Miura Taneyoshi (三浦胤義)
Taneyoshi MIURA (date of birth unknown - July 13, 1221) was a samurai during the Kamakura period. He was born the youngest child (the ninth son) of Yoshizumi MIURA. His biological mother was the daughter of Sukechika ITO. Brothers included Tomozumi MIURA and Yoshimura MIURA. Taneyoshi's wife was the daughter of Shokan. His positions included Saemon no shoi (a government post), Uemon no jo (the third ranked official of the Right Division of Outer Palace Guards) and kebiishi (a police and judicial chief). He had another name, Kuro. Also known as Taira hangan. Taneyoshi had many children including Tanetsura MIURA and Kaneyoshi MIURA.
Career
Taneyoshi's family was the Miura clan, the powerful gokenin (an immediate vassal of the shogunate in the Kamakura and Muromachi through Edo periods), and he departed for the front with his older brother Yoshimura during the Shigetada HATAKEYAMA Rebellion and the Makishi Incident in 1205. He distinguished himself in military service during the Battle of Wada in 1213. He attended the ceremony in which MINAMOTO no Sanetomo made greetings in return for the conferment of Sadaisho (Major Captain of the Left Division of Inner Palace Guards) in July, 1218, and subsequently went to Kyoto, receiving an appointment as kebiishi no jo (a police and judicial chief).
While in Kyoto, he participated in the anti-shogunate scheme, persuaded by FUJIWARA no Hideyasu, the trusted vassal of the Retired Emperor Gotoba. His older brother Yoshimura gave his word to be on the side of the retired emperor if he would be appointed to Nihon koku (Japan) So-tsuibushi (job title which has rights of government military affairs and police authority).
The woman, once a favorite concubine of the second shogun MINAMOTO no Yoriie bearing his son, became Taneyoshi's wife after the death of Yoriie. Taneyoshi wanted to install Zengyo, the biological child between his wife, who had become a priestess following the violent death of Sanetomo, and Yoriie, as Shogun but Mitora from Sekkan-ke (the families which produced the Regent and the Chief Adviser to the Emperor) was brought in to succeed the post of Shogun by the scheming Hojo clan which held the position of Shikken (shogunal regent); furthermore, Zengyo was murdered. According to "Jokyuki " (A Chronicle of the Jokyu War), feeling compassionate for the wife grieving over the murder of her former husband (Yoriie) and child by the Hojo clan, Taneyoshi went to Kyoto with a plan to rebel against the Kamakura shogunate.
In June 1221, when the Retired Emperor Gotoba raised an army, during the council of war, Taneyoshi optimistically stated, 'Now that he has become an enemy of the court, not even thousand people will support Yoshitoki HOJO.'
Taneyoshi sent a secret message to Yoshimura in Kamakura, but Yoshimura turned the messenger away, but delivered that message to the shogunate whereby expectations of the Kyoto side fell short.
According to "Azuma Kagami" (The Mirror of the East), during the speech Masako HOJO gave to persuade gokenin, she named Hideyasu and Taneyoshi as gyakushin (rebellious subjects) and it seems that the Kamakura Shogunate viewed them as the central figures in Kyoto.
In July, Taneyoshi in the capacity of Daishogun (Commander in Chief) of the Kyoto army fought the Shogunate army in Mino Province and in the Battle of Uji-gawa River, but was defeated. Taneyoshi attempted to put up one last fight at the palace of the Retired Emperor, but was turned away with the palace gate being closed and, instead, an inzen (a decree from the Retired Emperor) was issued to arrest the tactician Taneyoshi who set off a war. Taneyoshi and the remaining samurai of the Kyoto side barricaded themselves in To-ji Temple, but being under attack by Yoshimura's army, after fighting bravely along with his sons Tanetsura and Keneyoshi, Taneyoshi killed himself in Nishiyama Kijima (Uzumasa, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto City). Taneyoshi's young children who remained in Togoku (the eastern part of Japan, particularly the Kanto region) were also executed.