Shigemori raised the morale of the members of his army saying that 'we are in the era of Heiji, the capital is Heian, and we are the Taira clan, all having the same character (the character can be read as both Hei and Taira), and so we shall flatten (also the same character as Hei/Taira) our enemy out,' and he engaged in fierce battles against MINAMOTO no Yoshihira, between mandarin orange trees of the Ukon and cherry trees of the Sakon at the Imperial Palace, and then he performed heroically in the Battle of Horikawa with irresistible force as he - after losing his own horse to a volley of arrows - stood up on logs and then climbed upon a new horse.
この戦いで重盛は「年号は平治、都は平安、我らは平氏、三つ同じ（平）だ、ならば敵を平らげよう」と味方の士気を鼓舞し、源義平と御所の右近の橘・左近の桜の間で激戦を繰り広げ、堀河の合戦では馬を射られながらも材木の上に立ち上がって新たな馬に乗り換えるなど獅子奮迅の活躍をする。