Hill Climb to Nachi Falls
Taira no Kiyomori's eldest son, Shigemori, was said to be a man of great virtue who enjoyed widespread respect and was perhaps the only person capable of speaking frankly to his powerful father. However, he died in his early forties. His most celebrated son was Koremori. After Shigemori's death, leadership of the Taira clan passed to his younger brother Munemori, and Koremori gradually lost his place at the center of Taira politics. In his early twenties, he was appointed commander of an army sent to suppress Minamoto no Yoritomo, but suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Fujigawa(1180). Whether because he lacked military talent or for other reasons, his later campaigns as a commander also ended in failure. Shortly before the Battle of Yashima, Koremori left the battlefield with only a handful of attendants. Guided by a monk named Takiguchi Nyudo, he went to Mount Koya and took Buddhist vows. After making a pilgrimage to the Kumano Sanzan shrines, he descended from Nac...
