Heian period

The Hōgen Rebellion was a short civil war fought in order to resolve a dispute about Japanese Imperial succession. The dispute was also about... the degree of control exercised by the Fujiwara clan who had become hereditary Imperial regents during the Heian period. Hōgen no ran produced a series of unanticipated consequences. It created a foundation from which the dominance of the samurai clans would come to be established. It is considered the beginning in a chain of events which would produce the first of three samurai-led governments in the history of Japan. A simmering power struggle in the Imperial court was focused on three figures in 1155. After the former Emperor Toba and the former Emperor Sutoku abdicated, each intended to continue to wield various kinds of power behind the throne during the reign of Emperor Konoe; however, when young Konoe died, the dynamics of the contending factions changed. When Go-Shirakawa ascended the Chrysanthemum throne, a new phase of this multi-faceted power struggle began to unfold. A bitter dispute between two of Toba's sons was paralleled by divisions within the several kuge families and others.
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The Genpei War 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. The name "Genpei" comes from alternate readings of the kanji 'Minamoto' and 'Taira' . The conflict is also known in Japanese as the Jishō-Juei War , after the two eras between which it took place. It began with Minamoto support for a different candidate to take the throne, in conflict with the Taira's nomination. The ensuing Battle of Uji took place just outside Kyoto, starting a five-year long war, concluding with a decisive Minamoto victory in the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura. The Genpei War was the culmination of a decades-long conflict between the two aforementioned clans over dominance of the Imperial court, and by extension, control of Japan. In the Hōgen Rebellion and in the Heiji Rebellion of earlier decades, the Minamoto attempted to regain control from the Taira and failed.
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The Gosannen War , also known by the English translation Later Three-Year War, was fought during Japan's Heian period in the province of Mutsu at the... far north of Japan's main island of Honshū. Though some scholars date the war to the period of 1086 to 1089, others place it a few years earlier, lasting from 1083 to 1087. Like the Zenkunen War that preceded it, and the various conflicts that were to follow, the Gosannen War was a struggle for power within the competing warrior clans of the time. This war was before the well known Samurai. In this particular case, it was a series of quarrels within the Kiyohara clan , resulting in large part from relationships of branches of the clan with other clans, many through marriage. These quarrels, and the associated disturbances, eventually reached the point that external interference became necessary. Minamoto no Yoshiie, who became Governor of Mutsu province in 1083, sought to quell the fighting between Kiyohara no Masahira, Iehira, and Narihira, the heads of the various branches of the family.
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The Zenkunen War , also known by the English translation Early Nine-Years War, was fought from 1051 to 1063, in Japan's Mutsu province, at the far... north of the main island of Honshū. Like the other major conflicts of the Heian period, such as the Gosannen War and the Genpei War, the Zenkunen war was a struggle for power within the samurai clans. While most provinces were overseen by just a Governor, Mutsu, in what is now the Tohoku region, had a military general in charge of controlling the Emishi natives, who had been subjugated when the Japanese took over the area in the ninth century. Historically, this post was always held by a member of the Abe clan, and there were many conflicts between the Abe general and the Governor over administrative control of the province. In 1050, the general overseeing the Ainu was Abe no Yoritoki, who levied taxes and confiscated property on his own, rarely paying any heed to the wishes of the province's Governor. The Governor sent word to the capital in Kyoto asking for help, and as a result Minamoto no Yoriyoshi was appointed both Governor and commander-in-chief over controlling the natives.
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