After the death of his father in 1153, Kiyomori assumed control of the
Taira clan and ambitiously entered the political realm, in which he had previously only held a minor post. Before that though, in 1156, he and
Minamoto no Yoshitomo, head of the
Minamoto clan, suppressed the rebels in the
Hōgen Rebellion. This established the Taira and Minamoto as the top samurai clans in
Kyoto. However, this caused the allies to become bitter rivals which culminated four years later during the
Heiji Rebellion in 1160. Kiyomori, emerging victorious over Yoshitomo (whose two eldest sons were killed), was now the head of the single most powerful warrior clan in imperial capital
Kyoto. However, his clan's power and influence in the
provinces at this time is a matter of debate. Kiyomori showed mercy and exiled a few of Yoshitomo's surviving sons, including
Yoritomo,
Noriyori, and
Yoshitsune – a benevolence that would turn out to be the Taira clan's downfall later on. Due to his status as the head of the sole remaining warrior clan in imperial court, Kiyomori was in a unique position to manipulate the court rivalry between the
retired emperor,
Go-Shirakawa, and his son,
Emperor Nijō. Because of this manipulation, Kiyomori was able to climb the ranks of government, though the majority of his promotions as well as the success of his family in gaining ranks and titles at court was due to Shirakawa's patronage. This culminated in 1167, when Kiyomori became the first
courtier of a warrior family to be appointed
daijō-daijin, chief minister of the government, and the
de facto administrator of the imperial government. As was the norm, he soon relinquished the position and leadership of the Taira clan, with the goal of maintaining the social and political prestige of having attained the highest office in the land, but being free of the attendant duties. This had been a common practice for many years in the highest levels of ancient Japanese government and in doing so Kiyomori was asserting what he felt was his strong position in the
Kyoto government. However, many of the courtiers from traditional civil (non-warrior) noble families were less than pleased with both Kiyomori's attainment of power, and how he comported himself with regard to other high ranking courtiers. ten), by
Utagawa Kuniyoshi The rapid rise of certain notable figures to prominence, as well as their decline, have been popularly attributed to Dakiniten. A certain anecdote regarding the military leader Taira no Kiyomori found in the
Genpei Jōsuiki (one of a number of variants of the
Heike Monogatari) claims that Kiyomori once shot an arrow at a fox during a hunt. The fox then transformed into a woman who promised to grant Kiyomori whatever he wanted in exchange for her life. Kiyomori, realizing this woman is none other than the goddess Kiko Tennō (貴狐天王, lit. "Venerable Fox
Deva-King", i.e. Dakiniten), spared her life. He subsequently became a devotee of the goddess, despite his awareness that the benefits obtained through the Dakiniten rite (吒天の法,
Daten no hō) would not be passed on to his progeny. The story thus attributes both Kiyomori's rise in power and the subsequent fall of
his clan to his performance of the Dakiniten ritual. ==Cultural references==