Hiei-zan joined Miidera,
the situation would become formidable. Meanwhile, his trust in
Yorimasa remaining still unshaken, he sent him to attack Onjo-ji,
which mission the old Minamoto warrior fulfilled by entering the
monastery and joining forces with the prince. Yorimasa took this step
in the belief that immediate aid would be furnished from Hiei-zan.
But before his appeal reached the latter, Kiyomori's overtures had
been accepted. Nothing now remained for Yorimasa and Mochihito except
to make a desperate rush on Kyoto or to ride away south to Nara,
where temporary refuge offered. The latter course was chosen, in
spite of Yorimasa's advice. On the banks of the Uji River in a dense
fog they were overtaken by the Taira force, the latter numbering
twenty thousand, the fugitives three or four hundred. The Minamoto
made a gallant and skilful resistance, and finally Yorimasa rode off
with a handful of followers, hoping to carry Mochihito to a place of
safety. Before they passed out of range an arrow struck the old
warrior. Struggling back to Byodo-in, where the fight was still in
progress, he seated himself on his iron war-fan and, having calmly
composed his death-song, committed suicide.

CHANGE OF CAPITAL AND DEATH OF KIYOMORI

These things happened in May, 1180, and in the following month
Kiyomori carried out a design entertained by him for some time. He
transferred the capital from Kyoto to Fukuhara, in Settsu, where the
modern town of Kobe stands. Originally the Taira mansions were at the
two Fukuhara, one on the north of Kyoto, the other on the south, the
city being dominated from these positions. But Kiyomori seems to have
thought that as the centres of Taira strength lay in the south and
west of the empire, the province of Settsu would be a more convenient
citadel than Kyoto. Hence he built at Fukuhara a spacious villa and
took various steps to improve the harbour--then called Muko--as well
as to provide maritime facilities, among which may be mentioned the
opening of the strait, Ondo no Seto. But Fukuhara is fifty miles from
Kyoto, and to reach the latter quickly from the former in an
emergency was a serious task in the twelfth century. Moreover, Kyoto
was devastated in 1177 by a conflagration which reduced one-third of
the city to ashes, and in April of 1180 by a tornado of most
destructive force, so that superstitious folk, who abounded in that
age, began to speak ominously of the city's doom.

What weighed