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| 1083–87 |
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| In the Later Three Years War, Minamoto Yoshiie (1039–1106) destroyed the Kiyowara family of northern Japan, thereby increasing Minamoto prestige in that region. | 1 |
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| 1086–1129 |
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| Emperor Shirakawa (r.1072–86) continued to rule as a retired emperor after his abdication, and, after 1096, as a priestly retired emperor. He built up a complete governmental organization of his own (insei, camera government), which was continued during much of the next two and a half centuries by other retired emperors and priestly retired emperors; however, after 1156 they lost control of the government to the warrior clans. | 2 |
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| 1129–56 |
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| Emperor Toba (r. 1107–23) ruled after Shirakawa's death as a priestly retired emperor. | 3 |
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| 1156 |
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Civil war (H gen no ran) broke out between the reigning emperor, Goshirakawa (r. 1155–58), and the retired emperor, Sutoku (r. 1123–42). Both were supported by prominent members of the Fujiwara, Minamoto, and Taira clans. Goshirakawa's partisans, who included Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123–60) and Taira no Kiyomori (1118–81), were victorious. Sutoku was exiled, and many of his supporters were executed, but this war brought no lasting peace. | 4 |
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| 1159–60 |
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| A second civil war (Heiji no ran) broke out, in which Minamoto no Yoshitomo and an adventurous young Fujiwara noble, Nobuyori (1133–60), gained temporary control of the capital in a successful coup, but they were soon crushed by the Taira. | 5 |
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| 1160–81 |
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| Taira no Kiyomori was left in control of the nation. The two civil wars of 1156 and 1159–60 had not been struggles for power between the court and the military clans, but the result was to make a single victorious warrior, backed by his personal troops, the dominant figure in Japanese politics. Goshirakawa, as retired emperor (1158–92), had some influence in the government, but in 1167 Kiyomori had himself appointed prime minister and gave important posts in the central and provincial governments to his clansmen. He married his daughters into both the imperial and Fujiwara families. In 1180 his infant grandson, Antoku, was put on the throne. Thus he attained the same hold over the imperial family that the Fujiwara had once had. | 6 |
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| 1175 |
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| The Pure Land (Jdo) sect of Buddhism was founded by Hnen Shnin (1133–1212). It was the first of the Amidist sects, and this event marked the beginning of a great new sectarian movement. | 7 |
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| 1179 |
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| The death of Shigemori (b. 1138), Kiyomori's eldest son and perhaps the wisest of the Taira, removed a stabilizing check on Kiyomori, whose desire for more power was leading him to excesses that alienated the sympathies of the imperial family, the court nobility, and the Buddhist monasteries. The rapid adoption by Kiyomori and his family of the customs and mentality of court nobles also estranged many of the provincial supports of the clan. | 8 |
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| 1180 |
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| An abortive uprising against the Taira, led by an imperial prince and Minamoto Yorimasa (1106–80) together with certain monasteries, started a general uprising of the remnants of the Minamoto clan under the leadership of Yoshitomo's son, Yoritomo (1147–99), backed by Taira and other clansmen of eastern Japan. | 9 |
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| 1183 |
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| The Taira were driven out of Kyoto by Yoshinaka (1154–84), a cousin of Yoritomo. A long campaign in the Inland Sea region followed. | 10 |
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| 1185 |
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| The fighting culminated in the Battle of Dan no ura, at the western outlet of the Inland Sea, where Yoritomo's younger brother, Yoshitsune (1159–89), annihilated the Taira. The child-emperor, Antoku, whom the fleeing Taira had taken with them, died in the battle. The elimination of the Taira left Yoritomo, as head of the Minamoto, virtual ruler of the nation and marked the beginning of the first period of feudal rule in Japan. | 11 |
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