oritomo's combinations speedily reduced the country to his
power. Yoshitsune with his army from the north was at Kamakura; Yoshinaka,
a cousin of Yoritomo, was in command of an army gathered in the highlands
of Shinano; while Yoritomo himself led the forces collected in Awa, Kazusa
and Musashi. The point to which all the armies were directed was the
capital where the Taira were still in full control. Yoshinaka was the
first to come in collision with the forces of the capital. Munemori had
sent out an army to oppose Yoshinaka who was swiftly approaching along the
Nakasendo. The Taira army was completely defeated and Yoshinaka marched
victoriously into the capital. Munemori with the reigning emperor Antoku,
then only a child six years of age, and all the imperial court crossed the
Inland sea to Sanuki, the northern province of the island of Shikoku. The
two retired emperors Go-Shirakawa, and Takakura who sympathized with the
revolutionary movements of Yoritomo, remained behind and welcomed
Yoshinaka to the capital. The retirement of the emperor from the palace
was taken as his abdication, and his younger brother, Go-Toba, then seven
years old, was proclaimed emperor.

Yoshinaka, puffed up by his rapid success, and disregarding the paramount
position of Yoritomo, assumed the superintendence of the government and
had himself appointed _sei-i-shogun_,(118) which was the highest military
title then bestowed upon a subject. He even went so far as to antagonize
Yoritomo and undertook to pluck the fruits of the military movements which
had brought about this revolution of the government.

Yoritomo at once despatched Yoshitsune at the head of his army to Kyoto to
put down this most unexpected and unnatural defection. He met Yoshinaka's
army near lake Biwa and inflicted upon it a severe defeat. Overwhelmed
with shame and knowing that he deserved no consideration at the hands of
his outraged relatives, Yoshinaka committed suicide. Yoshitsune then
followed the fugitive court. He destroyed the Taira palace at Hyogo, and
then crossed over to Sanuki, whither the court had fled. Alarmed by the
swift vengeance which was pursuing them, Munemori together with the
emperor and his mother and all the court hastily embarked for what they
hoped might be an asylum in the island of Kyushu. They were pursued by the
Minamoto army in the junks which had brought them to Sanuki. They were
overtaken at Dan-no-ura not far from the village of Shimonoseki,