11, 5:13, 7:2, 7:4, 7:13, 7:19, 8:3, 9:18].
TADATSUNA (1): Ashikaga no Matatarō Tadatsuna, Heike warrior from Shimotsuke Province. His feat in fording the Uji River in 1180 is remembered by the Genji warriors when crossing the same river in 1184 [4:11, 9:2; 4:12].
TADATSUNA (2): Kazusa no Tarō Tadatsuna, Heike samurai commander and son of Tadakiyo, governor of Kazusa. His death in 1183 during the northern campaign against Yoshinaka is said to have caused his father to die of grief [4:11, 7:9; 7:2].
TADAYORI: Ichijō no Jirō Tadayori (d. 1184) of Kai Province, Genji leader. He is awarded Suruga Province by Yoritomo and leads the final attack on Yoshinaka but is later executed on Yoritomo’s orders [9:4; 5:12, 9:2, 9:5].
TADAZUM
I: Okabe no Rokuyata Tadazumi, Genji warrior of the eastern Inomata League. He takes Tadanori’s head at the battle of Ichi-no-tani. According to The Tales of Hōgen (Hōgen monogatari) and The Tales of Heiji (Heiji monogatari), he served Yoshitomo in the Hōgen and Heiji rebellions (1156, 1159) [9:14].
TAJIMA: warrior on Prince Mochihito’s side at the battle of Uji [4:11; 4:10].
TAKAFUSA (1148–1209): Reizei major counselor, Fujiwara courtier, and son-in-law of Taira no Kiyomori. He suffers from love for Kogō. His wife sends letters and provisions to Kenreimon’in in Ōhara. Takafusa was a political survivor, rising to high rank after the conflict. A noted poet, he contributed to several imperial anthologies. His personal poetry collection survives, as does a series of poems describing his love for an unnamed lady thought to be Kogō. Other episodes of his life are recorded in an illustrated scroll of short tales about courtiers of the period (Heike kindachi sōshi) [Initiates 2, 4; 1:5, 4:1, 4:2, 6:3, 6:4].
TAKAIE: Shō no Takaie, Genji warrior of the eastern Kodama League. He captures Shigehira at the battle of Ichi-no-tani. In the historical record, Takaie is credited with killing Taira no Tsunemasa at the battle of Ichi-no-tani [9:15; 9:7].
TAKAKURA, EMPEROR (1161–1181, r. 1168–1180): son of Emperor GoShirakawa, and father of Emperors Antoku and GoToba. He takes Kiyomori’s daughter Kenreimon’in as his consort. After being forced by Kiyomori to resign in favor of Antoku, he dies the following year. Despite reigning for the unusually long period of twelve years, Emperor Takakura could wield little influence in a court dominated by the rivalry between Kiyomori and GoShirakawa. The narrative describes his early death as having been brought on by successive shocks: Kiyomori’s treatment of his father, the rebellion of his half brother Prince Takakura (Mochihito), and the destruction of the Nara temples. Book six begins with a series of tales about his death, life, and character [1:5, 3:1, 5:14, 12:9; 1:10, 1:12, 1:16, 2:1, 3:15, 3:18, 3:19, 4:1–3, 4:6, 4:7, 4:13, 5:1, 5:11, 5:13, 6:1–5, 8:1, 10:4, 12:3].
TAKAKURA, PRINCE: see Mochihito, Prince.
TAKEHISA: Washio no Shōji Takehisa, hunter in the mountains behind Ichi-no-tani. His son Kumaō joins Yoshitsune’s men [9:9].
TAKESATO: retainer of Taira no Koremori. He is ordered by Koremori to report his death to his wife and children [10:8, 10:10; 10:13].
TAKIGUCHI, PRIEST (TAKIGUCHI NYŪDŌ): see Tokiyori.
TAMEHISA: Ishida no Jirō Tamehisa of Miura in Sagami Province, Genji warrior. His arrow kills Yoshinaka. His role in Yoshinaka’s death is confirmed by Mirror of the East (Azuma kagami), entry of 1184.1.20 [9:4].
TAMETOMO: eighth son of Minamoto no Tameyoshi and a famous archer. Exiled after the Hōgen rebellion (1156), Tametomo features prominently in The Tales of Hōgen (Hōgen monogatari) and in a historical romance by Takizawa Bakin (1767–1848) [11:5; 7:13].
TANBA LESSER CAPTAIN: see Naritsune.
TANKAI: see Fuhito.
TANZŌ: superintendent of the Kumano Shrine in Kii. He gives military support first to the Heike and then to the Genji. After Kiyomori’s death, rumors say that he has changed sides, but he is depicted as making his final decision only on the eve of the battle of Dan-no-ura, when he contributes “more than two hundred boats” to the Genji fleet. He later aids Yoritomo by attacking pockets of Heike resistance. Historical sources show that he changed sides at the outset of the war, in the Eighth Month of 1180 when Yoritomo began his revolt. Descended from nobleman Fujiwara no Morosuke (908–960), Tanzō’s family had served as shrine administrators for generations [6:7, 11:7; 4:3, 4:4, 12:9].
TASHIRO NO KANJA: see Nobutsuna.
TEZUKA NO BETTŌ: retainer of Kiso no Yoshinaka. One Heike variant identifies him as Mitsumori’s nephew [7:8].
TEZUKA TARŌ: see Mitsumori.
THIRD-RANK LADY OF ECHIZEN: see Kozaishō.
TOBA, EMPEROR (1103–1156, r. 1107–1123): son of Emperor Horikawa and father of Emperors Sutoku, Konoe, and GoShirakawa. Retired emperor for twenty-eight years, his death precipitated the Hōgen rebellion. Emperor Toba was the patron of Tadamori [1:2, 2:6, 9:16; 1:3, 1:6–8, 1:13, 1:14, 2:1, 3:5, 3:15, 4:8, 4:10, 6:10, 6:12, 8:2].
TOI (NO JIRŌ): see Sanehira.
TOJI: shirabyōshi dancer and mother of Giō and Ginyo [1:6].
TŌJICHI OF MIONOYA: Mionoya no Tōjichi, Genji warrior from Musashi Province [11:5].
TOKIKO (d. 1185): Nun of the Second Rank (Nii no ama, Niidono) and wife of Taira no Kiyomori. Kiyomori marries her in 1142 or earlier, after the death of his first wife, Shigemori’s mother. Tokiko bears him numerous children, including Munemori, Tomomori, Shigehira, and Tokuko (Kenreimon’in). She is unsuccessful in her attempts to obtain Shigehira’s release from captivity. She drowns herself at Dan-no-ura with her grandchild, the former emperor Antoku. Tokiko’s siblings were closely connected with the imperial family and the Taira. Her brother Tokitada was an influential adviser to the Taira. One sister became Emperor GoShirakawa’s consort and the mother of the future sovereign Takakura. Two others married Kiyomori’s sons Shigemori and Munemori. Tokiko took religious orders in 1168, following Kiyomori’s death. She was awarded the second rank (nii) after her daughter Kenreimon’in became Emperor Takakura’s consort [6:7, 11:9, Initiates 1, 4; 3:3, 4:3, 7:19, 8:1, 10:4, 10:6, 10:9, 10:13, 11:1, 11:2].
TOKITADA: Major Counselor Taira no Tokitada (1127–1189). Although Tokitada is only distantly related to Kiyomori, on a separate branch of the Heike family, he becomes one of his most trusted advisers through Kiyomori’s marriage to his younger sister Tokiko (later the Nun of the Second Rank) but is banished to Noto Province after being captured at the battle of Dan-no-ura [11:10; 1:4, 1:10, 1:16, 3:4, 4:1, 5:1, 7:13, 7:19, 8:2, 8:4, 8:11, 10:3, 10:4, 11:11, 11:13, 11:15, 12:3].
TOKIYORI: Saitō Tokiyori, later Priest Takiguchi, samurai in Taira no Shigemori’s Komatsu mansion. After his father forbids him to marry the low-ranking Yokobue, he takes the tonsure. He settles on Mount Kōya, where Shigemori’s son Koremori comes to him for spiritual help [10:8, 10:12, 12:9; 10:9, 10:10].
TOKUKO: see Kenreimon’in.
TOMOE: “woman attendant” of Kiso no Yoshinaka from Shinano Province. Both mistress and valued warrior, she is among the last of Yoshinaka’s retainers to remain with him at the end. The Nagato variant depicts Tomoe in earlier battles, leading more than one thousand riders. She is described in the Genpei jōsuiki variant as the daughter of Kiso no Chūzō Kanetō, the man who adopted Yoshinaka after his own father died, making her the sister of Higuchi Kanemitsu and Imai no Kanehira and a foster sister of Yoshitsune, as well as his mistress. (The Genpei tōjōroku variant identifies Kanemitsu as her father.) Heike texts, later prose tales, and dramatic works give varying accounts of what happened to her later, often beginning with her flight to the Kantō region and marriage to the Kamakura general and politician Wada Yoshimori. Tomoe is also credited with giving birth to Yoshimori’s son, the famous strongman Asaina Yoshihide, although the chronology rules this out. She is also said to have died at the age of ninety-one as a nun, having taken religious vows after the Hōjō’s destruction of the Miura family [9:4].
TOMOKATA: Jirō Taifu Tomokata, “a minor overseer of the Fukui estate in Harima.” With the Taira army during its attack of the Nara temples, he lights the fire that begins the conflagration that destroys the Buddhist temples [5:14; 3:4].
TOMOMORI (1152–1185): second son of Taira no Kiyomori and Tokiko (Nun of the Second Rank) and “the new middle counselor.” Among his male relatives, Tomomori is depicted as the most experienced and reliable leader in battle, winning notable victories in book eight. He does not hesitate to voice uncomfortable truths, most memorably at the battle of Dan-no-ura, where he calmly accepts his fate—and his family’s—with the words “I have seen all I need to see” [1:5, 4:11, 11:7–9; 1:15, 2:3, 4:12, 5:13, 6:10, 7:4, 7:12, 7:13, 7:15, 8:4, 8:7, 8:11, 9:11, 9:17, 10:4, 10:11, 10:15, 11:1, 11:10, 11:11, 11:18, 12:9].
TOMOTOKI: Moku no [m]uma-no-jō Tomotoki, formerly in Shigehira’s service. He returns to aid
his former master in captivity, arranging for Shigehira to have a last meeting with a lover and preparing a statue of Amida for him to worship at his execution [10:5; 10:2, 11:19].
TSUGINOBU: Satō Saburōbyōe Tsuginobu (or Tsugunobu) (1158–1185), Genji warrior of Fujiwara descent from Ōshū Province (northern Japan), older brother of Tadanobu, and one of Minamoto no Yoshitsune’s closest retainers, mourned by him at his death in Yashima. On Yoshitsune’s departure from Hiraizumi, his protector Fujiwara no Hidehira assigns the two brothers to his service. In the Kakuichi version, Tsuginobu dies sorry only not to have seen his “lord gain his rightful place in the world,” a significant change from the earlier Yasaka variant, which stresses instead his wish to have seen once more his “aged mother left behind in Ōshū” [11:3; 9:7, 11:1].
TSUNEMORI: son of Taira no Tadamori, younger brother of Kiyomori, father of Atsumori, and master of the Palace Repair Office. He dies with his brother Norimori at the battle of Dan-no-ura. Little more than a name in the Kakuichi version, he is more prominent in the Genpei jōsuiki variant, where he receives keepsakes of his son from Naozane, a theme taken up by nō playwrights [9:16, 11:10; 7:12, 7:19, 8:3, 9:17].
UBUKATA NO JIRŌ: Taira warrior at the battle of Uji [4:11].
WAKA-NO-MAI: shirabyōshi dancer [1:6].
WATANABE LEAGUE (WATANABE-TŌ): an association of locally based warriors (bushidan) based at the seaport of Watanabe in Settsu Province (present-day Osaka city). The league traced its origins through the famous samurai Watanabe Tsuna through Minamoto Tōru to Emperor Saga, and it had close links to the Genji from the time of Minamoto no Mitsunaka (d. 997) and his son Yorimitsu or Raikō (d. 1021). Many of its members fought at the battle of Uji. Their personal names are typically written with a single character like Kiō, Tonō, and Mitsuru [4:12, 11:10; 4:6].
The Tales of the Heike Page 21