was one of Minamoto no Yoshinaka's fortresses in

Echizen Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Echizen bordered on Kaga, Wakasa, Hida, and Ōmi Provinces. It was part of Hokurikudō Circuit. Its abbreviated for ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. In April and May 1183, a

Taira The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...

force led by Taira no Koremori attacked the fortress. It was built on rocky crags, and well-defended; the

Minamoto was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...

had even built a dam to create a moat. However, a traitor within the fortress tied a message to an arrow, firing it into the

camp, and revealing a way to breach the dam and drain the water. The castle soon fell to the

, but Yoshinaka and much of his forces survived and escaped.

References

{{coord missing, Japan 1180s in Japan 1183 in Asia Hiuchi 1183 Hiuchi 1183 Conflicts in 1183