ng of this
incident, Kiyomori ordered three hundred men to lie in wait for the
regent, drag him from his car and cut off his cue.

PLOTS AGAINST THE TAIRA: KIYOMORI'S LAST YEARS

All these arbitrary acts provoked indignation among every class of
the people. A conspiracy known in history as the "Shishi-ga-tani
plot," from the name of the place where the conspirators met to
consult, was organized in 1177, having for object a general uprising
against the Taira. At the Court of the cloistered Emperor the post of
gon-dainagon was filled by Fujiwara Narichika, who harboured
resentment against Kiyomori's two sons, Shigemori and Munemori,
inasmuch as they held positions for which he had striven in vain,
the Left and Right generals of the guards. There was also a bonze,
Saiko, who enjoyed the full confidence of Go-Shirakawa. In those days
any cause was legitimized if its advocates could show an Imperial
edict or point to the presence of the sovereign in their midst.
Thus, in the Heiji insurrection, the Minamoto received their severest
blow when Fujiwara Korekata contrived that, under cover of darkness,
the Emperor, disguised as a maid-of-honour in the household
of the Empress, should be transported in her Majesty's suite,
from the Kurodo palace to the Taira mansion at Rokuhara. The
Minamoto were thus transformed into rebels, and the Taira became
the representatives of Imperial authority. Therefore, in the
Shishi-ga-tani plot the part assigned to the priest Saiko was to
induce Go-Shirakawa to take active interest in the conspiracy and to
issue a mandate to the Minamoto bushi throughout the country. No such
mandate was issued, nor does it appear that the ex-Emperor attended
any of the meetings in Shishi-ga-tani, but there can be no doubt
that he had full cognizance of, and sympathized with, what was in
progress.

The conspiracy never matured. It was betrayed by Minamoto Yukitsuna.
Saiko and his two sons were beheaded; Narichika was exiled and
subsequently put to death, and all the rest were banished. The great
question was, how to deal with Go-Shirakawa. Kiyomori was for leading
troops to arrest his Majesty, and to escort him as a prisoner to the
Toba palace or the Taira mansion. None of the despot's kinsmen or
adherents ventured to gainsay this purpose until Kiyomori's eldest
son, Shigemori, appeared upon the scene. Shigemori had contributed
much to the signal success of the Taira. Dowered with all the
strategical skill and