text: History At the time of the battle, the war was not going well for the Taira.  They still had the Emperor on their side as well as the Imperial Regalia which symbolized the Emperor's authority, but had lost much of their territory.  Still, the coming battle would be fought in their home territory with the trained southerners fighting in their home waters.  The Taira were weaker (despite having more ships), but they had the advantage over the Minamoto in understanding the tides of that particular area as well as naval combat tactics in general.  Another issue for the Taira was that the son of one of their generals, Taguchi Shigeyoshi, had been captured by the Minamoto and was being held hostage.  While some of the other Taira generals encouraged their commander to either dismiss or execute Shigeyoshi as a liability, the commander believed in his continued loyalty to the cause after conversing with him.  The Taira also brought the young emperor (who was around six years old at the time) and some of his retainers, dressed in their full court garb.  Directly having the emperor with the army would inspire the troops and show the legitimacy of their cause, in theory.
  The Taira split their fleet into three squadrons, while the Minamoto arrived en masse, their ships abreast, and archers ready. The beginning of the battle consisted mainly of a long-range archery exchange, before the Taira took the initiative, using the tides to help them try to surround the enemy ships. They engaged the Minamoto, and the archery from a distance eventually gave way to hand-to-hand combat with swords and daggers after the crews of the ships boarded each other. However, the tide changed, and the advantage was given back to the Minamoto.