Sasaki Yoshikiyo

Sasaki Yoshikiyo (佐々木 義清, 1161–1242) was a samurai member of the Minamoto clan, who was the founder of Izumo-Genji clan.

Sasaki Yoshikiyo was born as the 5th son of Sasaki Hideyoshi, who was the head of the Sasaki clan of Uda-Genji (Uda-Gen clan), based on Sasaki-no-sho, Gamo-gun Manor in Ōmi Province.His father Hideyoshi Sasaki, who fought against the Taira clan in the Hōgen (1156) and Heiji Wars (1160). As a result, Hideyoshi was defeated in the Heiji war. Hideyoshi was deprived of his feudal estate, and moved away to Sagami Province. Shibuya Shigekuni who was a samurai of Sagami had been respecting Hideyoshi's bravery. That is why he sheltered Hideyoshi in his territory and had his daughter marry Hideyoshi. Sasaki Yoshikiyo was born in Sagami in 1161 as the 5th son of Sasaki Hideyoshi. His mother was a daughter of Shibuya Shigekuni.Although Yoshikiyo had four elder brothers, they were by different mothers. Yoshikiyo grew up in Sagami, and got married to a daughter of Ōba Kagechika.

When Minamoto no Yoritomo (head of the Genji clan) raised an army for order to overthrow the Taira clan (Heike) in 1180, Yoshikiyo's step brothers sided with the Yoritomo. Shibuya Shigekuni who was Yoshikiyo's maternal grandfather sided with the Taira clan, and Oba Kagechika who was his father-in-law became the head of the Tairas' army. Shigekuni's longtime kindness made Hideyoshi unable to make up his mind. As the result, although he sided with the Tairas officially, he sided with Yoritomo in fact. His son Yoshikiyo also worried about the same problem, but he decided to side with the TAIRA clan finally. Yoshikiyo, who was on the Tairas' side, won the Battle of Ishibashiyama, which turned out to be the first fight of a series of wars. On the other hand, Yoritomo, who was on the Genji side, won the Battle of Kise-gawa, which broke out the next. Yoshikiyo surrendered to Yoritomo side, and after that, he sided with the Minamotos and fought in the Genpei War. In 1185, The Tairas were overthrown in Battle of Dan-no-ura. After the war ended, his four elder step brothers were praised about their distinguished military services by Yoritomo, and they got their own feudal estate. But since only Yoshikiyo had been on the enemy side at first, he just could not get any prizes. However, he kept on working seriously without blaming to this. In 1221, the Jōkyū War broke out. He sided with Bakufu (Kamakura Shoguneto) and won a victory in this war. His distinguished military services and his old achievements were praised by Bakufu and he became the governor of both Oki Province and Izumo Province.

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