Gempei War

Civil war in medieval Japan between the Taira and Minamoto samurai clans (1180-85). It began with the rebellion of the Minamoto, led by Minamoto Yoritomo, against the dominance of Taira Kiyomori at the imperial court. It ended with the destruction of the Taira clan at the naval battle of Dannoura (1185). Following the war, Yoritomo founded the Kamakura shogunate, beginning a period of military government in Japan that would last until the Meiji Restoration of 1868.