Among the Minamoto, friction arises between Kiso no Yoshinaka and Minamoto no Yoritomo. Yoritomo prepares an attacking force to destroy Yoshinaka. In order to prove that he means no harm, Yoshinaka sends the heirless Yoritomo his 11 year old son, Shimizu no Kanja, as husband to Yoritomo's daughter (and effective hostage).
Yoshinaka and the Minamoto dominate much of eastern Japan and plan to march on the capitol against the Taira. In response, the Taira send one hundred thousand warriors north to defeat Yoshinaka. The men supporting the Taira are primarily from the provinces to the south and the west. These warriors pillage villages along the way, forcing commoners to flee into the wild.
The Taira forces continue to march northward led by commanders in chief, Koremori and Michimori. The Taira deputies Tsunemasa, Tadanori, Tomonori, and Kiyofusa pause along the way to take a side trip to an island called Chikubushima, in Lake Biwa. Chikubishima is home to a shrine dedicated to Benzaiten, the patron deity of the Taira as well as music.
Taira no Tsunemasa - especially gifted at music - prays at the shrine and plays the Biwa. The deity appears in the form of a white dragon, which the Taira interpret as a felicitous sign.
Yoshinaka has a fort built at Hiuchi in Echizen province. It is surrounded by mountains and facing a man-made lake. The lake was artificial and very shallow, but was intended to trick attackers into thinking it was too deep and wide to cross. However, Saimei betrays the Minamoto by sending a whistling arrow into the Taira camp informing them that the lake is just a dammed mountain torrent.
The Taira score an easy victory after this discovery. They proceed to cross the river and destroy the fort. Yoshinaka dispatches a counter-attack of 50,000 in seven corps to attack at Haniū[pi.
Yoshinaka considers the numerical advantage of the Taira compared to his own forces. To convince them that his force is larger than it is,he positions a large number of standard-bearers ahead to make the Taira think they are the vanguard of a much larger force. Yoshinaka then plans a night attack on the Taira troops as they camp in the mountains. Just as expected, the Taira dismounted at a spot called Saru-no-baba, on Mount Tonami, and make camp.
Before going into battle, Yoshinaka notices a shrine in the distance and learns it is dedicated to Hachiman, the Minamoto tutelary deity. He then summons his secretary, Kakumei, a man well versed in letters and war, to write a formal prayer. After composing the prayer, which the deity receives favorably, and Yoshinaka is encouraged.
Yoshinaka engages the Taira at a distance during the day, buying time until nightfall, when he attacks. As he predicts, the Taira falter ; nearly 68,000 men are routed into the Kurikara ravine. This is a major victory for Yoshinaka and a crippling loss for the Taira. After the victory, Yoshinaka moves on to reinforce Yukiie at Shiho. The Taira face defeat here as well. Tomonori, and many other Taira die in this battle.
The victorious Yoshinaka makes donations to shrines. A group of Taira supporters who had grown up among the Minamoto, including Sanemori, idly contemplates switching sides, but declare their intention to support the Taira, even though it will undoubtedly mean their deaths. A battle ensues at Shinohara, in which the Minamoto gradually gain the upper hand. With the death of the Taira leader Arikuni, the remaining Taira troops begin to flee.
The aged warrior Saitō Bettō Sanemori resolves to fight to the end. He does not reveal his name or his age when he is engaged by Tezuka no Taro Mitsumori, who, with the help of two of his men, eventually kills Sanemori and takes his head to Yoshinaka. Since Sanemori had hidden his identity, it only is revealed when the head is washed and the dye washes out of his hair, revealing that it is grey. Everyone weeps at his valor and the pity of losing so good a man. Yoshinaka's army presses on towards the capital.
This episode opens with the plans of Emperor Antoku to make a pilgrimage to Ise Shrine after the disturbance settles: this of course never happens. The episode then digresses from the main narrative to give the history of the Ise Shrine, told in part through the story of the prelate Genbō. The deity worshiped at Ise is Amaterasu, the divine progenitor of the imperial family. She was enshrined there in the mythical past by legendary Emperor Suinin. In the historical past (740), Fujiwara no Hirotsugi raised a rebellion that was quelled. After his death, his spirit killed the prelate Genbō, who had performed rites on behalf of the realm for Hirotsugi's defeat. Spirit mischief by Hirotsugi continued, resulting in Hirotsugi being recognized at the Ise Shrine. We also learn that the practice of appointing princesses to serve as Ise High Priestesses, as well as the Yawata special festival, resulted from a need to pray for the suppression of later rebellions.
Yoshinaka plans on entering Kyoto with his forces with hopes to persuade the Mt. Hiei monks to become his allies. Yoshinaka’s scribe, Kakumei, suggests writing a letter to the monks to see where their loyalties lie. Yoshinaka has Kakumei write a letter summarizing the evil deeds of the Taira and asking for the monks of Enryakuji to support him in vanquishing the Taira.
The Enryakuji monks receive Yoshinaka’s letter and debate their response, but eventually decide to support him.
Having burned Kōfukuji and Miidera (end of Books 4 and 5), the Taira have only Mt. Hiei to turn to for support from the religious establishment. They now ask the Enryakuji monks for assistance, but it’s of course too late, since Enryakuji has promised support to Yoshinaka.
The remainder of Book 7 describes the Taira flight form the capital, including individual stories of figures important for the tale. Shigesada warns the Taira of Yoshinaka's approach. The Taira at first move to protect the city's eastern border, but then decide to abandon the capital. Go-Shirakawa sneaks away so that he will not be forced to join them. Emperor Antoku, with a proper escort, leaves the capital with his mother, bringing with him the sacred regalia.
The Taira burnt the capital. Munemori lets three of his guard without close ties to the Taira return to their homes in the eastern provinces. They wish to stay with the Taira, but Munemori releases them, and they shed tears as they leave the capital.
Tadanori, Kiyomori's younger brother and a famed poet, stops to bid farewell to his poetry tutor, Shunzei, as he departs. He leaves a scroll of poems with Shunzei, hoping that some of them will be included in the imperial anthology that Shunzei has been ordered to compile. After the war is over, we learn, Shunzei included one, “Blossoms in the Old Capital,” in the Senzaishu anthology, but felt compelled to not include the name of the poet since Tadanori's family was still under censure at that time.
Tsunemasa, Kiyomori's nephew, takes final leave of the prince-abbot of Ninnaji whom he had served as a page in his youth. He returns to the Abbot the biwa called Seizan, which he doesn't want to risk in the wilds to which he flees. They Abbot and the priest Gyōkei both exchange farewell poems with Tsunemasa, and Gyōkei sees him to the Katsura River, where he rejoins the rest of the Taira.
This episode tells the origin story of the Biwa Seizan. Seizan was one of three biwas first given to by the Chinese master Lian Chengwu as a gift when Fujiwara no Sadatoshi travelled to Tang China. One of the three was lost on the crossing back to Japan, but the other two, Seizan and Genjō, were given to the emperor. Generations later, Emperor Murakami was playing Genjō when the ghost of Lian appeared and taught him secret pieces on Seizan. After this happened no one dared to touch the Seizan untill it was given to Tsunemasa.
Most of the Taira leave the capital, but Yorimori stays and changes his allegiance to Minamoto. The rest of the Taira head west towards Fukuhara. Enroute, they encounter Sadayoshi, returning from his successful campaign in the west. He urges them to make a last stand in the capital, but they continue to retreat. He returns to the capital, unearths the remains of Shigemori and has them sent to Mt. Kōya, then fled to the east.
The Taira flee to Fukuhara and spend a night here. Munemori makes a speech to unite the people and they look upon the palace that Kiyomori has built. The next day, they burn down the palace and flee away on boats. At this time, the Taira has vanished from the capital.