Minamoto no Yoshinaka made his final stand at Awazu, after fleeing from his cousins' armies, which confronted him after he attacked Kyoto, burning the Hōjūjiden, and kidnapping Emperor Go-Shirakawa. During the pursuit he was joined by his foster brother Imai Kanehira. During the battle, they fought valiantly, holding off Noriyori's large force of thousands of men for a time. However, in the end, they both died. Yoshinaka was struck dead by an arrow when his horse became mired in a paddy field. Kanehira committed suicide by leaping off his horse while holding his sword in his mouth.