Minamoto no Yoshitsune

Born the ninth son of a defeated warlord after the Heiji Rebellion killed his father, Ushiwakamaru grew up in a temple, then found shelter with the Ōshū Fujiwara clan in Hiraizumi. When his half-brother Yoritomo rose against the Taira, Yoshitsune raced to join him and became the architect of victory at Ichi-no-Tani, Yashima, and Dan-no-ura. The bond Yoritomo once described as "father and son" shattered when Yoshitsune accepted court titles without permission and moved too independently; declared an enemy, he fled back north to his old protector Fujiwara no Hidehira. After Hidehira's death, the…