Minamoto Yoshitsune

Minamoto Yoshitsune was a twelfth-century samurai warrior and military leader of the Minamoto clan. With the defeat of the Minamto family under his father at the hands of the Taira, Yoshitsune was forced to join a monastery, which he left in order to train to become a samurai and seek revenge on the Taira. Yoshitsune joined his half-brother Yoritomo’s rebellion against the Taira in 1180, and gained great fame as a capable commander and fearless warrior. Yoshitsune’s exemplary behavior created in him a hero and a role model for other samurai. However, Yoshitsune’s heroics and successes earned him jealous enemies in his own family, including Yoritomo, who later had Yoshitsune declared an outlaw and hunted down. Yoshitsune, seeking an honorable end, committed seppuku. His wife and daughter had themselves killed so they could die with him.

Yoshitsune’s father

Yoshitsune’s father, never named...