The Samurai

Westerners are often surprised by the frequent accounts in samurai annals of entire families being put to the sword for the transgressions of a single individual. Perhaps the reason for these massacres lies in the story of the struggles between the two rival clans, the Minamoto and the Taira. The latter were also called Heike, which is the Chinese reading for the characters 'Taira family', and the former were the Genji or 'Minamoto clan". It all began in 1159, with the death of Minamoto Yoshitomo. Kiyomori, in his victory, made the error of showing mercy and sparing the lives of Yoshitomo's youngest boys. Two of these children would grow up to become Yoshitsune and Yoritomo, two of the greatest names in Japanese history, and would eventually put an end to the power of the Taira.
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