However, by the time he officially retired from military service in Kiyomori's army in 1179, Yorimasa had changed his mind about opposing his own clan.

[1] In the following Genpei War, which began with the Battle of Uji in 1180, Yorimasa led Minamoto forces, along with warrior monks from Miidera, in defending the Byōdō-in temple.

[2] Yorimasa had several children including a daughter, poet Nijōin no Sanuki, and a son, samurai lord Minamoto no Nakatsuna.

In a famous episode in the Taiheiki: Samidare ni sawabe no makomo mizu koete/izure ayame to hikizo wazurau

The fifth-month rains swamp the water-oats along the shore, making it hard to tell irises from one another and pull just one "So, Yorimasa not only added to his reputation as an archer by shooting down a nue; he also proved himself a distinguished poet by winning with a single poem Lady Ayame, whom he had adored for years and months.

One night, Yorimasa went out to slay the monster with his servant Ino Hayata (written as 猪早太 or 井早太[5]), and an arrow made from an arrowhead he had inherited from his ancestor Minamoto no Yorimitsu and the tailfeathers of a mountain bird.