Got some more from research on Japan around 1066. Major edit was made to reorganize this with headings and supply info on the major players and descendants of the preceding conflict, the Former Nine Years’ War, and those who would be involved in future conflicts alive for this start date.
The Imperial Court
Emperor Go-Reizei, the 71st emperor, reigns, though his position has become largely ceremonial and Fujiwara influence remains strong, reigning as an almost unbroken line of sekkan since shortly after the prior start date. Go-Reizei had no imperial sons or daughters, and died in 1068, succeeded by Emperor Go-Sanjō.
Fujiwara no Yorimichi has served as kampaku and the de facto ruler since 1019 or 1020. He has served as regent to three emperors in that time, maintaining a luxurious court style despite growing unrest in the provinces, such as banditry and rebellions which eventually lead to the decline of Fujiwara power, challenged by Emperor Go-Sanjō. He ceased to serve as kampaku with the end of Emperor Go-Reizei’s rule. Interestingly, in 1051 he had arranged for his daughter, Hiroko, to become an empress consort of Emperor Go-Reizei in the hopes of producing a new heir to supplant the Then heir and future Emperor Go-Sanjō, but despite the affections of Go-Reizei, the union failed to produce children until the Emperor’s death, upon which Hiroko became a nun. The next three sekkan who followed him (Fujiwara no Noromichi, Fujiwara no Morozane, and Fujiwara no Moromichi) are also alive in 1066.
Emperor Go-Sanjō, the second son of Emperor Go-Suzaku and born to Empress Sadako, also known as Teishi, the third daughter of Emperor Sanjō, would be the first Emperor since Emperor Uda (one year old in 867) not to have a mother born to a Fujiwara father. Emperor Go-Suzaku proclaimed him as heir to Emperor Go-Reizei when the latter ascended to the throne. Because he had no special familial connection to the Fujiwara, he was able to oppose them and did, determined to rule personally. His son and successor, Emperor Shirakawa, was 8 years old in 1066.
Emperor Shirakawa is the first emperor to continue to exert influence over his successors after retirement in a process known as insei, lit. “monastery administration”, or cloistered rule. He attempted to rule directly like his father, though a kampaku was put in place. Go-Sanjō had wished for Shirakawa's younger half-brother to succeed him to the throne, but this brother died to an illness in 1085, and he continued to exert his influence from the cloister during the reign of his son, Emperor Horikawa, and for the next forty-some years as figurehead emperors reigned.
Empress Sadako/Princess Teishi, 53 in 1066, wielded major influence as Grand Empress Dowager of Japan from the time her son Go-Sanjō took the throne until her death in 1094. She organized a political faction with high ranked nobility to protect and support her son, who was constantly humiliated by Yorimichi, the reigning kampaku. As Grand Empress Dowager, she raised her grandchildren, including future Emperor Shirakawa. She also proposed the marriage of her granddaughter, Princess Tokushi, to Emperor Horikawa to strengthen imperial ties, successfully making her Empress.
Fujiwara no Noromichi is married to Princess Senshi, his third wife, in 1066, but had no children from his second wife, nor this one. While he seems to have held the position of sekkan nominally in 1068, the position seemed to lack power over Emperor Go-Sanjō. He is also the brother of the former kampaku, Yorimichi, by the same father and mother.
Fujiwara no Morozane, the son of Yorimichi (24 in 1066), held the position of sekkan after Noromichi (between the years 1075 and 1099) and made his adopted daughter Kenshi a consort of Emperor Shirakawa. Though she died young, she left behind her son, future Emperor Horikawa. Due to the influence of Emperor Shirakawa, he was unable to enjoy the monopolistic power his predecessors had possessed. He is also known as the author of Kyōgoku Kanpakushū (Anthology of Kyōgoku Kanpaku) and the diary Kyōgoku Kanpaku-ki (Diary of Kyōgoku Kanpaku).
Fujiwara no Moromichi, is the son of Morozane and Fujiwara Reishi and the last of the sekkan alive in 1066, being 4 years of age. It appears he also had several half-siblings born to his father with lesser known daughters of the Taira and Minamoto clans. Made kampaku in 1094, he opposed the cloistered rule and Emperor Shirakawa, joined by Emperor Horikawa. Wikipedia describes his reputation as a “good and virtuous man, who ruled justly and with strength”, as well as, “well-read, an ardent student.” He was interestingly also involved in major conflict with the monks who came down from their mountain temples to invade the capital, apparently a regular occurrence in the past, leading to a legend in which his fatal illness and the associated boils were the result of a curse placed on him by a Shinto ritualist.
Aftermath of the Former Nine Years’ War
Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, a key samurai lord holding the title Chinjufu-shōgun (Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North), head of the Minamoto clan, and a military leader known for campaigns like the Former Nine Years’ War against the Abe clan, was still alive at 78 years of age. His son, Minamoto no Yoshiie, 27 in 1066, was a rising military leader, active in the same war and gaining fame for his bravery. He had established his clan’s power in northern Honshu.
In 1063 he founded Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Kamakura and in 1065 was ordained as a Buddhist monk, receiving the Dharma name Shinkai.
The head of the Abe clan (presumably either Abe no Munetō or the child of Abe no Sadato, though possibly some other descendant). Though the Abe clan seems to have lost power and their holdings following the Former Nine Years’ War, there were surviving members. Abe no Sadato, though dead in 1066, became head of the clan in 1057 when his father, Abe no Yoritoki, was killed and presumably possessed some descendant after his own death in 1062 as Akira Kurosawa purported to be his descendant in his autobiography. Alternatively, Abe no Munetō, alive in 1066, having survived the war, could be the head or otherwise in a position to continue or reclaim the family’s rule. He became a retainer of Minamoto no Yoshiie following the war, while others taken captive also became attendants. Shinzō Abe purportedly claimed descent from Munetō.
Fujiwara no Kiyohira, 10 years of age in 1066, has not had a pleasant experience so far and is perhaps the most interesting character presented to us for this start date. Born to an Emishi mother in Emishi territory to a father who was deemed a traitor for his involvement in the war, Kiyohara lost his grandfather, Abe no Yoritoki, shortly after his birth. His life was further impacted in the year of 1062, in which the war concluded, losing his uncle Sadato to battle, seeing all his mother’s brothers deported to Kyūshū, and having his father, Fujiwara no Tsunekiyo, personally beheaded by Minamoto no Yoriyoshi using a blunt sword. After the loss of his father, his mother (a daughter of Yoritoki) became the concubine of Yoriyoshi’s ally, Kiyohara no Takehira. He was subsequently raised in the household of Takehira as Kiyohara no Kiyohira, purportedly not using the name Fujiwara again until 1117, but indeed passing it onto his descendants. Within this household he was raised alongside his elder stepbrother Sanehira and his younger half-brother Iehira, against whom he would fight alongside Minamoto no Yoshiie, son of Yoriyoshi, in the Gosannen War. He is the founder of the Northern Fujiwara dynasty, which governed Oshu for a hundred years, and took several Emishi wives himself.
Lead-up to the Gosannen War
Minamoto no Yoshiie was 27 years old by 1066 and already a prominent figure, later becoming known as “Hachimantaro” (son of the war god Hachiman) and a paragon of samurai virtue. His actions in northern campaigns helped solidify the Minamoto clan’s position and he was known for both his bravery and strategy in the Nine Years’ War.
Sanehira, Iehira, and Masahira of the Kiyohara clan are presumably either already born or soon to be in 1066 and, as heads of various branches of the clan, become embroiled in the Gosannen war in 1083, aiming for control of the main branch, along with Kiyohira and Yoshiie, who won.
Minamoto Clan Politics
Minamoto no Yoshimitsu, 21 in 1066, was appointed governor of Kai Province by his brother Yoshiie for his accomplishments in the Gosannen War. He reportedly dissected the corpses of men killed in battle, studying them and founding the martial art Daitō-ryū with his findings. The Takeda clan also traces back to him, though his son was the first to use the Takeda name.
Minamoto no Yoshitsuna, another son of Yoriyoshi, 24 in 1066, had also fought in the Former Nine Years’ War. After Yoshiie died in 1106, his fourth son (not yet born in 1066) Minamoto no Yoshitada succeeded him. Five days following an attack on March 13, 1109, Yoshitada died, forcing Yoshitsuna and his son to flee for suspicion of the murder. He surrendered to Minamoto no Tameyoshi upon capture and was banished to become a priest in Sado Province. At this time, his six sons met their ends: his two eldest sons, Yoshihiro and Yoshitoshi, committed suicide by throwing themselves in a valley; his fourth eldest son, Yoshinaka, committed suicide by throwing himself into a fire; his fifth eldest son, Yoshinori, committed suicide by disembowling himself, and his sixth eldest son, Gino, also committed suicide. His third eldest son, Yoshiaki, died in battle while being hunted down as the suspected ringleader of the murder plot. In 1132, during his exile in Sado, Tameyoshi again hunted down Yoshitsuna, prompting the latter to also commit suicide. Following this it came to light that the true culprit in Yoshitada’s murder was Yoshimitsu, who had wanted to be leader of the clan.
