Name: Minamoto no Yorimasa (源 赖政)
Birth/ Death: (1104-1180)
Appearance: Book 1 Episode 11, 15; Book 4 Episode 3-6, 10-12, 14, 15; Book 5 Episode 9; Book 7 Episode 10; Book 11 Episode 19
Bio:
Had a great influence on the Heike family and his own sons&subordinates. He is also a poet.
Drew Prince Mochihito into a failed rebellion against the Heike at the age of 76, died in the last battle of the rebellion.
Palace warden, third-rank Buddhist novice, and lord of the Minamoto, or Genji, family but initially at Taira house's service.
Yorimasa fought on the Taira side in the Hogen and Heiji Conflicts, but received no reward for his service.
In book 1, he was assigned to the North Gate's Nuidono post with a small force when the monks of mount Hiei march on the capital. He persuades the monks to attempt to breach Taira no Shigemori's better-fortified east post by first claiming that a victory against a small force would make the monks look like cowards, and then explaining his dilemma of not wanting to oppose either his Emperor or the Buddha.
Yorimasa was a main character in book 4, where he persuaded Prince Mochihito to help a rebellion against the Taira house. Yorimasa wanted to overthrow the Taira house since Taira no Munemori forcefully took a beloved horse of Minamoto no Nakatsuna and humiliated Nakatsuna by naming the horse 'Nakatsuna' and branding the name on the horse.
However, before the rebellion was actually carried out. Taira no Kiyomori, head of the Taira house, found out about the rebellion and sent people to chase down Prince Mochihito. Prince Mochihito and Yorimasa thus left the capital and took shelter in Miidera.
After losing faith in the temple's ability to protect him, however, Prince Mochihito and Yorimasa fled across the River Uji, to the Phoenix Hall. This led to the first battle of Uji, where Yorimasa led the Minamoto and Miidera forces against the Taira at Uji Bridge, but was defeated. Yorimasa committed suicide in Byodo-in after the battle, and was beheaded by his attendant Watanabe no Chojitsu Tono. Before committing suicide, he recited one of his poems. Tono sank Yorimasa's head in the Uji River to prevent the Taira from claiming it.
Episode 15 of Book 4 is a eulogistic episode following a particular event in Yorimasa's life. After the Hogen and Heiji conflicts, he still served as a guard for the palace, but it was only until he showed his skills as an aged, wise poet was he allowed access to the privy chamber. Earlier than this, one of Yorimasa's greatest accomplishments was the takedown of the nightbird that haunted Emperor Konoe every night. The emperor gave him a sword named the Lion King. Later, during the reign of Emperor Nijo, Yorimasa was again greatly praised for taking down a thrush haunting the palace in the dark, a thrush that no one had been able to shoot down before. This time, Yorimasa was awarded with a robe.