[The Cause of Death of Taira no Kiyomori: A Possible Connection with the Death of Fujiwara no Kunitsuna].

Abstract

Taira no Kiyomori was struck by an unimaginable fever and died in the spring of Jishō Year 5 (1181). In the coup d'état of Jishō Year 3 (1179), Kiyomori ended the Go-shirakawa cloistered government through military force and established the Takakura cloistered government as a puppet regime in the following year. The regime lasted only a short while, however, as the retired Takakura Emperor passed away within less than a year. Kiyomori's death immediately followed the restoration of the Go-shirakawa cloistered government. The cause of Kiyomori's death has previously been discussed in the fields of literature and medicine and has been diagnosed variously as malaria, cerebrovascular disease, pneumonia, or meningitis contracted from complications of influenza, scarlatina fulminans (scarlet fever), and so on. However, considering the fact that Kiyomori--who was anxious about restoring relations with the retired Go-shirakawa Emperor as well as subjugation by the forces of the Minamoto clan, which were growing daily in strength--and his close aide Fujiwara no Kunitsuna simultaneously fell ill and died one after the other, it is speculated that both figures had streptococcal infection. It is, therefore, surmised that, during the clan's twilight years, Taira tactics were determined through secret discussions between Kiyomori and Kunitsuna.