(1118-1181)
Japanese statesman. Possibly the son of Emperor Shirakawa, but raised in the Taira (or Heike) warrior clan, Kiyomori spent his youth at court and held provincial governorships from 1137 to 1156. In 1156 he helped defend Emperor Go-Shirakawa against a coup, then crushed his allies, the Minamoto warrior clan, in 1160. Enjoying military and political control of the capital Kyoto, he promptly became the first warrior clansman ever to sit in the grand council of state and in 1167 was made grand minister of state. He appointed Taira kinsmen to numerous posts and married his daughters into the imperial family, causing widespread resentment. After abortive revolts in 1177 and 1180, Kiyomori moved the court to his own domain, but protests forced him to return it to Kyoto six months later. He placed his own grandson on the throne shortly before his death. The war tale Heike monogatari (Tale of the Heike, c. 1220) presents Kiyomori as a ruthless tyrant; certainly, his actions helped end Japan's classical Heian golden age and after he died the Taira were annihilated by Minamoto Yoritomo and Minamoto Yoshitsune.