also known as the Takakura Prince, and as Minamoto Mochimitsu, was a son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa

Emperor Go-Shirakawa

Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession...

. He is noted for his role in starting the Genpei War

Genpei War

The was a conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late-Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the fall of the Taira clan and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192....

.

Believing that Taira no Kiyomori

Taira no Kiyomori

was a general of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan.After the death of his father Taira no Tadamori in 1153, Kiyomori assumed control of the Taira clan and ambitiously entered the political realm in which he...

 had denied him the throne, and that Kiyomori was causing suffering, despoiling graves and destroying Buddhist Law, Mochihito supported the Minamoto clan in their conflict against the Taira. At the same time, Minamoto no Yorimasa

Minamoto no Yorimasa

' was a prominent Japanese poet whose works appeared in various anthologies. He served eight different emperors in his long career, holding posts such as hyōgo no kami...

 led the Minamoto clan in supporting Mochihito's bid for the Imperial Throne

Chrysanthemum Throne

The is the English term used to identify the throne of the Emperor of Japan. The term can refer to very specific seating, such as the takamikura throne in the Shishin-den at Kyoto Imperial Palace....

. In May of 1180, Yorimasa sent out a call to other Minamoto leaders, and to the monasteries (Enryakuji, Miidera and others) that Kiyomori had offended; he asked for aid against the Taira, in the name of Prince Mochihito.

Learning of this, Kiyomori sent men after Mochihito, who retreated to Miidera, at the foot of Mount Hiei

Mount Hiei

is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga prefectures, Japan.The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tiantai sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by Saichō in 788. Both Nichiren and Honen studied at the temple before...

, but discovered that the warrior monks

Sohei

were Buddhist warrior monks of feudal Japan. At certain points of history they held considerable power, obliging the imperial and military governments to collaborate....

 of Miidera, for various political reasons, could not rely on the support of any other monasteries. Thus, he fled once more, along with a small Minamoto force, across the River Uji, to the Phoenix Hall of the Byōdō-in. There they were caught by the Taira forces, and the Battle of Uji

Battle of Uji (1180)

The first battle of Uji is famous and important for having opened the Genpei War.In early 1180, Prince Mochihito, the Minamoto Clan's favored claimant to the Imperial Throne, was chased by Taira forces to the Mii-dera, a temple just outside Kyoto....

 was fought. The bridge was the site of much of the fighting, and the planks were famously smashed to impair the ability of the Taira to cross, but eventually the Minamoto were forced back into the Phoenix Hall, where Yorimasa committed seppuku

Seppuku

is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...

. Mochihito escaped to Nara, but was captured on his way and killed soon afterwards.