Then, one of them, the Abe clan, started a fight against kokushi (provincial officers dispatched by the central government) of Mutsu Province, and MINAMOTO no Yoriyoshi from Kawachi-Genji (the Minamoto clan) intervened in it; this led to the battle known as the Zenkunen War (the Early Nine Years' War), which continued for as many as twelve years in total.
このうち安倍氏が陸奥国の国司と争いになり、これに河内源氏の源頼義が介入し足掛け12年に渡って戦われたのが前九年の役である。