Taira no Kiyomori
Taira no Kiyomori was the first warrior to run Japan, and he did it using the machinery of a court that despised him. The Taira were a provincial military family descended from an imperial cadet line, and their business was doing the fighting the Kyoto aristocracy would not do - suppressing pirates in the Inland Sea and rebels in the provinces. He came out on top of two succession disputes: the Hogen disturbance of 1156 and the Heiji disturbance of 1160, in which he destroyed the rival Minamoto and had their leader killed. He then spared the leader's young sons, including Yoritomo, on the intercession of his own stepmother. It was the most consequential act of mercy in Japanese history and it destroyed his family. His method afterwards was aristocratic rather than military. He rose through court rank to chancellor in 1167 - unprecedented for a warrior - married his daughter to the emperor, and in 1180 put his infant grandson Antoku on the throne, which is exactly what the Fujiwara had done for two centuries. He was also a genuine builder: he developed the port at Owada for trade with Song China, and rebuilt the shrine at Itsukushima. Prince Mochihito, passed over, called for a rising, and the Minamoto under Yoritomo answered. He died of a violent fever in 1181, early in the war, reportedly asking that no memorial be built and only Yoritomo's head be brought to his grave. It was not. His clan was destroyed at Dan-no-ura in 1185, and the child emperor drowned with it.
- Lived: 1118 CE – 1181 CE
- Nationality: Japanese
- Roles: military, head_of_government
