Minamoto no Yoshitomo and his men prepare to defend the Palace on the morning of February 5, against the inevitable Taira assault.

The defense holds out for a time, until a portion of the Taira feign a retreat, luring Minamoto warriors out of the Palace, and giving the rest of their force an opportunity to rush the gates and, soon afterward, drive the Minamoto out.

Yoshitomo's men are then obliged to attack the Rokuhara mansion.

Failing in their assault, they flee Kyoto, meeting resistance along the way from the warrior monks of Mount Hiei who they had attacked in decades past.

Although Yoshihira had fled the battle, and lives peacefully, in disguise, for a time in Kyoto, he is soon captured and killed by Taira no Kiyomori, the head of the enemy faction.

The Tairas emerge victorious to become the effective rulers of Japan.

At the direction of Taira-no-Kiyomori, the Tairas kill rival clan leader Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo, together with all his kinsmen at court, sparing only four young sons.

One of these, the thirteen-year-old Yoritomo, is taken hostage and raised in Kwanto, in eastern Japan, by Hojo Tokimasa, a Taira relative.

Taira no Kiyomori seizes Minamoto wealth and land, and will eventually form the first of four samurai-dominated governments during the feudal history of Japan.