- Battle of Awazu
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Awazu
partof=theGenpei War
caption=
date=February 21 ,1184
place=Awazu,Ōmi Province
casus=
territory=
result=Minamoto no Yoshitsune et al victory;Minamoto no Yoshinaka killed
combatant1=Minamoto clan faction
combatant2=Minamoto clan faction
commander1=Minamoto no Yoshitsune ,Minamoto no Noriyori
commander2=Minamoto no Yoshinaka
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=Minamoto no Yoshinaka made his final stand at Awazu, after fleeing from his cousins' armies, which confronted him after he attackedKyoto , burning the Hōjūjiden, and kidnappingEmperor Go-Shirakawa . During the pursuit he had joined up with his companion andmilk brother Imai Kanehira atSeta ; Kanehira became joint commander along with Yoshinaka.During the battle, they fought valiantly, holding off Noriyori's large force of thousands of men for a time. However, in the end, they both died: Yoshinaka was struck dead by an arrow when his horse became mired in a paddy field, and after Kanehira heard that Yoshinaka had been killed, he committed suicide by leaping off his horse while holding his sword in his mouth.
References
* Sansom, George (1958). "A History of Japan to 1334". Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
* Turnbull, Stephen (1998). "The Samurai Sourcebook". London: Cassell & Co.
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