Everything about Taira Clan totally explained
» For other uses of the word Taira see Taira (disambiguation)
Taira (平) is a Japanese
clan name.
In reference to
Japanese history, along with
Minamoto, Taira was a hereditary clan name bestowed by the emperors of the
Heian Period to certain ex-members of the imperial family when they became subjects. The Taira clan is often referred to as
Heishi (平氏, literally "Taira clan") or
Heike (literally House of Taira ), using the character's
Chinese reading hei.
Offshoots of the imperial dynasty, some grandsons of
Emperor Kammu were first given the name Taira in 825 or later. Afterwards, descendants of
Emperor Nimmyō,
Emperor Montoku, and
Emperor Kōkō were also given the surname. The specific hereditary lines from these emperors are referred to by the emperor's posthumous name followed by Heishi. for example
Kammu Heishi.
The Taira were one of the four important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period (794-1185) - the others were
the Fujiwara,
the Tachibana and
the Minamoto.
The
Kammu Heishi line, founded in 889 by Taira no Takamochi (a great-grandson of the 50th Kammu tenno, reigned 781-806), proved to be the most strong and dominant line during the late Heian period with
Taira no Kiyomori eventually forming the first
samurai dominated government in the history of Japan.
A great-grandson of Heishi Takamochi, Taira no Korihira, moved to
Ise Province (now part of
Mie Prefecture) and established a major daimyo dynasty. Masamori, his grandson; and Tadamori, great-grandson, became loyal supporters of the cloistered tennos Shirakawa and Toba, respectively. Taira no Kiyomori, son and heir of Tadamori, rose to the position of daijō daijin (great minister of state) following his victories in the
Hōgen Disturbance (1156) and the Heiji Disturbance (1160). Kiyomori managed to enthrone his infant grandson as
Emperor Antoku in 1180, an act which led to the
Genpei War(1180-85), the Taira-Minamoto War.
Kiyomori's sons, the last of the head family of the Kanmu Heishi line was eventually destroyed by the armies of
Minamoto no Yoritomo at the
Battle of Dan-no-ura, the last battle of the Genpei War. This story is told in the
Heike Monogatari.
This Kammu Heishi had many branch families including the
Hōjō,
Chiba,
Miura and
Hatakeyama.
Another Kammu Heishi: Takamune-ō (804-867), the eldest son of Kazurahara-Shinnō (786-853) and a grandson of Emperor Kammu, received the kabane of Taira no Ason in 825. Thus there were two Kammu Heishi families, one descended from Takamune and the other from his nephew, Takamochi (son of Prince Takami).
The
Oda clan in the time of
Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) claimed descent from the Taira, by
Taira no Chikazane, a grandson of
Taira no Shigemori (1138-1179).
Further Information
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