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Minamoto no Yoshitsune Committed Seppuku On This Day, June 15, 1189.The story of the Minamoto clan is long, and extremely complicated.Born in 1159 as the 9th son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, Yoshitsune was the younger brother of the first Kamakura Shogun, Yoritomo, whom he had never met until joining his forces in 1180 to fight the rival Taira clan. They were joined by yet another brother neither had previously met, Noriyori. The clash became known as the Genpei War.Renown for his military prowess, Yoshitsune would fight and kill his cousin Minamoto no Yoshinaka in the Battle of Awazu (1184) and a month later, he and his troops defeated the Taira clan at the Battle of Ichinotani, in which Yoshitsune and his cavalry stormed down a steep cliff face, directly into the enemy camp. He defeated the Taira again at the Battle of Yashima (1185) and yet again that year in the decisive naval Battle of Dan-no-Ura.In his greatest moment of glory, Minamoto no Yoshitsune's fleet defeated the naval forces of the Taira clan in The battle of Dan-no-ura, fought in the narrow waters separating the northern tip of Kyushu and the southern tip of Honshu. The Minamoto were numerically superior, however, the Taira clan had the better naval tactics and nautical prowess. They also had the eight-year-old Emperor, Antoku with them. The half day battle began with long range arrow fire as the ships approached head on, then as the two fleets came side by side, fierce hand to hand fighting broke out as the ships were boarded.Following the Gempei War, Yoshitsune would turn against his brother, Yoritomo. Fleeing into exile, Yoshitsune was betrayed and defeated at the Battle of Koromo River, in which Yoshitsune's most famed and able general, Benkei was killed, but died "standing up, which put much fear into the attackers!" Yoshitsune, overrun by the enemy, was forced to commit suicide along with his wife and daughter.There are stories of Yoshitsune having escaped and traveling via Hokkaido to mainland Asia, becoming Ghenghis Khan, a most unlikely scenario. There is also a story invoilving him having escaped to Hokkaido and becoming an Ainu warrior.