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>Far East<Minamoto , Minamoto?) was one of the honorary surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan of the Heian Period (794 /1185 AD) on those of their sons and grandsons who were not considered eligible for the throne. The Taira were another such offshoot of the imperial dynasty. The Minamoto clan was also called the Genji clan, using the alternate pronunciation of the Chinese characters for Minamoto (gen) and uji, or family (ji).
The first emperor to start granting the name Minamoto was Emperor Saga. Afterwards Emperor Seiwa, Emperor Murakami, Emperor Uda, and Emperor Daigo, among others, also gave their sons the name Minamoto. These specific hereditary lines coming from different emperors developed into specific clans referred to by the emperor's name followed by Genji, e.g. Seiwa Genji. According to some sources, the first to be given the name Minamoto was Minamoto no Makoto, seventh son of Emperor Saga.
The Minamoto were one of the four great clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period the other three were the Fujiwara, the Taira, and the Tachibana.
In 814 Emperor Saga (reigned 809/823) awarded the kabane Minamoto no Ason to his non-heir sons; thereafter, they and their descendants ceased to be members of the Imperial Family. Several subsequent emperors gave the Minamoto surname to their non-heir sons.
The most prominent of the several Minamoto families, the Seiwa Genji, descended from Minamoto no Tsunemoto (917/961), a grandson of the 56th Emperor Seiwa. Tsunemoto went to the provinces and became the founder of a major warrior dynasty. Minamoto no Mitsunaka (912/997) formed an alliance with the Fujiwara. Thereafter the Fujiwara frequently called upon the Minamoto to restore order in the capital, Heian Kyo (or Kyoto).
Mitsunaka's eldest son, Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948/1021), became the protege of Fujiwara no Michinaga; another son, Minamoto no Yorinobu (968/104 cool suppressed the rebellion of Taira no Tadatsune in 1032. Yorinobu's son, Minamoto no Yoriyoshi (998/1075), and grandson, Minamoto no Yoshiie (1039/1106), pacified most of northeastern Japan between 1051 and 1087.
The Seiwa Genji's fortunes declined in the Hōgen Rebellion (1156), when the Taira executed much of the line. During the Heiji Disturbance (1160), the head of the Seiwa Genji clan, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, died in battle. Taira no Kiyomori seized power in Kyoto by forging an alliance with the retired emperors Shirakawa and Toba and infiltrating the kuge. He sent Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147/1199), the third son of Minamoto no Yoshimoto of the Seiwa Genji, into exile. In 1180 Yoritomo mounted a full-scale rebellion against the Taira rule (Gempei or the Taira-Minamoto War), culminating in the destruction of the Taira and the subjugation of eastern Japan within five years. In 1192 he received the title shogun and set up the first bakufu at Kamakura.
Thus the Seiwa Genji line proved to be the most strong and dominant Minamoto line during the late Heian period with Minamoto no Yoritomo eventually forming the Kamakura Shogunate and becoming shogun in 1192. Also, it is from the Seiwa Genji line that the later Ashikaga (founders of the Ashikaga shogunate), Nitta, and Takeda clans come
The protagonist of the classical Japanese novel The Tale of Genji, Hikaru no Genji, was bestowed the name Minamoto for political reasons by his father the emperor, and was delegated to civilian life and a career as an imperial officer.
Hokuzan
Hokuzan was one of three kingdoms which controlled Okinawa in the 14th century. Okinawa, previously controlled by a number of local chieftains or lords, loosely bound by a paramount chieftain or king of the entire island, split into these three more solidly defined kingdoms within a few years after 1314; the Sanzan period thus began, and would end roughly one hundred years later, when Chuzan's King Sho Hashi[1] conquered Hokuzan in 1419 and Nanzan in 1429.
History
Hokuzan first came into being in 1314 when Tamagusuku inherited the role of head chieftain of all of Okinawa from his father Eiji; He did not have the charisma or leadership qualities to command the loyalty of all the local lords, and so the Lord of Nakijin, one of many powerful local chieftains, fled north with a number of lesser chieftains loyal to him, and established himself in Nakijin gusuku. Another powerful chieftain fled south and established the kingdom of Nanzan, leaving Tamagusuku in control only of the central part of the island, which thus became the kingdom of Chuzan.
Though Hokuzan was the largest of the three kingdoms, it was also the poorest and the most sparsely populated. Much of its land was wild, and its few farming or fishing villages were more primitive than those of the other two kingdoms. Nakijin Castle ( gusuku) stood on an outcropping of the Motobu Peninsula, with drops of varying steepness on every side; the ruins which remain today indicate the development of a community of fair size around it, including residences for the king's vassals, and three shrines ( uganju) to the native religion within the castle walls.
In addition to its deficiencies in agriculture and fishing, Hokuzan suffered from the disadvantage, relative to Chuzan, of holding no port to equal Naha (O. Nafa). A small junk trade used the inlet below the castle's promontory as a dock. Nevertheless, the northern kingdom engaged in its share of trade with many of the other states in the region, including Java, Sumatra, and the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Siam. Chuzan entered a tributary relationship with Ming Dynasty China in 1372, and Hokuzan and Nanzan were granted similar commercial status shortly afterwards. Over roughly the next thirty years, only nine tribute missions were sent from Hokuzan to China; Nanzan sent nineteen and Chuzan sent fifty-two. Hokuzan also did not send any students to China, as Chuzan did.
Roughly twenty years later, in the 1390s, the kings of all three kingdoms died within a few years, and succession disputes erupted across the island; similar events occurred in Nanking at the same time, with the death of the Hongwu Emperor in 1398. Previously, China had only ever recognized one head of state on Okinawa, but now all three kingdoms sent envoys and vied for the prestige, wealth, and power that would come with China's favor; no response came from China for eleven years. In 1406, Bunei, King of Chuzan, was formally invested by representatives of the Ming Court in his position; the kings of Hokuzan would never enjoy this privilege.
Despite its economic and political advantages, Hokuzan posed a not insignificant threat to Chuzan, militarily, since its establishment. In the 1410s, however, disputes among the vassals of Hokuzan's king weakened the kingdom, and in 1419, Chuzan found an opportunity to strike after three of those vassals (anji) defected. Following a fierce defense, Nakijin castle fell, and the king and his closest vassals committed suicide. Sho Hashi, king of Chuzan, appointed his brother Warden of Hokuzan in 1422, a post which would remain for many years, holding little overall power, but serving to maintain order in the north on behalf of Chuzan's court at Shuri.
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