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The Heiji Rebellion was fought between rival subjects of the cloistered
emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan in 1159. It was preceded by and a result of
the Hogen Rebellion in 1156.
Minamoto no Yoshitomo and Fujiwara no Nobuyori placed Go-Shirakawa under
house arrest and killed his retainer, the scholar Fujiwara no Michinori.
However, Taira no Kiyomori defeated Yoshitomo and killed his two eldest
sons, killed Nobuyori, and released Go-Shirakawa. Yoshitomo was eventually
betrayed and killed by a retainer while escaping from Kyoto in Owari.
Afterwards, Taira no Kiyomori banished Yoshitomo's son Minamoto no
Yoritomo, seized the Minamoto wealth and land, and eventually formed the
first samurai dominated government, led by the Taira, in the history of
Japan.
The Kamakura period epic Tale of Heiji is about the exploits of the
samurai that participated in the Heiji Rebellion. Together with the Tale of
Hogen and the Tale of Heike, they describe the rise and fall of the Minamoto
and Taira samurai clans.
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