Japan, 1180: The samurai warlord Kiyomori is at the height of his power - he has exiled or executed his opponents, imprisoned the retired Emperor, and has begun his grandest project - the creation of a new capital city in his image. But hundreds of miles to the east, the exiled Yoritomo is planning to strike back against Kiyomori's Heike. He launches a daring night-time raid - one of the earliest Ninja-style stealth attacks in Japan's history - but will it succeed, and how will Kiyomori respond?
Main characters in this episode:
For the Genji:
Minamoto no Yoritomo - Genji heir; the future First Shogun
Hojo Masako - Yoritomo's wife; daughter of Tokimasa
Hojo Tokimasa - Yoritomo's father-in-law
Takatsuna, Sadatsuna, Moritsuna, Tsunetaka - samurai brothers
For the Heike:
Taira no Kiyomori - Heike Lord
Taira no Kanetaka - Governor of Izu
Tsutsumi Nobuto - Izu vice-governor
Oba no Kagechika - veteran samurai
The First Shogun podcast website: https://firstshogun.buzzsprout.com
06/08/24 • 17 min
1 Listener
The First Shogun - Assassins in the Night
Transcript
It is the start of summer in the year 1180, and in the city of Heian-kyo there is an atmosphere of panic and alarm.
For the capital of Japan - an entire city - is moving
The Heike warlord Taira no Kiyomori, after achieving an unprecedented position of power for a samurai, has ordered that the capital be moved from its current site – present-day Kyoto - to a place some 50 miles to the south west. There he intends to establish a new capital on the coast created in his image, and bu
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