Prompt for Module 6 Discussion:

Chapter II

Time: second to sixth months of II 8 5 Principal subject: the battles of Yashima and Dan-no-ura and their aftermath Principal characters:

Go-Shirakawa, Retired Emperor. Head of the imperial clan Emperor. Antoku, son of Emperor Takakura and Kiyomori's daughter

Kenreimon'in Kagetoki (Kajiwara). Trusted lieutenant of Yoritomo Kiyomune (Taira). Son of Munemori Munemori (Taira). Son of Kiyomori; head of the Taira clan Noritsune (Taira). Son of Norimori; nephew of Kiyomori Nun of second rank. Widow of Kiyomori Shigehira (Taira). Son of Kiyomori Tokitada (Taira). Member of a branch family of the Taira clan; brother

of the nun of second rank Tomomori (Taira). Son of Kiyomori Yoritomo (Minamoto). Principal opponent of the Taira; head of the

Minamoto clan ' ;, Yoshitsune (Minamoto). Younger half-brother of Yoritomo; leader of

Genji forces at Yashima and Dan-no-ura

II.3. The Death of Tsuginobu

[ Yoshitsune has landed with a small force on Shikoku Island, marched to the rear of the enemy stronghold at Yashima, and bluffed the Taira into retreating to their boats. ]

That day, Yoshitsune wore a tunic of red brocade and a suit of armor wit\ purple-shaded lacing. At his waist, there hung a sword with gilt bronze ~ .. • tings; on his back, he carried a quiver containing arrows fledged wit, banded black-and-white eagle feathers. He grasped a rattan-wrapped bo, in the middle, scowled toward the boats, and announced his name in mighty shout. "I am Minamoto no Yoshitsune, fifth-rank lieutenant in t imperial police and envoy of the retired emperor!" Next, Tashiro no N1 butsuna of Izu, Kaneko no Ietada of Musashi, Kaneko no Chikanori of M

sashi, and Ise 1 names and gall kiyo, Sato Tsu Genzo, Kumai '

"Shoot them Some of the

others released shouts and yell resting their me

Instead of joi the imperial p, buildings in no

Munemori s asked.

"Only about "This is a dis

outnumber the 'should never h them burn doVi

Noritsune be transferred his front of the ch,

Yoshitsune's pulled up.

Moritsugi ha identifying yo1 Who is the hor

lse no Yoshi you? It's Lord · eration and a y

"Right! You father died in 1 I<urama, and t rying food on I

"Shut your n licking at Tona lucky to be ali Yoshimori said

"Why woule need. They tell ers in the Suzul

Kaneko no I Just going to fi think you had

I their aftermath

clan >mori's daughter

clan )fl

ira clan; brother

ira; head of the

tomo; leader of

. marched to the a into retreating

uit of armor with th gilt bronze fit-. ,ws fledged with an-wrapped bow ,d his name in a lieutenant in the , Tashiro no No' :hikanori of Mu-

Chapter Eleven

i, and Ise no Yoshimori identified themselves. Then others gave their es and galloped forward: Gotobyoe Sanemoto, Sanemoto's son Moto-

o, Sato Tsuginobu of Oshii, Tsuginobu's brother Tadanobu, Eda no nzii, Kumai Taro, and Musashibo Benkei. •Shoot them down!" the Heike shouted. ome of the Heike in the boats shot powerful arrows from far away; ers released streams of lighter arrows. The Genji warriors attacked with uts and yells, shooting as they galloped through the Heike ranks, and ting their mounts in the shelter of beached vessels. · nstead of joining the fighting, the veteran warrior Sanemoto burst inside ~ imperial palace, told his men to set fires everywhere, and burned the Hdings in no time. Munemori summoned his samurai. "What's the Genji strength?" he ked. "Only about seventy or eighty now."

·. "This is a disaster! Even if we counted every hair on their heads, we'd still mumber them. Why didn't we surround them and cut them down? We puld never,h,ave taken to the boats in a panic. We should never have let em burn ddwn the palace. Where's Noritsune? Go ashore and fight!"

·· Noritsune bowed and obeyed. Accompanied by Etchii no Moritsugi, he ansferred his men into small boats and took up positions on the beach, in ont of the charred remains of the main gate. Yoshitsune's eighty-odd horsemen advanced to within arrow range and

µlied up. Moritsugi hailed the enemy from the deck of a boat. "I think I heard you

.. entifying yourselves, but I was too far out at sea to catch your names. ho is the honorable commander-in-chief of the Genji today?" Ise no Yoshimori rode forward at a walk. "You need somebody to tell

ou? It's Lord Yoshitsune, a descendant of Emperor Seiwa in the tenth gen- ration and a younger brother of Yoritomo, the Kamakura Lord!" "Right! You're talking about the stripling who was orphaned when his

ather died in the Heiji fighting-the one who served as a temple page at Kurama, and then tramped off to Oshii as a gold merchant's servant, car- ryi11g food on his back," Moritsugi said. · "Shut your mouth about my master! You fellows are the ones that took a licking at Tonamiyama and then straggled onto the Northern Land Road, ucky to be alive, and begged and sniveled your way back to the capital," Yoshimori said.

"Why would we have to beg? A generous lord gives us everything we ,11eed. They tell me you support yourself and your family by robbing travel- ers in the Suzuka Mountains of Ise!"

Kaneko no letada spoke up. "This bickering is a waste of time! If you're just going to fight with bombast and insults, neither one of you will lose. I think you had a chance to test the mettle of our young warriors from Mu-

The Tale of the Heike

sashi and Sagami at Ichi-no-tani last spring." Before he finished, his young' brother Yoichi, who was beside him, drew his bow to the full and sent an arrow twelve handbreadths and two fingers long. It whistled through t air, pierced the breastplate of Moritsugi's armor, and lodged in his flesh. ended the battle of words.

Noritsune had dispensed with his tunic, observing, "Fighting on a bo has its own methods." 1 Instead, he wore a suit of armor laced with thi' Chinese damask, and a short-sleeved robe with a handsome roll-dyed d sign. At his waist, he wore a magnificent big sword; on his back, he carrie a quiver containing twenty-four arrows fledged with black-banded eag'" feathers; in his hand, he held a rattan-wrapped bow. He had been the be archer in the capital; no man escaped who came within the range of h'' arrows. Now his purpose was to shoot Yoshitsune down, but the Genji a ticipated him. A group of warriors, each worth a thousand, swiftly align their horses' heads to make a shield: Sato Tsuginobu of Oshu, Tsuginobu brother Tadanobu, Ise no Yoshimori, Genpachi Hirotsuna, Eda no Genz Kumai Taro, Musashibo Benkei, and others.

"Out of the way, scum!" Noritsune shouted. He vented his frustratio with a barrage of arrows, and more than ten armored warriors went <low in an instant. One of them was Tsuginobu, who had advanced to the for front. He plummeted headlong from his horse, mortally stricken by an a row that penetrated from his left shoulder to his right side.

In Noritsune's service there was a strong, courageous page named Kiku :, who this day was attired in a corselet with green lacing and a helmet wit,, three plates. This Kikuo unsheathed a spear with a plain wooden hand!, and went running up to decapitate Tsuginobu. Determined to keep li" brother's head from being taken, Tadanobu drew his bow to the full an sent off an arrow that struck the back joint of Kikuo's corselet and ran hi, through. When Noritsune saw the page fall to his hands and knees; h leaped from the boat, with his bow still in his left hand, picked up Kiku; with his right hand, and tossed him into the boat. Kikuo's head was save,, from the enemy, but he died of the wound. Originally the page of Mic :' mori, the boy had been taken into service by Noritsune, Michimor! younger brother, after his master's death. He was eighteen. Noritsune wit drew from the battle, overwhelmed by grief. .

Yoshitsune gave orders for Tsuginobu to be carried to the rear. He d_, mounted, took his hand, and asked how he felt. Tsuginobu spoke in a fal, voice, hardly breathing. "This will be all for me."

"ls there anything weighing on your mind?" "Nothing. My only regret is that I have to die before I see my lord rise

prominence. Otherwise, any man who uses a bow and arrow has to expe

r. As indicated in the Glossary, the "tunic" actually consisted of two pieces. The point h. seems to be that the trousers would have been a hindrance to a man moving in a small b~•t standing on a tidal flat. Noritsune's costume left his legs bare from the knees down.

, death from an e the fighting bet' Saburobyoe Ts1 Yashima in San the next." The '

"ls there a h< streaming <low brawny black h Make arrangen that had been ! rank Black], v · rank-the very Jchi-no-tani. 2

Yoshitsune's Tadanobu,and dying for this 1 of dust," they i

Meanwhile, turned against various peaks Yoshitsune's fc

"It's getting just as they w< the shore from broadside, tw<

· from inside th teen or ninete green. She pro wedged it bet,

Yoshitsune : "She seems

range to loo1 . shoot you dov nemoto said.

"Do we ha, "We have J

Suketaka of S "Give mes, "In compet

0 ut of three."

2. Called Hiy

finished, his You the full and s h. 1

en N 1st ed throu >dged in his fie!

"Fighting on a 1or laced with t dsome roll-dyed his back, he car black-banded ea

le had been the 15 1in the range of ·n, but the Genji ;a1!d, swiftly ali · f Oshii, Tsuginob una, Eda no Gen

:nted his frustrati Narriors went do :lvanced to the fot Y stricken by an lj. .de. page named Kiku ; and a helmet wi ain wooden hand rmined to keep JOW to the full a :orselet and ran h · mds and knees

' d, picked up Kik 16's head was sav the page of Mich

itsune, Michimori en. Noritsune wit

to the rear. He di Jbu spoke in a fai

l see my lord rise t. 1rrow has to expeC

,o pieces. The point her toving in a small boat o, : knees down.

Chapter Eleven

th from an enemy shot. And to have it told in later generations, 'During fighting between the Minamoto and the Taira, a man from Oshii Sato

urobyoe Tsuginobu, exchanged his life for his master's on the be~ch at hima in Sanuki'-for a warrior, that will be an honor in this world and pext." The words faltered on his lips, and he weakened by the moment.

'Is there a holy man anywhere near here?" Yoshitsune asked, with tears aming down his face. They found one, and he gave him a stout and wny black horse with a saddle edged in gold. "A wounded man is dying. ke arrangements for a day of sutra-copying," he said. The horse was one

at had been given fifth rank on its own, with the name Tayiiguro [Fifth- k Black], when Yoshitsune had become a police lieutenant of fifth

nk-the very one on which he had made the descent from Hiedorigoe at hi-no-tani. 2

'Yoshitsune's conduct brought tears to the eyes of Tsuginobu's brother, 'danobu, and all the other warriors who witnessed it. "We wouldn't think ing for this master was any more important than a dewdrop or a speck dust," they said.

r r.4. Nasu no Yoichi

.... Meanwhile, men from Awa and Sanuki provinces, warriors who had rned against t)le Heike and were awaiting the Genji, came riding up from

. rious peaks and caverns in groups of fourteen or fifteen or twenty, and oshitsune's force soon numbered more than three hundred horsemen. "It's getting late," both sides said. "We can't settle anything today." But

ust as they were drawing apart, a small, well-appointed boat came toward e shore from out at sea. To the bewilderment of the Genji, it swung around

roadside, two hundred and fifty or three hundred feet from the beach, and .rom inside the cabin there appeared an elegant, beautiful maiden of eigh- een or nineteen, wearing a red divided skirt and five white robes lined in reen. She produced a pole, topped by a red fan decorated with a golden sun, edged it between the prow and the planking, and beckoned shoreward. Yoshitsune summoned Sanemoto. "What's that all about?" "She seems to be inviting us to shoot at the fan. If you go within arrow

range to look at their fair lady, they'll probably have an expert archer shoot you down. Still, you probably ought to order somebody to hit it," Sa- !Jemoto said.

"Do we have anybody who's up to it?" Yoshitsune asked. "We have plenty of good men. Yoichi Munetaka, the son of Nasu no

Suketaka of Shimotsuke Province, is a short fellow but a wonderful shot." "Give me some proof."

'"In competitions to shoot birds on the wing, he always brings down two out of three."

2. Called Hiyodorigoe earlier (Sec. 9.9).

420 The Tale of the Heike

"All right, call him," Yoshitsune ordered. Munetaka was about twenty years old then. He was wearing a suit

green-laced' armor. over a dark blue tunic, which had lapels and cuffs ofre brocade. At his waist, he wore a sword with a silver cord-loop; high on h. back, he carried a quiver containing the few arrows left from the day battle, all fledged with black-banded white eagle feathers, and also humming-bulb arrow, made of deerhorn and fledged with hawk feathe and gray-banded white eagle feathers. He bowed before Yoshitsune, h' rattan-wrapped bow pressed against his side and his helmet tied to h' shoulder-cord.

"Now then, Munetaka!" Yoshitsune said. "I want you to shoot that fa right square in the middle. Show the Heike what you can do!"

Munetaka spoke with respect. "I'm not sure I can hit it. If I missed, we' never outlive the disgrace. You'd better pick somebody who's more likely succeed."

His reply angered the commander. "Now that you men have left Kama. kura for the west, it's up to you to obey my orders. If anyone wants t haggle, he can head for home right now," he said.

Munetaka may have been afraid to refuse again. "I can't say whether I'l miss or not, but I'll try, since that's what you're telling me to do," he saicl,' He withdrew and mounted a stout and brawny black horse, which w fitted out with a short-fringed crupper and carried a saddle with a circul mistletoe design. Then he took a fresh grip on his bow, pulled up the rein and moved toward the shoreline at a walk.

"That boy can do it!" said the Genji warriors, with their eyes on hi receding figure. Yoshitsune also watched with a confident expression.

The target was a little beyond bowshot. Munetaka rode thirty-five fe into the sea, but it still seemed to be about two hundred and fifty feet aw~ It was around the hour of the cock [5:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M.] on the eighteen( of the second month. There was a strong north wind, and the waves wer. running high at the shore. The fan on its pole fluttered and wavered as t~~ drifting boat swung up and down. In the offing, the Heike aligned theiJ vessels to view the spectacle; on the land, the Genji watched bridle to bridle'. For both sides, it was an occasion of moment.

Munetaka closed his eyes in silent prayer. "Hail, Great Bodhisattv Hachiman and ye gods of my province at Nikko, Utsunomiya, and Na~ Yuzen! Let me hit the center of that fan! If I miss, I'll smash my bow an kill myself; I'll never show my face again. If it's your will for me to retur home, keep my arrow from going astray!" When he opened his eyes, th. wind seemed to have died down, and the fan looked easier to hit. ..

He took out his humming-bulb, fitted it, drew his bow to the full, an. sent the arrow whizzing on its way. Short though he was, the arrow rne,i. sured twelve handbreadths and three fingers, and his bow was powerfu Singing until the bay resounded, the arrow flew straight to the fan, thudde,

into it an inch bulb went into fluttered in the

' by the spring \ waves in the gli up and down, and the Genji c

rr.7.

Yoshitsune c · Noriyori, and ·

The Genji h [Victory Beach rumored that 1 went to Oitsu

Unsure abo1 fered prayers Shrine. The or ful, he matche the gods, and then decided 1 barked in two shrine on bo; Kongo Doji o into view, bot the Genji was

Kawano nc with him a hu

The reinfor had three tho Chinese-style of the Heike ,

The arrow during the ho of the third rr th.at Yoshitsu

"Let me lei "I might if "You're mf "That's rid

commission, Kagetoki n

to lead samw

,aring a 8

tnd cuffs 0 op; high 0 from the :s, and al hawk fea

foshitsune . ' t1et tied to

ay whether J do," he sa se, which J with a circu d up the rei

,ression. thirty-five £ fifty feet aw the eighteen 1e waves we vavered as t · aligned the. ridle to bridl "

t Bodhisattv ya, and Na , my bow an. : me to retur 1 his eyes, th. hit. . , the full, an e arrow mea~ vas powerful , fan, thudde

Chapter Eleven

it an inch from the edge of the rivet, and cut it loose. The humming- . went into the sea; the fan flew toward the heavens. For a time, the fan ered in the air; then it plummeted toward the sea, tossed and buffeted

.. the spring wind. The red fan with its golden orb floated on the white yes in the glittering rays of the setting sun; and as it rocked there, dancing and down, the Heike in the offing beat their gunwales and applauded,

d the Genji on the land struck their quivers and shouted.

11.7. The Cockfights and the Battle at Dan-no-ura

Yoshitsune crossed over to Suo Province to join forces with his brother qriyori, and the Heike arrived at Hikushima in Nagata Province. The Genji had won the battle of Yashima after going ashore at Katsuura jctory Beach] in Awa Province, and now, oddly enough, no sooner was it tnored that the Heike were at Hikushima [Retreat Island] than ilie Genji ent to Oitsu [Pursuit Harbor] in the same province. Unsure about which side to support, Kumano Superintendent Tanzo of- red prayers and a program of sacred music at the Tanabe Imagumano

hrine. The ora~k commanded, "Adhere to the white banner." Still doubt- ), he matched seven white cocks against seven red ones in the presence of e gods, and not a single red bird won a victory; all were put to flight. He en decided to cast. his lot with the Genji. He mustered his kinsmen, em-

arked in two hund~ed boats with two thousand men, took the god of the brine on board, and proceeded toward Dan-no-ura, with a picture of ongo Doji on tile wooden strip at the top of his banner. When he came

lnto view, both the Genji and the Heike paid him reverence. To see him join he Genji was a sad blow for the Heike.

· Kawano no Michinobu of Iyo Province also joined the Genji, bringing ith him a hundred and fifty fighting boats. The reinforcements gave Yoshitsune renewed hope and energy. The Genji

ad three thousand vessels and the Heike a thousand, including a few large hinese-style ships. The strength of tile Genji was increasing, even as that

bf the Heike was declining. The arrow exchange was to take place at the Moji and Akama barriers

during the hour of the hare [5:00 A.M.-7:00 A.M.] on the twenty-fourth day ,.of the third month in the second year of Genryaku. It was on that same day .that Yoshitsune and Kajiwara Kagetoki almost came to blows.

· "Let me lead the attack today," Kagetoki said. "I might if I didn't intend to be there myself," Yoshitsune said. "You're making a mistake. Remember, you're the commander-in-chief." "That's ridiculous. Yoritomo is the commander-in-chief. I just hold his

commission, so my status is the same as yours." Kagetoki muttered in frustration. "That fellow doesn't have the character

to lead samurai."

422 The Tale of the Heike

Yoshitsune overheard him. "You're the biggest fool in Japan!" he shouted gripping the hilt of his sword.

Kagetoki grasped his own sword. "Yoritomo is the only superior recognize!"

Kagetoki's heir, Kagesue, his second son, Kagetaka, and his third so Kageie, went to their father's side. At the sight of Yoshitsune's face, a grou of his warriors surrounded Kagetoki and moved forward, ready to kif him-Sato Tadanobu, Ise no Yoshimori, Genpachi Hirotsuna, Eda no'. Genzo, Kumai Taro, Musashibo Benki, and other warriors, each of theni'' worth a thousand men. But Miura no Yoshizumi caught hold of Yoshitsun and Toi no Sanehira held Kagetoki. Both clasped their hands in supplica''. tion. "It will encourage the Heike if two Genji get into a fight just before a crucial battle. And what happens if Yoritomo hears about it?" they saidi Yoshitsune regained his composure, and Kagetoki had to control himself. But people say that Kagetoki hated Yoshitsune afterward, and that it wa~ . his lies that led to Yoshitsune's eventual destruction.

The opposing positions were about two miles apart on the surface of th. sea. A turbulent ebb tide was running at Moji, Akama, and Dan-no-ura; and the boats of the Genji, breasting the flow, were ca,rried toward the sea . despite the best efforts of the crews. The Heike took advantage of the cur? rent to move forward.

Because the water was swiftest in the offing, Kagetoki hugged the shore. He and his sons and other followers snagged an oncoming enemy vessel with rakes and boarded it. Fourteen or fifteen strong, they ranged from bow to stern with drawn weapons, laying about mercilessly and seizing great'. quantities of booty. Their deeds were the first to be recorded in the writte1y account of that day's exploits. >

When the two sides finally confronted each other and shduted their battlf cries, the noise must have reached the ears of Bouten above and amazed the'. king of the sea dragons below.

Tomomori appeared outside the cabin of his boat. "This is our last battle!" he shouted. "Don't even think about retreating, men! Even the best: of commanders, the best of warriors, is helpless if his luck runs out! It's the same everywhere-China, India, or Japan. But honor means something! Don't look weak in front of the easterners! What is there to save our Jive~ for? That's all I have to say."

Kazusa no Kagekiyo came forward. "The eastern warriors may boaSt

when they're on horseback, but they don't know anything about sea battles, They'll be like fish trying to climb trees. We'll grab them one at a time and give them a bath in the ocean," he said. .

Etchu no Moritsugi said, "When you wrestle somebody, try to pick their. commander-in-chief, Yoshitsune. He'll be easy to spot; he's fair-skinned a?4 short, with buck teeth. They do say, though, that it's hard to recognize hull at first, because he keeps changing his tunic and armor." .·

"He may be nobody to won the sea."

After Tomorr Munemori. "Tl afraid Awa no : off his head," h

"If there's nc him. You kno, mori said.

Shigeyoshi \1 white leather 12

"Well, Shige jected today. T< nervous," Mur

"No, not at "I only wish

grasped the hi! withheld his p,

The Heike c Hideto advani League follow Taira clan foll archer in the I cellent shots (, at both ends c had the nume came from m, the best arch< Genj i faltered for shield or attack drums

One of the a boat. Instea pressed his fe arrows with 1 Jury. When o oned to the I- It Was a plai1 fledged with : ers. A handb ''Wada no K<

I" h .n. e shou

I his third s :'s face, a gro · l, ready to I< tsuna, Eda :, each of th I of Yoshitsu ids in suppli ht just befor . ,,, h 1t. t ey sai

:ontrol himse md that it w

e surface of t td Dan-no-ur toward the s :age of the cu

g enemy vess nged from bo d seizing gre I in the writte

ms out! It's th ms something, , save our lives

ors may boas out sea battles; : at a time and

·y to pick theif fr-skinned and

Chapter Eleven

•He may be brave enough," Kagekiyo said, "but a stripling like that is body to worry about. I'll clamp him under one arm and throw him into sea. "

After Tomomori had issued his orders, he went to see Minister of State nemori. "The morale of the samurai seems to be high today, but I'm

raid Awa no Shigeyoshi has had a change of heart. I think we should cut his head," he said.

,;If there's no proof of treachery on his part, I don't see how we can kill . You know what a faithful servant he's been. Call him in," Mune-

ori said. :5higeyoshi was wearing a dark yellow tunic and a suit of armor with bite leather lacing. He bowed respectfully to Munemori . · "Well, Shigeyoshi, have you had a change of heart? You're strangely de- 'cted today. Tell your men from Shikoku to put up a gallant fight. You seem rvous," Munemori said.

• "No, not at all," Shigeyoshi said. He withdrew. "I only wish I could cut off that fellow's head," Tomomori thought. He

rasped the hilt of his sword and looked hard at Munemori, but Munemori ithheld his pe?rhission, and there was nothing he could do about it. The Heike divided their thousand vessels into three groups. Yamaga no ideto advanced in the vanguard with five hundred boats, the Matsura

:eague followed in 'second place with three hundred, and the lords of the aira clan followed in third place with two hundred. Hideto was the best rcher in the Nine Provinces. He selected five hundred men who were ex- ellent shots (although not, of course, his own equals), posted them in lines t both ends of his boats, and ordered them to shoot in unison. The Genji ad the numerical advantage with their three thousand boats, but their fire me from many different directions, so that it was impossible to tell where e best archers were. Even with Yoshitsune fighting in the forefront, the enji faltered under the barrage of enemy arrows, an onslaught too fierce

or shield or armor to withstand. The Heike beat a wild tattoo on their ttack drums and shouted in victory. "Our side is winning!"

rr.8. Distant Arrows

One of the Genji warriors, Wada no Yoshimori, decided not to embark in a boat. Instead, he rode to the shoreline, gave someone his helmet to hold, .pressed his feet into his stirrups, drew his bow to the full, and dispatched

rrows with tremendous force. Nobody within a thousand feet escaped in- ·ury. When one of his shots traveled even farther than the others, he beck- . ned to the Heike, daring them to return the arrow. Tomomori called for it. t was a plain bamboo shaft, thirteen handbreadths and two fingers long, edged with a mixture of stork feathers and black-tipped white crane feath-

ers. A handbreadth from the head, there was a name inscribed in lacquer: "Wada no Kotara Taira no Yoshimori."

The Tale of the Heike

It would seem that few among the ranks of the Heike were capable of s-0 long a shot, for there was some delay before a man from Iyo Province, N-' no Chikakiyo, was chosen to send the arrow back. It sped more than,· thousand feet, from open water to the beach, and lodged in the left ar of Miura no Taro, who had pulled up his horse more than thirty-five fe( behind Yoshimori. The Miura warriors burst out laughing. "Yoshimo " thought nobody could outshoot him. He doesn't like being humiliate Look at him!" they said. Stung, Yoshimori got into a small boat, had himsel rowed out, and sent off a fast and furious barrage of arrows toward th middle of the Taira fleet, killing and wounding great numbers of men. i

Again, someone out at sea shot a big unlacquered arrow into Yoshitsune' •. boat and signaled for its return, just as Yoshimori had done. Yoshitsune" pulled it out to look at it. It was a plain bamboo shaft, fourteen hand: breadths and three fingers long, fledged with pheasant feathers, and bearing the name "Nii no Kishiro Chikakiyo, a resident of Iyo Province."

Yoshitsune summoned Sanemoto. "Is there somebody on our side wh can shoot this arrow back?" he asked.

"Lord Asari no Yoichi of the Kai Genji is a powerful archer." "All right, call him in." When Yoichi presented himself, Yoshitsune said, "The Heike shot this:

arrow from out at sea. They want us to return it. Would you mind?" "Let's see it." Yoichi tested it with his finger. "It's a little bit weak-also'

a little short. If nobody objects, I'd like to use one of my own," he said. With a huge fist, he gripped a lacquered shaft, fifteen h,mdbreaths long and fledged with black eagle feathers, fitted it to a lacquered, rattan-wrappe bow, which was a good nine feet long, drew the bow to the full, and sen the arrow whizzing through the air. It flew more than fourteen hundred fee thudded square into Nii no Chikakiyo's torso as he stood hi' the bow of th big boat, and sent him head over heels into the bilge, (I can't say whether h\), was killed.) Asari no Yoichi was a born archer. People said he never missed, a running deer at seven hundred feet.

After these events, both the Genji and the Heike attacked and fought wit reckless courage, shouting and yelling. Neither side seemed the weaker, b~, the Heike had the emperor and the imperial regalia with them, and the GenJ! wondered if they could be defeated.

Just then, something appeared in the sky. For a while, it looked li\<e il. white cloud, but that was not what it was. It was a mysterious white banner/ and it floated downward until its cord seemed almost to touch one of th. Genji bows. . ..

"This is a sign from the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman!" Yoshitsune eJ( claimed. Overjoyed, he rinsed his mouth and performed an obeisance, an\ all his warriors did the same. ,.

Furthermore, a school of dolphins surfaced and swam from the Ge~ position toward the Heike, a thousand or two thousand in all. Munelll0.

summoned the schools, but we ing arts to find

"If they stay · Ha reno bu said ·· no sooner spol Heike. "This is

During the 1: of the Heike, f but now he st alternative, co Heike had put important wat round and en Shigeyoshi's d carrying the d times that he l

Meanwhile, for the Genji. drew swords shores; lines c seemed, was , and the Heike

II

Genji warri out of control crossed in a s of everything ing, mopping

"How is tl ing?" the lad

He answer some remark

"How can • scream.

The nun c She draped t skirt of gloss into her belt don't intend tne, you whc

Eight that

:re capable of s yo Province, N ed more than . in the left ar n thirty-five fe ing. "Yoshimor :ing humiliate · ,oat, had himse ows toward th :rs of men. nto Yoshitsune' .one. Yoshitsun fourteen hand-

,ers, and bearin 'ince."

1er."

,u mind?" : bit weak-als ' own," he sai xeaths long an rattan-wrappe

he full, and se ,en hundred fee n the bow of th t say whether h. he never misse

and fought wit. . the weaker, bu m, and the Geni

it looked like us white banne :ouch one of th

' Yoshitsune e .

from the Genj n all. Munemor

Chapter Eleven

umrnoned the learned doctor Harenobu. "Dolphins always travel in schools, but we've never seen numbers like these," he said. "Use your divin- ing arts to find out what it means." < "If they stay on the surface and turn back, the Genji will be destroyed," l:{arenobu said. "If they dive and go on past us, we'll be in danger." He had 'iio sooner spoken than the dolphins passed directly under the boats of the }Ieike. "This is going to be the end for us," he said.

During the last three years, Awa no Shigeyoshi had acted as a loyal vassal of the Heike, fighting battle after battle without regard for his own safety, but now he suddenly went over to the Genji. (It may be that he saw no lternative, considering that his son Noriyoshi had been captured.) The eike had put their men of noble birth on the fighting boats and their less

'mportant warriors on the Chinese-style ships, hoping in that way to sur- ound and crush the Genji when they attacked the ships. But thanks to

Shigeyoshi's defection, the Genji ignored the ships and aimed at the boats carrying the disguised commanders-in-chief. Tomomori wished a thousand imes that he had cut off Shigeyoshi's head and thrown it away,

Meanwhile, all the warriors from Shikoku and Chinzei deserted the Heike for the Genji. ''Yesterday's vassals used their bows against their emperor and Jirew swords against their masters. High seas barred the way to distant $hares; lines of enemy archers denied access to nearby beaches. That day, it

\seemed, was destined to witness the end of the contest between the Genji and the Heike for mastery of the realm.

II.9. The Drowning of the Former Emperor

Genji warriors had already begun to board Heike boats that were veering out of control, their sailors and helmsmen lying slain in the bilge. Tomomori ~rossed in a small craft to the emperor's ship. "This seems to be it! Get rid of everything unsightly," he said. He ran around from stem to stern, sweep- ing, mopping, dusting, and tidying the ship with his own hands.

"How is the battle going, Lord Middle Counselor? How are things go- ing?" the ladies asked .

He answered with a sarcastic laugh. "You're going to get acquainted with some remarkable eastern warriors."

"How can you joke at a time like this!" They all began to shriek and ·scream.

The nun of second rank had decided on her course of action long ago. She draped her two gray inner robes over her head, hitched up her divided skirt of glossed silk, tucked the Bead Strand under her arm and the Sword into her belt, and took the emperor in her arms. "I'm only a woman, but I · on't intend to fall into enemy hands. I go where His Majesty goes. Follow

e, you whose hearts are loyal to him!" She walked to the side of the ship. Eight that year, the emperor seemed very mature for his age. His face

The Tale of the Heike

shone with radiant beauty, and his abundant black hair reached below h waist. "Where are you taking me, Grandmother?" he asked, with a puzzl express10n.

She turned her face to the young sovereign, holding back her tears. "Do you understand? You became an emperor because you obeyed the ten go precepts in your last life, but now an evil karma holds you in its toils. Yo good fortune has come to an end. Turn to the east and say goodbye tot. Grand Shrine of Ise, then turn to the west and repeat the sacred name · Amida Buddha, so that he and his host may come to escort you to the pu land. This country is a land of sorrow; I'm taking you to a happy pla called paradise," she said. ·

His Majesty was wearing a robe of olive-gray, and his hair was done in a boy's loops at the side. With tears swimming in his eyes, he joined tiny hands, knelt toward the east, and bade farewell to the Grand Shrin Then he turned toward the west and repeated the sacred name of Amiq The nun snatched him up, said in a comforting voice, "There's a capif under the waves, too," and entered the boundless depths.

Ah, how sad that the spring breeze of impermanence should have sea· tered the august blossoms in an instant! Ah, how heartless that the wil waves of transmigration should have engulfed the jewel person! We are to! of an imperial hall, Longevity by name, that was designed to be a permane imperial residence, and of a gate, Eternal Youth, through which old age w powerless to enter-yet now a sovereign less than ten years old had beco debris at the bottom of the sea. 3 Words cannot express the wretchedness such a karma! A dragon above the clouds had descencfed to become a fis in the ocean depths. In the past, he had held sway over kin by blood and b. marriage, with state ministers and senior nobles on every side, dwelling it were on the heights of Bonten's lofty palace and within 1'alshaku's Joy£ to-see City; now, alas, he went from shipboard life to instant death benea the waves. ·

II.IJ. The Parading of the Heike Along the Avenue

[ Most of the prominent Taira men not killed in battle have died by their own hand at Dan-no-ura, but the clan chieftain, Munemori, has been taken alive, as have Tokitada, Munemori's sons, Kenreimon'in, and some lesser figures. It is now a day or two after the battle. ]

Meanwhile, it was learned that the Second Prince had returned. 4 Retitl: Emperor Go-Shirakawa sent a carriage to fetch him. Carried off willy-nill

3, Longevity and Eternal Youth were the names of a building and a gate at the Chine imperial palace.

4. Emperor Takakura's son Morisada (rr79-r223), the younger half-brother of Emper Antoku and the older full brother of the new emperor, Go-Toba.

y the Heike, th< is plight a soul l!nyiiin consulta · lly in his safe r,

On the twenty · ork carriages <

ms. The front ere open. Minister of St iyomune, rode he carriage cc Ian had been f, as excused on

· obumoto, wh, The dashing,

erson, but he rate with !owe

park yellow tur f his personal Spectators of

also from prov countless thous from the south look behind hi isho and Yo"

exacted a drea, hers of survivo

The onlookt in the short ti parts of two ot

.ing when they such great £ea drenched-ev, ings. We may terms with the their favor fo1

> turned to the · nesses overnii in the crowd,

Munemori' romaru who Properly whe

5. Circumspe

tched below , with a puzzl

. er tears. "Dori ed the ten goo n its toils. y0 goodbye tot sacred name you to the puf • a happy pla

lir was done U :s, he joined h" : Grand Shrine tame of Amida' here's a capit

ould have scat ,s that the wil on! We are to! be a permane tich old age wa old had beco .vretchedness o :.i become a fis ,y blood and b ide, dwelling a. ishaku's Joyful! t death beneat

Avenue

i by their own m taken alive, :sser figures. It

:urned. 4 Retire d off willy-nilly'

brother of Emperor:

Chapter Eleven

the Heike, the prince had drifted on the western waves for three years,

5 plight a source of great distress to his mother and his guardian, the ·myoin consultant, but now they were reunited, and they all rejoiced tear- lly in his safe return . On the twenty-sixth, the captive Heike entered the city, riding in wicker- drk carriages decorated with designs depicting eight-petaled lotus blos- ms. The front and rear blinds were raised, and the left and right windows ere open. :Minister of State Munemori wore a plain white hunting robe.5 His son, ·yomune, rode in the rear of the same carriage, dressed in a white tunic. he carriage containing Taira Major Counselor Tokitada followed. The \an had been for Tokitada's son, Tokizane, to ride with his father, but he as excused on grounds of illness. Director of the Palace Storehouse Bureau obumoto, who had been wounded, entered the city by a side street. The dashing, handsome Munemori was thin and worn, almost another

erson, but he looked around in seemingly good spirits. His son lay pros- rate with lowered eyes, the picture of misery. Wearing light armor over a

dark yellow tupic, Toi no Sanehira guarded them with the thirty-odd riders 6f his personaf'escort, whom he posted at the front and rear of the carriage.

Spectators of all ages had assembled-not merely from inside the city, but .also from provinces near and far, and from mountains and temples. Their •countless thousands and myriads formed a solid mass along the entire route, £tom the south gate of the Toba Mansion to Yotsuzuka. A man could not look behind him; a carriage could not turn its wheels. The famine in the isho and Yowa eras [II77-8I] and the battles in the east and west had

.exacted a dreadful toll in human life, and yet there seemed to be huge num- ·bers of survivors.

• The onlookers had not forgotten the former splendor of the Heike lords inthe short time since their departure from the capital, a mere year and parts of two others. They scarcely knew whether they were awake or dream- ing when they saw the present condition of the men who had once inspired · such great fear and trembling. All of them wept until their sleeves were )drenched-even coarse, humble men and women who lacked the finer feel- .. ings. We may imagine the emotions of people who had been on intimate terms with the clan! Of the prisoners' old associates-men who had enjoyed their favor for years and rendered them service for generations-many had turned to the Genji to save themselves, but they could not forget past kind- nesses overnight, and their hearts must have been heavy. There were many in the crowd who pressed their sleeves to their faces and lowered their eyes.

Munemori's ox-driver was Saburomaru, the younger brother of that Ji- ; romaru who had had his head cut off for not driving Kiso no Yoshinaka i properly when Kiso called on the retired emperor. Saburomaru had changed

5. Circumspect attire considered suitable for grave circumstances.

The Tale of the Heike

to a man's hairdress while he was in the west, but he had set his heart driving Munemori's carriage that one time. "I realize that grooms and drivers are the lowest of the low and can't have refined feelings, but f indebted to my master for being kept in his service all these years. If it's/ right, I'd like to guide the ox during his last carriage ride," he pleaded wi Yoshitsune at Toba.

"I don't see anything wrong with it. Hurry up!" Yoshitsune said. Sabur6maru was delighted. He put on a handsome robe, drew a lead r

from his breast, and attached it to the ox. Then, blinded by tears, he set with his sleeve pressed to his face, depending on the ox to lead the way.

Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa watched the procession from a card near the intersection of Rokuj6 and Higashi-no-t6in avenues, where the C' riages of senior nobles and courtiers were also drawn up in rows. He co not help feeling sorrow and compassion at the sight of the men who · once been among his closest attendants, and the members of his entour felt as though they were dreaming. High and low shed tears. "Back in days when everyone was desperate for a glance or a word from one of th. men, who could have thought they would come to this?" people said.

In a bygone year, on the occasion of Munemori's formal expression. gratitude for his appointment as palace minister, the carriages of the zan'in major counselor and eleven other senior nobles had followed in·, train, and Head Chamberlain Chikamune and fifteen other courtiers h ridden on horseback in his vanguard. Senior nobles and courtiers alike · decked themselves out in dazzling array because they ~onsidered it a g public event. Among them, there were four middle counselors and th middle captains of third rank. The present Taira major counselor, Tokit:i. who had been a guards commander at the time, had been called before: emperor, given gifts, and otherwise entertained with splendld:ceremony. not a single senior noble or courtier accompanied the two today. Their (1 attendants were twenty samurai in white tunics, men who had been tured with them at Dan-no-ura, and who rode tied to their saddles.

After the prisoners had been paraded to the riverbed and back, Mune and his son were installed in Yoshitsune's quarters at Rokuj6 Horik Food was offered to them, but they were too upset to use their chopsti They merely wept, exchanging silent glances. i

At nightfall, Munemori spread out a sleeve and lay down withou~ l ening his robes. His guards, Genpatsuhyoe, Eda no Genz6, and Kuma1 'l1, noticed that he had covered Kiyomune with the other sleeve.6 •

"Whether a man's sphere in life is high or low, it's love for a chilf causes him the most grief. What can a sleeve do to protect the boy? Its to see how much he loves him," one of them said. Fierce warriors th<? they were, they all wept.

6. Kiyomune (1169-85) was 16 years old.

II.I8.

[ Yoshitsune has forbidden to ent, Yoritorno suspec

Yoritomo recei, the wf gs, acr m behmd his I

·ge. "I have no ell, too, that I c

matter what I e to Kiyomori' d it was for th t your clan n nded me to st1 perial edict; I 1 When Yoshika the floor in a l m the capital ,

so some forme straightening

re as a prisom t other people ep mountains, er is caged, ht bravest comr

at must be wr ecause of Ka

any of Yoshit ck to the ca pit Yoshitsune lef omune with I unemori wa

0rt. He lived ii y, but they pa Vince, there i . hitomo, had the same spc mind, pathet 'We can't pm

· Most of the T, 8· From the liter:

et his hea rooms and dmgs, buf years. If it' e pleaded

e said, ·ew a lead r; ~ars, he set 1d the way. :om a carri where the ows. He co men who his entour

, "Back in none of th pie said. expression>

5es of the allowed in!{ courtiers ha

tiers alike hit ered it a gre' ors and thr :lor, Tokitad Jed before t ·· ceremony. B · ay. Their on 1ad been ca· ddles. ;k,Munemo jo Horikawa :ir chopsticks

r a child tha boy? It's easy rriors though

Chapter Eleven

rr.r8. The Execution of the Minister of State

oshitsune has delivered Munemori to Yoritomo, but he himself has been rbidden to enter Kamakura because Kajiwara Kagetoki's slanders have made

oritomo suspect him of treacherous ambitions. )

'oritomo received Minister of State Munemori. He had him seated in one the w\pgs, across a courtyard from his own room, and looked at him

behmd his blinds. Then he sent over Hiki no Yoshikazu with a mes- e. "I have no personal grudge against the house of Taira. I know very l, too, that I couldn't have survived if your father had not permitted it, Jllatter what Lady Ike might have said to try to save me. It was entirely to Kiyomori's kindness that my sentence was reduced to distant-exile, it was for that reason that I stayed here quietly for over twenty years.

t your clan rebelled against the court, and the retired emperor com- nded me to strike you down. Nobody born in this country can ignore an erial edict; I had to obey. I'm glad to be able to meet you." hen Yoshika~p,delivered the message, Munemori sat erect and bowed

the floor in a highly inappropriate manner. There were a number of men m the capital among the large and small landholders seated in rows, and

so some former vassals of the Heike. "Does he think he can save himself ·· straightening up arid bowing?" they all sneered. "No wonder he's come re as a prisoner instead of dying in the west, the way he should have." 7

t other people wept. "It says in the book, 'When a fierce tiger roams the ep mountains, all the other animals live in fear and trembling; when the · er is caged, he wags his tail and begs for food.' 8 In the same way, even e bravest commander may change when he gets into a situation like this. at must be what's happened to Munemori," someone said.

'Because of Kagetoki's slanders, Yoritomo refused to give a clear answer o any of Yoshitsune's many pleas. Instead, he ordered him to go straight · ck to the capital. Yoshitsune left on the ninth of the sixth month, taking Munemori and

iyomune with him. Munemori was delighted by the prospect of any reprieve, no matter how ort. He lived in constant dread of being put to death somewhere along the ay, but they passed one province and post station after another. In Owari rovince, there is a place called Utsumi. It was there that Yoritomo's father,

Yoshitomo, had been killed, and Munemori felt certain that he would die n the same spot. But Utsumi too was left behind. A faint hope stirred in

. is mind, pathetically groundless. "Maybe they're going to spare us!" "We can't possibly live," Kiyomune thought. "They're just waiting until

7. Most of the Taira men had committed suicide at Dan-no-ura. 8. From the literary anthology Wen xuan.

430 The Tale of the Heike

we get close to the capital; they don't want our heads to rot in this hi!· But he kept his opinion to himself, touched by his father's appearalt· abject misery. He merely devoted his time to reciting the sacred na Amida Buddha. The capital drew near as time passed, and they arri" the Shinohara post station in Omi Province.

Yoshitsune was a kindhearted man. While ther were still three days from the city, he sent ahead for an ascetic from Ohara, a monk called shobo, to serve as the prisoners' religious guide. Munemori and Kiyo had been kept together until the preceding day, but on that morning: were separated and put in different places. Munemori's spirits sank: lower as he contemplated the likelihood that this would be their last With tears streaming down his face, he said, "Where's Kiyomune? I tho I'd be holding his hand when I died. I thought that after our heads wer off, at least our bodies would lie on the same mat. It's terribly hard f separated while we're still alive! We've never spent a day apart for seven years. It was only for his sake that I disgraced myself by not drowning

Although the holy man felt sorry for him, he felt that it would be a take to show weakness. Wiping away a tear, he spoke in a matter-of£ voice. "Don't trouble your mind about your son now. It would be agorii for both of you if you saw each other at the end. Not many men have been as happy and prosperous as you were, from the day of your birt You became related to an emperor by marriage, you served as a minist state, there was no worldly glory you didn't enjoy. The thing that's abo happen is your karma from a previous existence; you shouldn't blam .. ciety or men. When we stop to consider, even the plea~ures of deep co plation in King Bonten's palace are transitory, so what can we say a .. human life in this world, a flash of lightning, a dewdrop in the mornin life span in the heaven of the thirty-three divinities lasts' l hundred bi years, and yet it's only a dream; your own thirty-nine years of life have a mere instant. Who has tasted the elixir of eternal youth and immort Who has prolonged his life like Dongfang Shuo or the Queen Mother West? Despite his overweening arrogance, the First Emperor of Qill buried in a tumulus at Lishan; desperately though he clung to life, Em Wu of Han rotted into moss at Duling. We're told, 'Whatever lives perish; Sakyamuni Buddha didn't escape the sandalwood smoke. Happ' ends, sorrow follows: even for heavenly beings, there comes a day whe five signs of decay appear.' 10 Thus the Buddha teaches, 'Our minds are of themselves; sin and blessedness lack true existence. When we medita the mind, there is no mind. The laws do not dwell in the Law.' 11 To re

9. Time has elapsed since the battle of Dan-no-ura in the third month; it is noW. summer, the sixth month of the lunar year.

ro. From a Buddhist petition composed by Oe no Asatsuna (WKRES 793), r r. Kanzeongyii Sutra.

0 d and bad as reme cause fc

igrate through asure trove ar onounced his , · out anything l ed instruction Munemori re omptly closed 'nds, and recit -j6 Kinnaga v conspicuously Munemori st< id pathetically ll forward in a The ascetic b · ling moved, ga, a heredit: ht. "We all 1 s shameless,' Afterward, ti d urged him ow did my f

"His conduc• Tears of hapJ worry about The swordsn Yoshitsune v

. e bodies of fa unemori hac .ough his desJ .. The two he2 · th month]. nj6 riverbed e to the left nt for parad

. hear of any r criminal cc he Heike nol

r,. Amida to< · t seizing an op] ove and leaving t3. Desire is a

ut in this hea ' rs appearanc

: sacred narn d they arrived

l three days aw 10nk called B& ri and Kiyornu 1at morning th spirits sank ey be their last d >mune? I thoug 1r heads were 0' rribly hard to' ,art for sevente it drowning." · would be a rnl

. a matter-of-£· mid be agonizi 1y men have ev of your birth q :l as a minister 1g that's about' mldn't blame ; ; of deep Conte· an we say ab 1 the morning? t hundred billid , of life have be md immortali en Mother of t eror of Qin w ; to life, Empet atever lives m moke. Happin :s a day when t .. 1t minds are vo n we meditate ·

93).

Chapter Eleven 431

• 0 d and bad as unreal is to be in accord with the Buddha's mind. Isn't it a preme cause for regret, a supremely pitiable folly, that we should trans- igrate through life and death for billions of kalpas-that we should find a asure trove and leave empty-handed-even though Amida Buddha has

0 nounced his difficult vow after five kalpas of cogitation? 12 Don't think bout anything but salvation now." It was in this manner that he adminis- red instruction and urged Munemori to invoke Amida's sacred name. Munemori recognized the wisdom of the holy man's precepts. He

i:omptly closed his mind to distracting ideas, faced westward, folded his ands, and recited the name of Amida Buddha in a firm voice. Kitsuuma-

. o-jo Kinnaga went around behind him from the left, a drawn sword held conspicuously at his side, and stood poised to strike. Munemori stopped chanting. "Have you already killed Kiyomune?" he

aid pathetically. Kinnaga moved in from the rear, and the minister's head ell forward in an instant. ·· The ascetic broke down in tears. Nor could the other spectators help

· eeling moved, fierce warriors though they were. Everyone criticized Kin- aga, a heredi!ary Taira retainer who had served Tomomori morning and ight. "We alrkhow that a man has to adapt to the times, but his behavior as shameless," people said. Afterward, the holy man gave Kiyomune the same kind of instructions

lind urged him to invoke the sacred name. Most touchingly, the boy asked, /How did my father behave before he died?"

"His conduct was admirable. Please don't be concerned." '·'· Tears of happiness came to Kiyomune's eyes. "There's nothing left for me fo worry about now. Just hurry up!" he said.

The swordsman that time was Hori no Chikatsune. Yoshitsune went on to the capital with the heads. At Kinnaga's direction,

the bodies of father and son were buried in a single grave. That was because ·· unemori had been insistent about wanting to be with Kiyomune, sinful hough his desire was. 13

The two heads were brought into the capital on the twenty-third [ of the ~ixth month]. Members of the imperial police took custody of them at the anjo riverbed, paraded them along the avenue, and hung them in the China tee to the left of the prison gate. There may have been some foreign prece-

.dent for parading the heads of men of third and higher rank, but I have yet o hear of any such thing in this country. Nobuyori had been decapitated or criminal conduct in the Heiji era, but his head was not hung at the gate. he Heike nobles were the first. When they entered the city alive from the

12. Amida took a vow to save mankind. According to Maka shikan, a basic Tendai text, not seizing an opportunity to escape from the cycle of transmigration is like finding a treasure trove and leaving it empty-handed.

· 13. Desire is an impediment to enlightenment.

43 2 The Tale of the Heike

western provinces, they were paraded eastward on Rokujo Avenue; when they returned dead from the eastern provinces, they were paraded westward on Sanjo Avenue. In life and death alike, theirs was the greatest imaginable humiliation.

I r.I9. The Execution of Shigehira

The monks of Nara had been insistent in their demands for Middle Cap~ tain Shigehira, who had been living in Izu Province since last year as Kano.· no Munemochi's ward. It was decided that their requests would have to be,· granted, and orders to escort the prisoner to Nara were issued to Yorikane, a grandson of Minamoto no Yorimasa. Instead of taking him into the capi- tal, Yorikane went from Otsu along the Yamashina-Daigo road, whicb passed close to Hino.

Shigehira's principal wife, Lady Dainagon-no-suke, was the daughter of Torikai Middle Counselor Korezane, the adoptive daughter of Gojo Major Counselor Kunitsuna, and the nurse of Emperor Antoku. After she learne. that the dewdrop of his life had yet to vanish-tremble though it did on th~ tip of the leaf-she longed to meet him one last time in real life, not merely, in her dreams; but that was impossible, and she spent the days with tears a,; her only distraction. ·· ·

Shigehira asked his warrior-guards for a short leave. "I appreciate all the consideration and kindness you've shown me; it's been quite extraordinary. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask one last favor. Being childless, I don't have anything to chain my thoughts to worldly things, but .J've heard that my wife is living at Hino, and I'd like to see her just once, so that I can ask het to pray for me after my death," he said.

The warriors were not rocks or trees incapable of feeling., They wept a, they assented. "There can be no objection." ' •.: .. ··

Shigehira was delighted. He sent someone inside with a message. "Is Lacf Dainagon-no-suke there? Shigehira is on his way to Nara; he would like t speak to her from the courtyard." His wife came running out before th~ messenger finished. "Where is he? Where is he?" she asked.

He stood there near the veranda, a thin, sunburned man wearing a fold , cap and a tunic with an indigo-leaf design. She moved forward to theed of the blinds. "Am I awake or dreaming?" she asked. "Come in!"

Tears filled Shigehira's eyes at the sound of her voice, and she was t9 agitated to say anything more.

Thrusting his head inside the blind, he spoke through his tears. "Perha it was because of that frightful sin that I was captured and paraded throu the streets this last spring, when I ought to have died at Ichi-no-tani. It Vl, bad enough to be humiliated in the capital, and again in Kamakura, b now I'm on my way to be handed over to the Nara monks for execution wanted to take religious vows and give you my hair as a keepsake, but th,

wouldn't let mt off what he cot

: he said. His wife felt

life of frantic ar as Michimori's there was no ct through some can't bear to th

· you might be SJ They talked

seemed to have "Your clothi

else." She prod and Shigehira : them as keeps:

"I'll do that, writing, it wo inkstone. WeeJ

seki namid:

kar nochi 1 nug1 z<

Her respom

IlU!

kororr nar

kyo o katam

"People wh said. "Pray fo down. It's stil ing." He start

She caught little while 101

"T . ry to 1m; rneet in anoth he realized tt

· hirnself leave, she flung her carried all tht

i Avenue; wh raded westw . a itest 1magina

or Middle Ca st year as Ka ould have to · Led to Yorika m into the cap ;o road, whi

the daughter · of Gojo Maj . fter she learn Lgh it did on tli life, not merel

Lys with tears ·

,preciate all ti{ : extraordinai' ess, I don't ha heard that m

at I can ask h

:ssage. "Is Lad te would like t out before th

rearing a folde •ard to the edg

tears. "Perhap araded throug -no-tani. It was Kamakura, but for execution. r psake, but they

Chapter Eleven 433

0uldn't let me." He separated out a lock of hair from his forehead, bit what he could reach, and handed it to her. "Take this as a keepsake," said.

f-{is wife felt even more wretched than in the days when she was living a e of frantic anxiety. "I ought to have drowned myself after we parted, just !vlichimori's wife did when he died. My life became a terrible burden, but ere was no certainty about your death, and I kept hoping that somehow, rough some quirk of fate, I might see you again as you used to look. I n't bear to think this is your last day! I've just stayed alive because I hoped

ou might be spared," she said. They talked of the past and present, and it was only their tears that emed to have no end. "Your clothes look so shabby," she said. "Please change into something

lse." She produced a wadded short-sleeved robe and a white hunting robe, nd Shigehira put them on. He left her his old robes, telling her to think of

chem as keepsakes . "I'll do that, of course," she said. "But if I could have just a scrap of your riting, it would be something to treasure forever." She brought out an kstone. Wee~ihg, he set down a poem:

sekikanete namida no kakaru

karagordmo nochi no katami ni nugi zo kaenuru

Her response was prompt:

nugikauru koromo mo ima wa

nani ka sen ky6 o kagiri no katami to omoeba

That they may become mementos for the future,

I have taken off these garments, wet with the tears I have sought in vain to stem.

When I consider how they but commemorate

today's last farewell, what solace might they offer now- those garments you have taken off?

"People who exchange vows are bound to meet in the next life." Shigehira .said. "Pray for the two of us to be reborn on the same lotus. The sun's going down. It's still a long way to Nara; I don't want to keep the warriors wait- ing." He started to go.

She caught hold of his sleeve to detain him. "Please, please. Stay just a little while longer."

"Try to imagine how I feel! But there's no way out for me. I'm sure we'll meet in another life." As he started away, he was tempted to turn back, for he realized that they would never meet again in this world. But he made himself leave, determined not to look like a weakling. In an agony of grief, she flung herself onto the floor near the blinds. Her shrieks and screams

. carried all the way to the gate, and he found it impossible to put the spurs

434 The Tale of the Heike

to his horse. It seemed to him that it would have been better not to see h at all; the brief visit had merely made him feel worse. She lay prostrate, robe pulled over her head. If only she might have run after him!

After the monks took custody of Shigehira, they met in general council "This man is guilty of a crime so heinous that there is no provision for it i' the three thousand varieties of the five punishments. It's only right for hi to suffer the consequences. He's a traitor to the doctrines and scriptures, first of all, he ought to be paraded around the outer walls of the Todaiji a the Kofukuji. Then we should either cut off his head with a saw or bury hi alive and behead him," some of them argued. But the senior monks d~• murred. "Those would be questionable acts for monks. You'd better simp · turn him over to the warrior-guards and have them execute him nea Kotsu," they said. Thus, they returned him to the warriors. ·

Once the warriors took charge, they got ready to behead Shigehira on ti{ bank of the Kotsu River. Great throngs of spectators assembled, amon them several thousand monks. ·

There was a certain samurai, one Moku Tomotoki, whom Shigehira ha.,:1 employed for a number of years, and who was now in the service of th.'. Hachijo imperial lady. 14 This Tomotoki whipped his horse toward the rive!'; determined to be with his former master at the end. Just as the executio was about to proceed, he dashed up, pushed through the thousands upo thousands of onlookers all around, and made his way to Shigehira's side "I've come to be with you at the end," he said, weeping.

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate your loyaltyt Shigehira said. "I' like to worship a buddha before I'm put to death. Can anything be done My sins are so heavy ... " "Nothing easier!" Tomotoki said. After consul ing with the guards, he fetched an image from somewhete':nearby. Fort nately, it was a representation of Amida. He set it down on the sandy beac. Then he drew a sleeve-cord from his hunting robe, attached it to the Bu dha's hand, and gave Shigehira the other end to hold.

Shigehira faced the Buddha, the cord in his hand. Then he spoke. "We' told that Devadatta was assured by Sakyamuni of eventual rebirth as t buddha Ten'o, even though he had committed the three deadly sins a destroyed the scriptures preserving the eighty thousand teachings-that spite the enormity of his deeds, his very transgressions had ensured his s~, vation by bringing him into lasting association with the sacred teachings; wasn't acting of my own free will when I committed my grave sins; I W, merely trying to do my duty. What human being can spurn an impert command? What person born in this world can ignore a father's or1~ There's no way to refuse either one. The buddhas must judge between rig and wrong.

14. A daughter of Emperor Toba.

"The retribut lamentations co reigns in the Bm the text that sa: as compliance.' wipes out coun

•. compliance, am · the pure land oJ

He stretched ;.in a loud voice transgressions shed tears.

The head wa •it was there th~ the fighting in J . Shigehira 's v< headless corps< pected, the bo, the palanquin, her feelings wl until the day b,

Since things 'group of wortr Was close by. ) husband's heac body,sentthe most touching in the life to cc

Hol

:er not to see he : lay prostrate h. I ' 1m.

general council ,rovision for it i nly right for hi tnd scriptures, s ,f the Todaiji an saw or bury hirn enior monks de · u'd better simpl <ecute him near

Shigehira on the sembled, among;;

,m Shigehira had he service of the toward the river,' as the executio thousands upo Shigehira's side ..

igehira said. "I'd 1ything be done., .d. After consult: :e nearby. Fortu- the sandy beach. ed it to the Bud'

lie spoke. "We'rs .al .rebirth as the deadly sins and chings-that de: I ensured his sal' .cred teachings. grave sins; I wa ,urn an imperial a father's order/ lge between right

Chapter Eleven 435

"The retribution for my sins has been swift; my luck has run out. No amentations could express the full measure of my regret. But compassion

reigns in the Buddha's world; many paths lead to salvation. I well remember the text that says, 'The perfect teachings tell us that resistance is the same 'as compliance.' 15 A single invocation of Amida Buddha's name immediately wipes out countless sins. I ask that my resistance may be transformed into compliance, and that these final invocations may bring about my rebirth in the pure land of the nine grades."

He stretched out his neck, meanwhile reciting the sacred name ten times Jn a loud voice, and the executioner struck off his head. Grave though his transgressions had been, all the monkish thousands and warrior-guards shed tears.

The head was nailed up in front of the great torii at the Hannyaji, because it was there that Shigehira had stood when he destroyed the temples during the fighting in Jisho (1177-80].

Shigehira 's wife, Lady Dainagon-no-suke, sent a palanquin to fetch the headless corpse so that she might hold a memorial service. As she had ex- pected, the body had been thrown away. Her men retrieved it, put it into the palanquid; knd carried it on their shoulders to Hino. We can imagine her feelings when it arrived. It had retained its old handsome appearance until the day before, but now it was already decomposing in the heat.

Since things could not go on like that forever, the lady prevailed on a group of worthy monks to hold prayer services at the Hokaiji Temple, which was close by. She also persuaded Shunjobo, the Daibutsu saint, to get her husband's head from the monks and send it to Hino. She cremated head and body, sent the bones to Mount Koya, and made a grave at Hino. And then, most touchingly, she took religious vows and prayed for Shigehira's welfare

Jn the life to come.

15. From Hokke monguki, a commentary on another important Tendai text, Hokke

Chapter r2

Time: late II 8 5-early r2oo's Principal subject: fate of Rokudai, the heir of the main Taira lineage Principal characters:

Kamakura Lord. Yoritomo Koremori (Taira). Eldest son of Kiyomori's late heir, Shigemori; now

deceased Mongaku[bo]. Monk who had encouraged Yoritomo to rebel against

the Taira Rokudai (Taira). Heir of Koremori Saitogo, Saitoroku. Retainers of Koremori Tokimasa (Hojo). Yoritomo's deputy in the capital Yoritomo (Minamoto). Head of the triumphant Minamoto clan

[ On the orders of Yoritomo, now the de facto ruler of Japan, the Taira who managed to remain in the capital have been banished. The Kamakura Lord has also moved against Yoshitsune, dispatching a huge force of.,riders led by Hojo Tokimasa to take control of the city. Yoshitsune is now a' pariah, with a price on his head. ]

r2.7. Rokudai

Hojo no Shiro Tokimasa conceived the idea of proclaiming in public thaf anyone who discovered a Taira child would receive whatever reward h~ wanted; and large numbers of victims were ferreted out by the greedy local inhabitants, who knew every inch of the city. Even children from the lowef classes, if they happened to be well-favored and fair-skinned, were called i and identified as the offspring of this or that middle captain or lesser cap tain; and when the parents wept and lamented, the informers said, "Th~, child was identified by his guardian," or "He was identified by his nurse.cl.· Tokimasa's men drowned or buried the babies, and strangled or stabbe. those who were a little older. It would be impossible to describe the grief q the mothers and the misery of the nurses. Tokimasa had many children an: grandchildren of his own, and the policy he had adopted was not to h1j taste, but there seemed to be no help for it. Men must adapt to the times.

Of the Taira son, Rokudai, searches were about to leave

"Koremori'~ tain temple ca she announce,

Tokimasa h found a cloist to be trying tc saw a handso1

A woman v somebody sa,

Convinced On the fol

message: "Hi Lord Koremc him out at on

Rokudai's look, but the cape. The ho;

Everyone i careful even broke into te: of pity.

After a, tied. I've con violence. It's

"There's n, me out right the others lo mission to ct attempt at cc

Things co smoothed hii a string of d these to reci t

Rokudai a mother toda came runnin said. The nu

Rokudai 1 and figure n

r. These we

leage

ligemori; now

• rebel against

to clan

the Taira who 1makura Lord f riders led by pariah, with a

lg in public tha ever reward h the greedy loca from the !owe

I, were called i · n or lesser cap. lers said, "Tha. l by his nurse.'' ~led or stabbed :ribe the grief of ny children an was not to his

: to the times.

Chapter Twelve 437

Of the Taira children, Tokimasa especially wanted to capture Koremori's n, Rokudai, the heir of the main lineage, who was nearing adulthood. His arches were unsuccessful, but a woman came to Rokuhara just as he was out to leave for Kamakura. '·'Koremori's wife, son, and daughter are at Shiibudani, north of a moun- in temple called the Daikakuji, which is west of here, behind the Henjiiji," e announced. 1

Tokimasa hastily sent off someone with her to investigate, and his man

0 und a cloister occupied by a group of women and children, who seemed

0 be trying to keep out of sight. Watching through a chink in the fence, he aw a handsome boy come out in pursuit of a white puppy.

A woman who looked like a nurse yanked the boy back inside. "Wbat if somebody saw you?" she said. "That would be a disaster!"

Convinced that the boy must be Rokudai, the man rushed back to report. On the following day, Tokimasa surrounded the cloister. He sent in a

)nessage: "Hiijii Tokimasa, the Kamakura Lord's deputy, has learned that Lord Koremori's son, Rokudai, is living here. He has come for him; send him out at once."

Rokudai's di6ther almost fainted. Saitiigo and Saitiiroku ran around to look, but the warriors had surrounded the house, leaving no avenue of es- cape. The boy's nurse fell flat in front of him, uttering piercing shrieks.

Everyone in the cloister had been vigilant about avoiding detection, careful even to refrain from loud speech, but now the whole household broke into tearful lamentations. Tokimasa waited quietly, wiping away tears of pity.

After a while, Tokimasa repeated his demand. "Things are still unset- tled. I've come for the boy to be sure he'll be safe from any possible act of violence. It's nothing to get excited about. Send him out now," he told them.

. "There's no hope of escape," Rokudai told his mother. "You'd better send me out right away. If the warriors came in and searched, they'd see you and the others looking upset. Even if I have to go now, I can probably get per- mission to come back if I survive at all. Don't carry on so." It was a pitiful attempt at consolation.

Things could not go on like that forever. In tears, the boy's mother smoothed his hair, dressed him, and prepared to send him out. She gave him a string of dainty little blackwood prayer-beads. "As long as you live, use these to recite Amida's name. ,Then you can go to paradise," she said.

Rokudai accepted the beads with a pathetic speech. "I'm parting from my . mother today. All I want now is to join my father.'' His ten-year-old sister came running out when she heard him. "I want to go to Daddy, too," she said. The nurse restrained her.

Rokudai had only turned twelve that year, but the elegance of his face and figure made him seem more mature than most youths of fourteen or

r. These were all places in Saga (Ukyo-ku, Kyoto).

The Tale of the Heike

fifteen. Determined not to show weakness in front of the enemy, he kept sleeve pressed to his face, but the tears trickled through.

After he got into the palanquin, the warriors surrounded it, and the par set out. Saitogo and Saitoroku accompanied him, one on the left side of tn palanquin and one on the right. Tokimasa ordered two of his men to dii. mount so that they could ride, but they ran barefoot all the way from th' Daikakuji to Rokuhara, unwilling to accept his offer. >

In an agony of grief, the mother and the nurse raised their eyes to heave and cast themselves to earth. "The authorities are collecting the children o the Heike and killing them in different ways nowadays-drowning, burying strangling, and stabbing," the mother said. "I wonder how they'll do it t Rokudai. He's rather grown up, so they'll probably cut off his head. A parents love their children, even when they send them to live with nurse , and just see them once in a while, as some do. But Rokudai has never bee away from me since he was born. His father and I raised him together morn:. ing and evening, happy to have such a treasure; and after I suffered th~ terrible loss of the man I relied on, it was my two children I turned to fo. comfort. Now there's only one left; the other's gone. What will I do after this? I lived in terror of this very thing for three years, but I never expected it would happen today. All this time, I counted on the Hase Kannon td protect him, but now he's been taken away. He's probably dead already;'F She ran on in the same vein, shedding endless tears. ,

The hour grew late, but the grief-stricken mother was beyond settling down to rest. "I dozed off just now," she told the nurse, "and I dreamedC Rokudai came riding up on a white horse. 'I missed you so much that I asked for a short leave. Here I am!' he said. He sat down beside me, crying{ for some reason, as though his heart would break. In the next instant, f woke up. I looked all around, just in case, but there was 'nobody there.)• wish I hadn't waked up so soon, even though it was only a dream." Th~C. nurse wept. '·

As the long, miserable night wore on, the lady's bed seemed in danger 0£ floating away on a river of tears. ·

Because all things come to an end, the timekeeper proclaimed the ap; proach of dawn, and a new day began. Saitoroku came back. "What's hap· pened? Tell me what's happened!" the mother said.

"So far, nothing. I've brought a letter." He handed it over. She opened it to find a very adult-sounding message. "I know you mus.,

feel awfully worried. Nothing much has happened so far. I miss everybody; already." Without uttering a word, she thrust it into her bosom and £ell. prostrate. It's sad to think of how she must have felt.

After much time had elapsed in that manner, Saitoroku spoke up. "I fe~f nervous about being away, even for a little while. I'd better be getting back.··. With tears in her eyes, the mother wrote out an answer, and he left. •;

Just to be doing something, the nurse ran outside and began to wandet

around the neigl ing. "Back in ti • monk, Mongak 'hear he's lookin ,rose, and she , mistress.

"Yesterday, a cared for ever s for his life and bing and utteri be told more. S body close to 1 rank. An inforr arrested him yt

"Who was ti "He was cal "All right, I' The nurse ff

which she coul had happened.

"I thought "because I wa She asked to ' Mongaku's W< be granted!" s

Mongaku v Tokimasa t,

dren are hidd daughter. Tb Be sure to hm relatives, but two days ago. to go back tc

· He's an extra do anything ,

"l' d like to boy was we, prayer-beads bearing-all another worl him look evt to his eyes w until his blac

"No maw

it, and the Par e left side oft his men to di

te way from th

r eyes to heav ; the children wning, buryin , they'll do it t ,ff his head. All live with nurses . has never bee ' together morn-

r I suffered the I turned to for

t will I do afte · never expecte

lase Kannon to· dead already."'

beyond settling 'and I dreamed so much that l side me, crying, next instant, 1

1obody there. I a dream." The

:!aimed the ap- ,. "What's hap-:

,now you must• miss everybody ·• Josom and fell

,oke up. "I feel : getting back." he left.

,gan to wander

Chapter Twelve 439

round the neighborhood, weeping. As she walked, she heard someone talk- pg. "Back in the hills from here, there's a temple called Takao, and its onk, Mongaku, is a great favorite with the Kamakura Lord, Yoritomo. I

· ear he's looking for a son of a noble family to be his disciple." Her spirits j0 se, and she went off to Takao alone, without saying anything to her · istress.

"Yesterday, a warrior took away a young lord twelve years old, a boy I've ared for ever since he was born," she told Mongaku. "Please, please! Ask or his life and make him your disciple!" She threw herself at his feet, sob- iPg and uttering piercing shrieks. Moved by her desperation, he asked to

l,e told more. She rose and spoke through her tears. "He's the son of some- :body close to ilie wife of Koremori, the Komatsu middle captain of third rank. An informer must have said he was Koremori's son, because a warrior

·arrested him yesterday and took him away." "Who was the warrior?" Mongaku asked. "He was called Hojo Tokimasa." "All right, I'll go and look into the matter." He set out promptly. The nurse felt a little better, even though Mongaku had said nothing on

which she could rely. Back at the Daikakuji, she told Rokudai's moilier what had happened.

"I thought you must have gone off to drown yourself," the lady said, "because I was also thinking about jumping into some deep pool or river." She asked to hear the whole story. After the nurse had carefully repeated Mongaku's words, she joined her hands in prayer. "May me request for him be granted!" she said. "May I see him once again!"

Mongaku went to make inquiries at Rokuhara. Tokimasa told him, "Yoritomo said to me, 'I hear that many Taira chil-

dren are hidden in the capital, including a son of Koremori by Narichika's daughter. That child is the heir of the main lineage, and he's almost an adult. Be sure to hunt him down and kill him.' I captured a few children of distant relatives, but I couldn't find out where Koremori's son was staying. Then two days ago, an unexpected bit of information came in, just as I was about to go back to Kamakura empty-handed, and yesterday I went to get him. He's an extraordinarily appealing little fellow; I haven't brought myself to do anything about him yet. He's still here."

"I'd like to see him," Mongaku said. He went to Rokudai's quarters. The boy was wearing a double-patterned damask tunic, with the blackwood prayer-beads dangling from his wrist. The curve of his hair, his figure, his bearing-all bespoke a refinement and charm that seemed to come from another world. A drawn face, hinting of broken sleep the night before, made him look even more pathetic and touching. For some reason, tears sprang to his eyes when he saw Mongaku, and the holy man could not help weeping until his black sleeve was drenched.

"No matter how dangerous an enemy this boy might become someday, it

The Tale of the Heike

would be unthinkable to kill him," Mongaku thought. To Tokimasa he said;: "I feel terribly sorry for the child; I wonder if we might have been together in a previous existence. Please let him live twenty days longer; I'm going to visit Yoritomo and ask for him. Even though I was an exile myself, I set out toward the capital to get an edict from the retired emperor and help His Lordship rise in the world. I almost drowned when I tried to cross the un-· familiar lower reaches of the Fuji River in the dark; I begged for my life with .; joined hands when I met some highwaymen on Takaichi Mountain. I went f to Fukuhara, to the Prison Palace, and got the edict through Mitsuyoshi,. the former commander of the military guards. 2 And His Lordship made me a promise when I gave it to him. 'You may ask for anything, no matter how .... important,' he said. 'As long as I live, I'll grant any request you make.' I don't need to mention the things I did for him later; you know all about that. Promises are important; life isn't. His Lordship will never have forgot"' ten unless the appointment as constable-general has gone to his head." 3 He> set out before daybreak.

When Saitogo and Saitoroku heard what had happened, they burst into· tears, joined their hands, and worshipped the holy man as though he had been a living Buddha. We can imagine the joy of Rokudai's mother when they rushed back to the Daikakuji with the news. There were still grounds'. for concern, because the decision would be made in Kamakura, but Mon- gaku's words had been immensely reassuring. Furthermore, the boy was safe for another twenty days. The mother and the nurse breathed a little easier, trusting that it was all coming about through Kannon's .help.

Meanwhile, the sun continued to rise and set, and the· twenty days passed like a dream, with no sign of Mongaku. What could have happened? The optimism of the mother and nurse turned to despair. Again, they fretted and agonized. ' ;,,

"Mongakubo's period of grace has expired," Tokimasa said. "I can't goC) on wasting time in the capital until the year ends; I'll have to leave now.'' His men busied themselves with preparations for the departure. Saitogo and Saitoroku clenched their fists, trembling with apprehension, but there wa5. nothing they could do. Mongaku had neither come nor sent a messenger,

The two went to the Daikakuji. "The holy man hasn't arrived in the citt • yet. Hojo plans to leave tomorrow morning before daybreak." They wept as they spoke, with both sleeves pressed to their faces. \.

We can imagine the grief of Rokudai's mother. "Isn't there any wise oldet 7

man who might advise Hojo to take Rokudai with him to wherever he me~ts Mongaku?" she asked. "It would be so sad if they put him to death whd~. Mongaku was on his way with the pardon! Does it look as though they're going to kill him right away?"

2. "Prison Palace" was an epithet for the retired emperor's residence, which the Heike. ha . kept under guard. ,

3, A little earlier, Yoritomo had been granted this office, which gave him nationwide pohcf and military authority.

"We think t men on night , the name of A:

"And Roku, "When peo

way, but wher "Yes, that's

must be devm said he'd get ' haven't seen a even though t never an hour

"We'll go, his bones am: world, enter t

"Hurry ha, went off, wee

Hojo Toki1 month, takin: able to see tb the end. Wt "We're waiti any discomfc

It is sad to for his farew nurse, and le the clouds. \J having his h, wondered in he might di, crossed the r at Otsu. The day ended w and many pc day, people :

The warri bara. They: kudai on it.

"I've bro1 but I can't , Lord might going to let the karma c tnatter who

Rokudai

:imasa h been toi

·; I'm goj yself, I se and help

'cross th lr my life untain. I w h Mitsuyo ship made to matter you rnak

10w all ab· r have for ,is head.", .

1ey burst i 1.ough he mother w : still groun 1ra, but Mo : boy Was sa: a little easi

Y days pass tppened? T ey fretted an.

d. "I can't g l leave now. :. Saitogo an rnt there wa a messenger

·ed in the ci . " They wep'

n y wise older ever he meets• l death while wugh they're

:h the Heike had

ationwide police

Chapter Twelve ' ,'';;/,_

e th!nk they'll do it just bef~re daybreak tomorrow morning. flkfa on night duty seem to be feelmg unhappy. Some of them are invoki < •

:name of Amida Buddha; others are shedding tears." ng 'And Rokudai? What is he doing?" •When people are watching him, he tells his beads in a matter-of-fact

but when nobody's around, he presses his sleeve to his face and sobs." ' .'Yes, that's how he'd act. He's only a boy, but he has a man's spirit. It

st be devastating for him to realize iliat this is his last night of life. He id he'd get leave to come home if he survived even a little while, but we ven't seen anything of him here. And I haven't been able to go there either, en though twenty days have passed. After today, there'll never be a day, Ver an hour, when we might meet again. What are you two going to do?" '"We'll go where he goes. If he dies, we've made up our minds to gather 5 bones and deposit them at Mount Kaya. After that, we'll renounce the arid, enter the path of enlightenment, and pray for him."

•.· "Hurry back, then. I'm dreadfully worried about him," she said. They ent off, weeping. H6j6 Tokimasa set out from the capital on the sixteenth of the twelfth onth, taking Rokudai with him. Saitogo and Saitoroku also went, scarcely

ble to see through their tears, but determined to stay with their master to he end. When Tokimasa offered them horses, they turned him down. 'We're waiting on our master for the last time; we're not going to notice ny discomfort," they said. They walked on, weeping. It is sad to imagine Master Rokudai's feelings as he faced the eastern road

for his farewell journey, mourning the separation from his dear mother and nurse, and looking back toward the familiar capital, which now lay beyond the clouds. Whenever a warrior set spurs to his horse, he trembled in fear of having his head struck off; whenever two men exchanged a few words, he wondered in dismay if this would be his last moment. He had surmised that he might die when they reached the riverbed at Shinomiya, but the party crossed ilie mountains beyond Osaka Barrier and fanned out onto the beach

. at Otsu. Then he guessed that it would be on the plain at Awazu, but the day ended without incident. One after another, they passed many provinces and many post stations, until at last they reached Suruga Province. And that day, people said, was to mark the end of the young master's dewlike life.

The warriors all dismounted among the pine trees at Senbon-no-matsu- bara. They set down the palanquin, spread out a fur rug, and placed Ro- kudai on it. Tokimasa went up to him.

"I've brought you this far in the hope of meeting Mongaku on the way, but I can't do anything more for you. I don't know what the Kamakura Lord might think if I brought you over the Ashigara Mountains, so I'm going to let people believe I executed you back in Omi Province. You share the karma of the Taira; nobody could plead successfully for your life, no matter who." He wept as he spoke.

Rokudai made no reply. He called Saitogo and Saitoroku to him. "When

442 The Tale of the Heike

you go back to the capital afterward, don't let them know I was execute during the journey. I suppose the truth will come out in the end, but Moth would break down if she heard it from your lips. I wouldn't be able to ke from feeling sorry for her under the grass, and that would be a hindrance · the afterlife. Tell her you escorted me all the way to Kamakura," he sai For a time, the two were incapable of speech. Then Saitogo said, "We're n going calmly back to the capital alive after our master has died before us He hung his head, trying to hold back the tears.

The last moment had come. Rokudai turned his face to the west, join his palms, recited the sacred name in a tranquil voice, and waited with e· tended neck. Kano no Chikatoshi, the designated executioner, went aroun behind him from the right, with a naked blade held inconspicuously at hi side. He prepared to deal the blow, but his mind clouded and he could fin no place to strike. He threw down the sword and stepped back, scarce. conscious of his surroundings. "I can't do it. Order somebody else to k' him," he said.

"Well, then, let So-and-so kill him. Let Thus-and-so do it." As they were debating, a monk in black robes and a divided skirt ca

galloping up on a white horse, flourishing his whip. He dashed to the ex cution site, leaped down, and paused an instant to catch his breath. "T .. Kamakura Lord has pardoned the young master!" he said. "Here's his le: ter!" He handed it over, and Tokimasa opened and read it:

I am told that you have discovered a son of Lord Koremori, the Komatsu middl captain of third rank. The Takao holy man Mongaku wants. him. Have no doub about handing him over. ·

To H6j6 no Shiro Fro,in Yoritomo

-1 ,_";

Tokimasa read and reread the letter, which bore Yoritomo's seal. "It's miracle!" he said as he put it down. I need not describe the feelings ofSaj togo and Saitoroku. And all of Tokimasa's kinsmen and retainers also we~ for joy.

r2.8. Hase Rokudai Mongaku arrived soon afterward, elated by the success of his pleas. "

Lordship said, 'That boy's father, Koremori, acted as commander in the fi battle. I can't spare his life, no matter who asks me.' I tried to frig;ht, him-warned him that he'd lose divine protection if he ignored ··•· wishes-but he told me it was out of the question and left on a hunting t( to Nasuno. I made sure that I went to the hunting grounds, too, and ke after him until he agreed. You must have wondered what was taking me long," he said. ·

"The twenty days had gone by, and I'd decided that His Lordship m have turned you down. Fortunately, I didn't kill the boy on the way, ev.

though I almosl and Saitoroku c started Rokud2 distance. Then company you r ters that I need He had been m

After Mong. capital night a Owari Provine first month, an near the inter: midnight, they

When they deserted. Rok1 came up, wag thetic voice.

Saitoroku C though noboc anything; I jm happened to t the night in w

As soon as heard they W( ·and then it se Hasedera " tr

' place since th Saitogo hu1

.The mother dream?" the 1

They rushe joy. "Hurry u gaku felt tha bundled him practical con

Whether ii Kannon's su1 ful and inno, With this.

So Rokud increasing b, light. "If onl

I was execu; nd, but Mot be able to k : a hindranc: kura," he sa aid, "We're n lied before Us

he west, joine Naited with e; :r, went aroun

. iicuously at h i d he could fin

back, scarce! ody else to ki

" .ded skirt cam hed to the exe :s breath. "Th "Here's his let;

-Iojo no Shiro n Yoritomo

o's seal. "It's a" feelings of Sai, iners also wept:

his pleas. "His nder in the first · ied to frighten e ignored my l a hunting trip , too, and kept .s taking me so

Lordship must the way, even

Chapter Twelve 443

.. 0 ugh I almost made a mistake here," Tokimasa said. He mounted Sait6go pd Saitoroku on two saddled horses, which his men had been leading, and arted Rokudai off toward the capital. He escorted him for a considerable · stance. Then he made his farewell and set out eastward. "I'd like to ac- mpany you awhile longer," he said, "but there are some important mat- rs that I need to lay before His Lordship as soon as I can. I'll say goodbye." e had been most considerate. After Mongaku received custody of Rokudai, he galloped toward the

apital night and day. The year ended while the party was near Atsuta in wari Province. They reached the capital after nightfall on the fifth of the

first month, and Mongaku gave the boy a brief rest in his house, which was hear the intersection of Nijo Avenue and Inokuma Street. Then, around midnight, they went to the Daikakuji.

When they rapped on the gate, there was not a sound; the cloister was deserted. Rokudai's white puppy dashed through a break in the wall and came up, wagging its tail. "Where's my mother?" Rokudai asked in a pa- thetic voice.

Saitoroku climbed the wall to open the gate for his master. It looked as 'though nobody 'had been living there for some time. "My life isn't worth anything; I just wanted to preserve it so I could see the people I love. What's happened to them?" Rokudai said. Naturally enough, he spent the rest of the night in wretched spirits, weeping and grieving.

As soon as morning arrived, they made inquiries at a nearby house. "We heard they were going to visit the Great Buddha before the end of the year, and then it seems they were planning to spend the first month in retreat at Hasedera," the neighbors said. "It looks as though nobody's gone near the place since they left."

Saitogo hurried off to Hase, found the women, and told them the news. The mother and the nurse could scarcely believe their ears. "ls this a dream?" the mother said. "Can it be a dream?"

They rushed back to the Daikakuji, saw Rokudai, and burst into tears of joy. "Hurry up! Take religious vows right away!" the mother said. But Mon- gaku felt that it would be a pity to make a monk of the boy. Instead, he bundled him off to Takao. And I have heard that he also helped with the practical concerns of the mother's quiet life.

Whether in the past.or in the present, many have received succor from Kannon's supreme mercy and supreme benevolence, which extend to sin- ful and innocent alike, but there can have been few instances to compare with this.

12.9. The Execution of Rokudai

So Rokudfl\i grew until he was fourteen or fifteen, a youth whose ever- increasing beauty of face and figure seemed to bathe the surroundings in light. "If only these were the old days, he'd be an officer in the bodyguards

444 The Tale of the Heike

by now," his mother said, uttering words that would have been better le unspoken.

Yoritomo was never easy in his mind about the boy. "What of Koremor· son?" he kept asking Mongaku at every opportunity. "You once said, ju ing from my physiognomy, that I was a man destined to destroy the cour enemies and avenge old dishonors. Is he the same kind of person?"

"That one's spineless; don't worry about him," Mongaku alway answered.

But Yoritomo seemed dissatisfied. In an eerie display of prescience, h said, "Mongaku wouldn't think twice about joining a rebellion. Nobo ··· could overthrow us while I'm alive, but who knows what might happe after my sons succeed me?"

Rokudai's mother heard about Yoritomo's remarks. "You've got to tak your vows right now. There's no way around it," she said. And thus at t age of sixteen, in the spring of the fifth year of Bunji [u89], Rokudai c. off his beautiful hair at the shoulders, using a pair of scissors. He provide himself with a pilgrim box, donned a robe and a divided skirt treated wfr persimmon tannin, bade Mongaku farewell, and set out on a pious journey Saitiigo and Saitiiroku went with him, equipped in the same way. . .. ··

First, he went to Kiiya, where he asked his father's religious mentor, th Takiguchi novice, to tell him the whole story of how Koremori had becom a monk, and of his end. Then he went to Kumano, a sacred place doubl important to him, he said, because he wanted to retrace his father's foo steps. Standing in front of the Hama-no-miya Shrine, he looked out towar Yamanari-no-shima, the island to which Koremori had i:rossed. He woul. have liked to visit it, but an unfavorable wind was blowing, and he cout orily gaze toward it helplessly, longing to ask the incoming waves where hi~ father had drowned. Even the sand on the beach evoked 1'1d:5talgia, fod might contain his father's bones. Tears drenched his sleeves. His robes we; not those of salt-makers dipping water from the ocean, but there neve seemed a time when they were dry. He spent the night on the shore, recitin Amida's name, chanting sutras, and drawing sacred images in the sand wit• his fingertip. When morning arrived, he summoned a holy man to recit, prayers for his father, transferred to Koremori's spirit all the merit amasse .. by his good deeds, and asked leave of the dead to depart. Then he starte back toward the capital in tears.

Now it happened that the reigning emperor [Go-Toba] was a man o sessed with poetry and music. He let Lady Kyii-no-tsubone dominate th. government, and there was no end to all the appeals and petitions. Becaus a king of Wu admired good swordsmen, there were always men in his real~ who suffered wounds; because a king of Chu loved slender figures, thef were many ladies in his palace who starved themselves to death. Those b • low follow the taste of those above. People of discernment all worried aboe what might come of this perilous state of affairs.

Mongaku wa ;himself to medc idea that the thr

prince who re tempt to install Mongaku attem on the thirteentl plot was uncov house at the Ni in his eighties, v

Mongaku utt, with this! What Oki?4 Some pla on punishing a 1 I'll greet him in of all places, th: the Jiikyii era [ province and ne

Master Roku at Mount Taka rank. Neverthel

monk inside." ~ him and take hi1 of Suruga receh to help from tb twelfth year unt

Thus did the

4. "Ball-playing and established an the aristocratic spo1

5. Go-Toba's "ri

1t of Koremori' once said, iud ;troy the court' :rson?" Jngaku alway '

f prescience, h elli?n. Nobody t might happe11;

l've got to take And thus at the ~ ], Rokudai cut rs. He provided :irt treated with' a pious journey., ·way. Jus mentor, the< ori had become" :d place doubly is father's foot-• ked out toward•• ssed. He would· 5, and he could: 111aves where his [lOStalgia, for it. His robes were.

'mt there never' e shore, reciting n the sand with r man to recite : merit amassed fhen he started

was a man ob- .e dominate the titians. Because rren in his realm :r figures, there, eath. Those be- I worried about

Chapter Twelve 445

J\,1.ongaku was a holy man of formidable character, and he took it on himself to meddle where meddling was impermissible. He conceived the }dea that the throne should pass to Retired Emperor Takakura's second son, a prince who respected learning and prized principle above all else. No at- tempt to install the prince could succeed during Yoritomo's lifetime, but

'.J\,1.ongaku attempted to stage a revolt soon after his death, which occurred on the thirteenth of the first month in the tenth year of Kenkyii [u99]. The plot was uncovered immediately, and the police were sent to Mongaku's house at the Nijo-Inokuma intersection to arrest him. The holy man, then in his eighties, was banished to Oki Province.

:M.ongaku uttered a frightful speech as he left the capital. "I won't put up with this! What does that ball-playing kid think he's doing, banishing me to Oki? 4 Some place near the capital would have been right if he had to insist on punishing a man of my age, a person who might die today or tomorrow. I'll greet him in that same province someday!" Oddly enough, it was to Oki, of all places, that Retired Emperor Go-Toba was sent after his rebellion in

· the Jokyii era [1219-22]. 5 People say Mongaku's dead spirit raged in the province and,never stopped badgering the former sovereign.

\ !

Master Rokudai devoted himself with great zeal to his religious pursuits at Mount Takao, where he was known as the meditation master of third rank. Nevertheless, Yoritomo kept after the court about him. "He's Kore- mori's son and Mongaku's disciple," he said. "Shaven head or not, he's no monk inside." So the authorities commanded Anhangan Sukekane to seize him and take him to the east. And at the Tagoshi River, Oka be no Yasutsuna of Suruga received orders to cut off his head. People said it was entirely due to help from the Hase Kannan that he had managed to survive from his twelfth year until he was past thirty.

Thus did the sons of the Heike vanish forever from the face of the earth.

4. "Ball-playing kid" is a reference to the 19-year-old Go-Toba, who had abdicated in n98 and established an innocho (Retired Emperor's Office; see Introduction). He was proficient at the aristocratic sport known as kemari (kickball).

5. Go-Toba's "rebellion" in 1221 was an attempt to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate.

The Initiates' Chapter

[ Treated as a secret text by the Ichikata-ryii, this chapter is believed to have originated in the late 13th century, after the Heike proper, and to have been given its present form by Kakuichi and his Tiidiiza senior Joichi. It brings together information about Kiyomori's daughter Kenreimon'in, the mother of Emperor Antoku, which is supplied in Chapters II and r 2 by other Heike texts-namely, her taking of Buddhist vows and retirement to the Jakkiiin in II 8 5, a visit paid her by Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa in the summer of II 86, and her death in n9r. Although it is divided into five sections, it constitutes a single literary entity-a tale in the old monogatari style, rich in poetic imagery, rhythmic passages, waka, and melancholy associations. ]

Principal characters: Dainagon-no-suke. Widow of Kiyomori's son Shigehira; former nurse

of Emperor Antoku; lady-in-waiting to Kenreimon'in Go-Shirakawa, Retired Emperor. Head of the imperial clan Kenreimon'in. Daughter of Kiyomori; consort of Emp~ror Takakura;

mother of Emperor Antoku. Taken prisoner at Dan~no-ura ·

I.I. The Imperial Lady Becomes a Nun

The imperial lady Kenreimon'in had gone to stay in the district of Y. shida, at the foot of the eastern hills. The place where she lived was a d • serted cloister, the property of a Nara monk called Kyoe. Rank grasses gre in the courtyards, ferns clustered on the eaves, and the tattered blinds le the bedchambers exposed to the wind and rain. Flowers of many differe colors blossomed, but there was no master to enjoy them; moonlig. streamed in at night, but there was no owner to watch until dawn. It is s~ to imagine how she must have felt, that lady who had lived surrounded t, brocade curtains in splendid mansions, and who now found herself in 5

dreadfully dilapidated a habitation, separated from all her relatives. She W like a beached fish, like a bird torn from the nest-nostalgic, in her rnise, even for the cheerless shipboard life at sea. Her thoughts dwelt on the d tant clouds of the western ocean beyond the boundless blue waves; her tell

fell when mo, in the eastern

The imperi first year of t1

was Inzei, the As an offerin: emperor had his body. She ing to keep might be sui might help tl to speak, an made into a

The imper and an empr to preside 01 At twenty-n prince; and :

. reimon'in. S Kiyomori ar

In this pn reminded ot

' recalled Iott · to preserve last, she bee this transitc could she fc

ceased tom The nigh

arrive. Not "Dim was· heat of the lady of Sha

'oned in the The wine

r. Paraphr Shangyang Pa luoyang, was

2 • Anonyn hito no / sode

ved to have l have been ii. It brings e mother of >ther Heike 'Jakkoin in summer of sections, it tyle, rich in :ions. ]

,rmer nurse

Takakura; ra

istrict of Yo- ed was a de- grasses grew :d blinds left any different 1; moonlight twn. It is sad .rrounded by herself in so ives. She was n her misery, it on the dis- ves; her tears

The Initiates' Chapter 447

· [ when moonlight illumined the courtyard of the mossy, thatched cloister the eastern hills. No words could describe her melancholy. The imperial lady became a nun on the first day of the fifth month in the

rst year of the Bunji era [1185]. The monk who administered the precepts as Inzei, the holy man from the Ashobo Cloister at the Chorakuji Temple. s an offering, she gave him one of Emperor Antoku's informal cloaks. The Olperor had worn it until the hour of his death; it still carried the scent of is body. She had brought it all the way from the west to the capital, mean- 11g to keep it always beside her. But now, for lack of anything else that ight be suitable, she produced it tearfully, telling herself that the deed ight help the emperor attain enlightenment. The monk took it, too moved

fo speak, and left with tears drenching his black sleeve. People say it was [Jlade into a banner to be hung in front of the Chorakuji Buddha.

The imperial lady had been named a junior consort at the age of fifteen, and an empress at sixteen. Always at the emperor's side, she had urged him to preside over the dawn levees and had shared his love with none at night. At twenty-two, she had given birth to a son who had become the crown

'prince; and afte,r her son's accession, she had received the palace name Ken- reimon'in. She Ha'd enjoyed the very greatest respect as both the daughter of Kiyomori and the mother of the emperor.

In this present year [ 118 5 ), she had turned twenty-nine. The beauty that reminded others of peach blossoms remained unmarred; the freshness that recalled lotus blossoms had not faded. But there was no longer any reason to preserve the tresses reminiscent of black kingfisher feathers, and so, at last, she became a nun. Alas! Her grief knew no end, even after she rejected this transitory world for the true path. Never, not in all the lives to come, could she forget how her despairing kinsmen had cast themselves into the sea; never could she forget the faces of her son and mother. Why had her

· own dewlike existence dragged on, a mere source of misery? She never ceased to mourn, never ceased to weep.

The nights are short in the fifth month, but the dawns seemed slow to arrive. Not even in dreams could she recapture the past, for she never dozed. "Dim was the waning light of the lamp by the wall, lonely the nightlong beat of the dismal rain against the window." 1 It seemed that not even the lady of Shangyang could have been more wretched when she was impris- oned in the Shangyang Palace.

The wind carried the nostalgic perfume of a flowering orange tree at the eaves-transplanted, perhaps, because the former occupant had sought a reminder of the past 2-and a cuckoo sang two or three times. Recalling

I. Paraphrased from "The White-haired Lady of Shangyang," a poem by Bo Juyi. The Shangyang Palace, in the southwest corner of Emperor Xuanzong's residential compound at Luoyang, was where the potential rivals of Yang Gueifei were consigned.

2. Anonymous (KKS 139), satsuki matsu / hanatachibana no/ ka o kageba / mukashi no hito no/ sode no ka zo suru ("Scenting the fragrance of the orange blossoms that await the

The Tale of the Heike

the words of an old poem, the lady scribbled them on the lid of her ink ' stone case:

hototogisu hanatachibana no

ka o tomete naku wa mukashi no hito ya koishiki

That you raise your voice, cuckoo, seeking the fragrance

of the flowering orange- is it from nostalgia for that "someone long ago"?

Less resolute than the nun of second rank and Michimori's wife, Ko~ zaishii, the other Heike women had not drowned themselves in the sea, but had been captured by rough warriors and brought back to the capital, Young and old alike, they had taken Buddhist vows, put on rude attire, an.ii gone to eke out miserable existences in deep valleys and rocky wilds, place~ of which they had never dreamed. Their old homes had all gone up in;• smoke, leaving only gutted, deserted sites, fast turning into overgrown' fields. The poor ladies must have felt much as did those men who returne<i from an immortal's dwelling, only to encounter their own descendants iiv, the seventh generation. 3

Meanwhile, the great earthquake on the ninth of the seventh month had crumbled the tile-capped earthen walls and tilted the rundown buildings at' the imperial lady's abode, rendering it even less habitable than before. There was not so much as a green-robed guard at the gate.4 Already, the depressing voices of insects made officious announcement of autumn's coming, crying from ruined brushwood fences that were even dewier than the lush fields. The nights, as they gradually lengthened, seemed more interminable than ever to the wakeful lady. It was too much that the melancholy of autumn should be superimposed on her never-ending sorrow! In the transitory/ world where all had changed, not one remained of the old om;mections who( would once have felt bound to take pity on her; not one seemed left who might come to her assistance.

I.2. The Imperial Lady Goes to Ohara

The imperial lady's younger sisters, the wives of Takafusa and Nobutaka, found discreet ways to express their sympathy. "In the old days, it never

fifth month, I recall a perfumed sleeve, worn by someone long ago"). The "old poem" below (SKKS 244) also alludes to this famous composition.

3. According to legend, two Chinese men of the rst century A.D. met a female immortal on Mount Tiantai, stayed with her for six months, and returned to "encounter their own descen~ dants in the seventh generation." The immediate source of the present allusion is probably WKRES 545•

4. Kenreimon'in was worse off than the lady of Shangyang, whose "palace gates were se-' cured by green-robed guards." The great earthquake of n85, which had wrought much dam· age in the capital, is described in a section of that title (Sec. r 2. r; not translated).

· occurred to me said, weeping.

Her abode v inquisitive pas: where far back news to reach awaited the wi

· a very quiet pl go there. "It's there than in a Takafusa's wil

It was late i imperial lady · mountains, th lingering on ti tolled at a te added its mo direction, blo the cloud-bla, barely audibl ing was as ba and island to

The mossy uity. It was a if she though of dewy bush santhemums the Son of H, enment be hi forget him ir

She built bedroom an gent perforr recitations.

Toward e, in the court: come to thii I'll hurry an

The intru what was it

5. A slight koto koso are j small comfort,

lid of her i

nee, ance e-

go"?

ori's wife, I<: , m the sea, b\l, to the capita . ·ude attire, an :y wilds, pla ·· all gone up i 1to overgrow 1 who returne descendants in

nth month had vn buildings at 11 before. There'. the depressing:

coming, crying' the lush fields. :rminable than' ,oly of autumn the transitory

•nnections who :emed left who

md Nobutaka, days, it never

'old poem" below

:male immortal on their own descen~

lusion is probably

lace gates were se~ rought much dam- 1ted).

The Initiates' Chapter

curred to me that I might have to depend on those two for a living," she aid, weeping. Her attendants all drenched their sleeves.

Ber abode was close to the capital, near a road where there were many quisitive passersby. She longed in vain for an opportunity to move some- here far back in the mountains-to find a refuge too remote for distressing ews to reach her ears, where she might remain while the dew of her life waited the wind. Then a certain feminine caller told her about the Jakkoin, very quiet place far back in the mountains at Ohara, and she resolved to

0 there. "It's true that a mountain hermitage is lonely, but life is far better here than in a world full of vexations," she said.5 I believe I have heard that

'fakafusa's wife made arrangements for the palanquin and other necessities . ·.•·.· .. It was late in the ninth month of the first year of Bunji [II8 5] when the mperial lady went to the Jakkoin. Perhaps because the road wound through · ountains, the twilight shadows began to gather as she journeyed, her eyes lingering on the colored leaves of the surrounding trees. A lonely sunset bell tolled at a temple in the fields, and the thick dew on the wayside plants added its moisture to her tear-dampened sleeves. Leaves scurried in every direction, blmyn by a violent wind, and a sudden shower rained down from

Jhe cloud-bladh!ned sky, accompanied by the faint belling of a deer and the barely audible plaints of insects. It was all unspeakably depressing. "Noth-

, ing was as bad as this before, not even when we were going from bay to bay ·· and island to island," she thought piteously.

The mossy rocks at the Jakkoin evoked an atmosphere of tranquil antiq- uity. It was a place in which she could willingly settle down. We may wonder if she thought of her own situation when she saw the frost-stricken clumps of dewy bush clover in the courtyard, or gazed at the withering, fading chry- santhemums by the rough fence. She went before the Buddha to pray: "May the Son of Heaven's holy spirit achieve perfect wisdom; may prompt enlight- enment be his," Her son's face was before her as she spoke. Would she ever forget him in all the lives to come?

She built a ten-foot-square cell next to the Jakkoin, with one bay as a bedroom and the other as a chapel, and there she spent the days in dili- gent performance of the six daily devotions and the perpetual buddha- recitations.

Toward evening on the fifteenth of the tenth month, she heard footsteps in the courtyard, which lay buried under fallen oak leaves. "Who can have come to this hermitage? Look and see. If it's someone I need to hide from, I'll hurry and hide," she said.

The intruder proved to be a passing stag. When the lady asked, "Well, what was it?" Dainagon-no-suke replied in verse, suppressing her tears:

5. A slight alteration of an anonymous poem (KKS 944): yamazato wa / mono wabishiki / koto koso are / yo no uki yori wa / sumiyokarikeri ("It is true that a mountain hermitage offers small comfort, yet life is far better there than in a world of vexations").

45° The Tale of the Heike

iwane fumi tare ka wa towamu

nara no ha no soyogu wa shika no wataru narikeri

Who might be coming, treading on rocks, to call here?

The visitor whose step rustles through fallen oak leaves is but a passing stag.

With a full heart, the lady wrote the poem on a small sliding door nl to her window.

Despite all its hardships, her tedious existence suggested many interestr' comparisons. She likened the rows of native trees at her eaves to the sev circles of trees surrounding the pure land, and she thought of the wat· collecting between rocks as the waters of the eight virtues. .

The ephemerality of worldly things is like springtime blossoms scaw{ ing in the breeze; the brevity of human existence is like an autumn mod disappearing behind a cloud. On mornings when the lady had enjoy blossoms at the Chengyang Hall, the wind had come and scattered th beauty; on evenings when she had composed poems about the moon at t Zhangqiu Palace, clouds had covered the moon's face and hidden its ra. ance. Once she had lived in a magnificent mansion with jeweled towe golden halls, and brocade cushions; now her brushwood hermitage dre tears even from the eyes of strangers.

I. 3. The Imperial Journey to Ohara

Meanwhile, around the spring of the second year of Bunji [r 186), Retir Emperor Go-Shirakawa decided that he would like to see Kenreimo11'i hermitage at Ohara. But there were tempests during the second and th' months, and the cold weather dragged on, with unmelted snow on the pe and lingering icicles in the valleys. Spring passed, summev, came, and t Kamo Festival took place. Only then did the former sovereign set out und. cover of darkness for the recesses of Ohara. He traveled without ceremori but his retinue included Tokudaiji no Sanesada, Kazan'in no Kanemas Tsuchimikado no Michichika, and three other senior nobles, as well as ei courtiers and a few north guards. They took the Kurama highroad, and viewed Kiyowara no Fukayabu's Fudarakuji Temple, as well as the fopn residence of the Ono Grand Empress.6 .

He changed to a palanquin at Ono. The white clouds on the distant hi! recalled the cherry blossoms that had now scattered; the green leaves on t trees were poignant reminders of the end of spring. The time was late int fourth month, a season of lush summer growth. Since he had never travel .. there before, all the sights were unfamiliar as his palanquin made its W,

6. The Fudarakuji (in the mountains of the present Sakyo-ku, Kyoto) had fallen into ru soon after the death of its builder and principal resident, the poet Fukayabu (fl. ca. 900), Ono grand empress, a consort of Emperor Go-Reizei (ro25-68; r. 1045-68), had lived as, nun at Ono, in what is now Kita-ku, Kyoto.

through the der pletely off the b

A lone Budd! akkoin. The vt

with a noble h rote these line

The roe The do,

Young grasst in the wind, ar have been mist to the pines o cherries, inters lightful than ti in profusion, a ,clouds, as tho peror compost

ike, m1g1w:

chi, nam1 r

sakari

It was a pk even to the sc fences were 01 an eyebrow r justice.

When the r mitage, he sa getting-grass" an abode of, often empty, 1 ria thatch on dews, which,

To the rear Y-,histled thro

7, The quota 8, Wasuregu,

nobu[gusa], a ki document addre bureaucrat, in w

!re?

~aves

1y interestin • to the seven of the water

mms scatter.:: utumn moon' had enjoyed :attered their. · moon at thei Iden its radi- reled towers ·••

' mitage drew

r 8 6], Retired ~nreimon'in's nd and third on the peaks

1me, and the ,et out under . ut ceremony, J Kanemasa, , well as eight road, and he ts the former

: distant hills leaves on the •as late in the .ever traveled nade its way

fallen into ruins fl. ca. 900), The ), had lived as a

The Initiates' Chapter 45I

Jgough the dense foliage. Deeply moved, he realized that the area was com- letely off the beaten track. A lone Buddhist structure at the foot of the western hills proved to be the

:f akkoin. The v~nerable g_arde? pond and anci~nt trees made it seem a place with a noble history. Might 1t have been of Just such a one that the poet wrote these lines?

The roof tiles are broken, the fog burns perpetual incense; The doors have fallen, the moonbeams light eternal lamps.7

Young grasses burgeoned in the courtyard, green willow branches tangled in the wind, and the duckweed on the pond, drifting with the waves, might

.. have been mistaken for brocade set out to be washed. The wisteria clinging to the pines on the islet had put forth purple flowers; the late-blooming cherries, interspersed among the green leaves, seemed a novelty more de- lightful than the season's first blossoms. The kerria on the banks bloomed in profusion, and a mountain cuckoo sang from a rift in the many-layered clouds, as though to welcome the awaited imperial guest. The retired em- peror composed.a poem:

:~ i· .

ikemizu ni migiwa no sakura

chirishikit,; nami no hana'koso sakari narikere

Wave-flowers in full bloom: on the surface of the pond,

blossoms have scattered from the cherry trees along the water's edge.

It was a place where everything seemed endowed with a special charm, even to the sound of water gushing from a cleft in time-worn rocks. The fences were overgrown with green ivy; the mountains appeared etched with an eyebrow pencil. It was a scene to which no painter could have done justice.

When the retired emperor turned his attention to the imperial lady's her- mitage, he saw ivy and morning-glory vines climbing the eaves, and "for- getting-grass" day lilies mingling with "remembering-grass" ferns.• It was an abode of which someone might have said, "The gourd and rice tub are often empty, the grasses riot as at Yan Yuan's house." The crude cryptome- ria thatch on the roof seemed scarcely able to keep out the rains, frosts, and dews, which vied with the infiltrating moonbeams for admittance.

To the rear, there were mountains; in front, barren fields where the wind whistled through low bamboo grass. The bamboo pillars, with their many joints, recalled the manifold sorrows of those who live apart from society;

7. The quotation has not been identified. 8. Wasuregusa, a name for the day lily, can be translated as "forgetting grass," shi-

nobu[gusa], a kind of fern, as "remembering grass." The next sentence is paraphrased from a document addressed to a superior by Tachibana no Naomoto (fl. ca. 950), a scholar and minor bureaucrat, in which the author complains about his poverty and failure to win promotion.

452 The Tale of the Heike

the brushwood fence, with its loose weave, brought to mind the long inter• vals between tidings from the capital. By way of visitors, there were only the. cries of monkeys swinging from tree to tree on the peaks, and the sound of C woodcutters' axes felling timber for firewood. For the rest, those who came were rare, unless we might count the curling tendrils of wild vines.9

"ls anybody home?" the retired emperor asked. At first, there was no answer. Then, after a long delay, a feeble old nun

appeared. "Where has the imperial lady gone?" he asked. "To the mountain up there, to gather flowers," she said. "Wasn't there anybody she could send on an errand like that? Even

though she's a nun now, it's not right that she should have to do it herself." "She suffers her present hardships because there has been an end to the ·•

good karma she earned by observing the five commandments and ten good · precepts," said the nun. "Why should she mind performing austerities that mortify the flesh? The Cause and Effect Sutra instructs us, 'If you want to know past causes, look at present effects; if you want to know future effects, look at present causes.' If Your Majesty understands past and future causes . and effects, you will feel no grief at all. Prince Siddhartha left Gaya at the age of nineteen, covered his nudity with leafy garments at the foot of Mount Dal).c.laka, climbed to the peaks for firewood, descended to the valleys for water, and finally achieved perfect enlightenment through the merit of his hard and painful austerities."

The retired emperor could not tell whether the ancient scraps of cloth in the nun's patchwork robe were silk or some other material. It was odd, he thought, that one thus attired should have spoken so. "Tell me, who are you?" he said. . . •·•

The nun began to weep, and for a time was too moved to teply. When she ) managed to control her tears, she said, "It hurts to have to admit it, but: I · am Shinzei's daughter, the one who used to be called Awa-no-naishi. My mother was the Kii lady of second rank. You used to be so very kind, but now l'm such an old crone that you don't even recognize me! Oh, I can't bear it!" She was too pathetic to watch as she held her sleeve to her face, no longer able to suppress her feelings.

"Awa-no-naishi! I didn't know you. This is so much like a dream!" The retired emperor could not keep from crying. •

"No wonder she didn't seem like an ordinary nun," the senior nobles and i courtiers in the entourage said to one another.

The retired emperor looked around. Heavy with dew, the bushes in the courtyard leaned against the brushwood fence; on the flooded rice paddy outside, there was not even enough space for a longbill to alight. He entered the hermitage and opened the sliding door. The first room contained the

9, There is a pun on kuru, a verb that can mean either "come" or "wind" (as on a reel;_ translated as "curling"). ,

welcoming tri deity. To the pictures of th the eight scro ings. Instead , incense. Even Vimalakirti a directions. N paper, were J lines of Chim the monkwh

From In frc

Somewhat lady's brush:

01

miya SU

kum, yoso

· Off to the lady's bedch from bambo gauze,broca senior noble wept until t though they

Presently, way down ti

"Who are The old Ill

on her arm the former Middle Cm Counselor I< the retired e

The impe embarrassin choked witl mitage. Perl

ro. Sadam, in ro34.

,e long inter-', vere only the the sound of se who came nes.9

eble old nun

: that? Even o it herself." .n end to the md ten good 1sterities that you want to uture effects, future causes • Gaya at the >ot of Mount ,e valleys for : merit of his

,s of cloth in was odd, he

me, who are

,ly. When she dmit it, but I o-naishi. My ery kind, but :! Oh, I can't > her face, no

dream!" The

ir nobles and

~ushes in the :d rice paddy t. He entered :ontained the

i" (as on a reel;

The Initiates' Chapter 453

• welcoming triad, with a five-colored cord attached to the hand of the central deity. To the left, there was a painting of Fugen; to the right, there were pictures of the teacher Shandao and the former emperor. There were also the eight scrolls of the Lotus Sutra and the nine scrolls of Shandao's writ- ings. Instead of orchid and musk fragrance, smoke ascended from offering- incense. Even thus, it seemed, must have been the ten-foot-square cell where

. Vimalakirti aligned thirty-two thousand seats for the buddhas of the ten directions. Noteworthy passages from sutras, inscribed on bits of colored paper, were pasted here and there on sliding doors. There were also two lines of Chinese verse, said to have been composed at Mount Qingliang by the monk whose lay name was 6e no Sadamoto: 10

From a lone cloud, mouth organs and singing resound in the distance; In front of the setting sun, the divine host approaches to bid me welcome.

Somewhat apart, there was a poem that seemed to be from the imperial lady's brush:

omoiki ya miyama :pq oku ni

sumai shite kumoi no tsuki o yoso ni mimu to wa

Did I ever think to find myself dwelling

deep in the· mountains, gazing at the moon on high, far from the royal palace?

Off to the side, the retired emperor saw what looked like the imperial lady's bedchamber. A hemp robe, a paper quilt, and similar articles hung from bamboo rods. It seemed only a dream that she had once worn damask, gauze, brocade, and embroidery, the choicest stuffs of Japan and China. The senior nobles and courtiers had all witnessed her former splendor, and they wept until their sleeves were drenched, recalling those earlier scenes as though they had just taken place.

Presently, two nuns, dressed in robes of deep black, came picking their way down the steep, rocky path from the mountain above.

"Who are they?" the retired emperor asked. The old nun tried not to cry. "The one carrying the basket of rock azaleas

on her arm is the imperial lady. The one with the firewood and bracken is the former emperor's nurse, Dainagon-no-suke, the daughter of Torikai Middle Counselor Korezane and the adopted daughter of Gojo Major Counselor Kunitsuna." She burst into tears as she spoke. Profoundly moved, the retired emperor also shed involuntary tears.

The imperial lady would have liked to disappear. Nun or not, it was too embarrassing to have him see her in her present attire. She stood helpless, choked with tears, neither returning to the mountain nor entering the her- mitage. Perhaps she despaired of drying her sleeves, which she had soaked

ro. Sadamoto's name as a monk was Jakusho. He lived in China from 1003 until his death in 1034.

454 The Tale of the Heike

during the nightly drawing of holy water, and which had been drenched again after she had risen before dawn to tread the dewy mountain path,' Awa-no-naishi went up to her and took the flower basket.

I.4. The Matter of the Six Paths

"You wear the kind of clothing that's customary for someone who has: renounced the world. It's quite all right to appear in it," Awa-no-naishi said.;, "Hurry up and meet with His Majesty; he needs to get started back to the capital."

The imperial lady entered the hermitage. When she met the retired em-, peror, tears came to her eyes. "I have expected the radiance of the saving· Buddha to shine before the window whenever I have recited a single invo- cation, and I have waited for the divine host to appear at my brushwood·• door whenever I have recited ten invocations, but never have I anticipated anything as remarkable as this visit," she said.

"Even those who dwell in the Bhaviigra Heaven, where the life span is. eighty thousand kalpas, must face the affliction of inevitable death; not even ,· those who dwell in the six heavens of the world of desire can evade the< sorrow of the five signs of decay. The wonderful pleasures of the Joyful-to- see Palace, the delights of Bon ten's lofty palace-all are but the good fortune of a dream, the happiness of a phantasm, subject to eternal change. They resemble the turning wheels of a carriage. Sadly enough, the grief of the· heavenly beings' five signs of decay has visited the world of men, too," the retired emperor said. "But tell me, who comes to see you? There must be many things to remind you of the old days."

The imperial lady restrained tears. "Of course, this present state causes me temporary distress, but I look on it as a blessing when l ~hink about my.; future enlightenment. I've hurried to become Sakyamuni's disciple, and have . reverently placed my faith in Amida's vow; thus, I escape the sorrows of the five obstacles and the three subordinations, I purify my six senses during each of the six divisions of the day, and I pray with all my heart for rebirth in the pure land of nine grades. There's no time when I don't wait for the welcoming triad, no time when I don't offer fervent prayers for the enlight- enment of my kin. But I shall never forget the former emperor's face, not in all the lives to come. I try to forget, but forgetting is impossible; I try to control my anguish, but that is impossible too. Nothing causes as much sorrow as a parent's affection; that's why I pray faithfully, morning and , evening, for the former emperor's enlightenment. I believe my love for him will guide me to enlightenment, too."

"These remote islands of ours are as tiny as scattered grains of millet," the retired emperor said. "Still, the merit remaining from obedience to the ten good precepts has conferred on me the awesome title of Lord of a Myriad Chariots; and as befits my status, there's nothing that isn't tlie way I want it. In particular, there can be no doubt about my entering paradise

in the next life, Buddhist teach reason why evi me now. And}

The imperia

As Chancellor l country in the p changes of dress regent, the mini: the eight myriac His Majesty's m jade curtains in the cherry bloss, relief from the allowed to wat, frigid nights of, was to live on , ensuring long Ii Penglai. I believ sures I enjoyed couldn't help fe Yoshinaka or s homes into a b Suma to Akash

· drenched as w, plovers on the make me forge1 sorrow of the fi

If we speak, ration from the we dislike. No1 rience. At the l inces by a mar were vast, but that year, we ! above the clou month, Middl, us out of the c "We're like fisl I have of living

Our days w tribute goods; couldn't eat it sea, but peopl, the world of h1

Thanks to ti their spirit, bu

one who 0 -naishi sa :l back to

e retired e · of the savi 1 single inv& I brushwoo I anticipate

e life span ath; not eve m evade the he Joyful-to} good fortune :hange, They : grief of the en, too," the 1ere must be

state causes 11k about my Jle, and have •rrows of the enses during :t for rebirth wait for the · the enlight- ; face, not in .ble; I try to ses as much aorning and love for him

s of millet," Hence to the f Lord of a sn't tfie way ing paradise

The Initiates' Chapter

· he next life, because I've been born in a land where men disseminate the ddhist teachings, and my desire to follow the Way is fervent. There's no son why evidence of this world's evanescence should come as a shock to now. And yet I find it unbearable to see you like this."

.The imperial lady spoke again:

Chancellor Kiyomori's daughter, I became the imperial mother and held the untry in the palm of my hand. From the New Year's felicitations through the two anges of dress to the Buddhist names services at year's end, I was attended by the ent, the ministers of state, and the other senior nobles, as though surrounded by

e eight myriad celestial beings above the clouds in the six and four heavens; of all is Majesty's many officials, not one but looked up to me in awe. Pampered behind de curtains in the Seiryoden and the Shishinden, in spring I spent days watching e cherry blossoms on the tree in the Shishinden courtyard, in high summer I found lief from the heat by dipping water from a welling spring, in autumn I wasn't lowed to watch the moon above the clouds by myself, and in black winter, on igid nights of white snow, I slept warm under layers of bedclothing. My only desire as to live on and on-to petition the gods, if necessary, for the immortals' art of

nsuring long life and eternal youth, or to search out the elixir of immortality from Penglai. I believed Jh,at the bliss of heaven could be no more sublime than the plea- ~ures l enjoyed day and night. But in the autumn of that year in Juei [n83], l couldn't help feeling miserable when my clansmen, terrified of a man called Kiso no

'.Yoshinaka or some such, left the familiar capital behind the clouds, turned their .· homes into a blackened' wilderness of plains, and traveled along the seashore from · Suma to Akashi, places known to me only by name. In the daytime, my sleeves were

drenched as we cleaved the boundless waves; at night, I cried until dawn with the plovers on the long sandspits. Seeing famous shores and islands wasn't enough to make me forget the capital. I thought that our forlorn state must surely resemble the

. sorrow of the five signs of decay. If we speak of the world of men, I have known the sad suffering caused by sepa-

ration from those we love; also the hateful suffering caused by association with those we dislike. Not one of the four and eight sufferings has remained outside my expe- rience. At the Dazaifu in Chikuzen Province, we were ousted from the Nine Prov- inces by a man called Koreyoshi or something like that. The mountains and fields were vast, but there was no place for us to take shelter and rest. As autumn waned that year, we gazed from the eightfold tidal paths on the moon we had watched above the clouds at the ninefold palace. Time passed, and then, around the tenth month, Middle Captain Kiyotsune cast himself into the sea. "Genji attackers drove us out of the capital and Koreyoshi expelled us from Chinzei," he said to himself. "We're like fish in a net; there's no escape, no matter where we go. What chance do I have of living out my life?" That was our first great sorrow.

Our days were spent on the waves, our nights in the boats. We possessed no tribute goods; nobody prepared food for me. If something did come to hand, I couldn't eat it because there was no water. It's true that we were afloat on a mighty sea, but people can't drink salt water. I felt that I was experiencing the sufferings of the world of hungry spirits.

Thanks to the victories at Murayama and Mizushima, our men seemed to regain their spirit, but many of them died at Ichi-no-tani. Those who remained exchanged

The Tale of the Heike

informal and formal robes for iron armor and helmets, and there was never a time early or late, when the shouts of battle stopped. I felt certain that the fighting bet tween the asura kings and Taishaku must be just the same. ••

After the defeat at khi-no-tani, parents were left childless and wives husbandless:. If we saw a fishing boat in the offing, we trembled lest it be an enemy vessel; th~ sight of snowy herons flocking in some distant pine grove made our hearts faint witn terror lest they be the white banners of the Genji. And I recall how, when we wed at Moji and Akama-no-seki, and we all realized that the day of our last battle ha come, the nun of second rank said to me, "There isn't a chance in a thousand myriadi that any male member of our house will survive. Even if some distant relative did · happen to be left, we couldn't expect him to perform memorial services for us. It's always been the custom to spare women. Do your best to come through the battl safely so that you can pray for His Majesty's salvation. I hope you'll also say a prayer for the rest of us." I listened as though in a dream.

A sudden wind sprang up, and a blanket of drifting clouds came down on us,/ striking terror into the warriors' hearts. Our fate was sealed; no human effort could:'• change it.

When my mother saw the end approaching, she clasped His Majesty the Emperor< in her arms and went to the side of the ship. "Where are you taking me, Grand,; mother?" he asked, with a puzzled look. "Don't you understand?" she said. "You became an emperor because you obeyed the ten good precepts in your last life, but now an evil karma holds you fast. Your good fortune has come to an end. Turn to the east and say goodbye to the Grand Shrine of Ise, then turn to the west and repeat the sacred name of Amida Buddha, so that he and his host may come to escort you to the pure land. This country is a place of sorrow; I'm taking you to a happy realm called paradise."

His Majesty was wearing an olive-gray robe, and his hair was done up in a boy's loops at the sides. With tears in his eyes, he joined his tiny hands, knelt toward the. east, and bade farewell to the Grand Shrine. Then he turned toward the west and recited the sacred name of Amida; and my mother snatched him qp,/lnd jumped int◊/ the sea. Darkness shrouded my eyes as I saw my son sink under the\vaves; my brain .. seemed paralyzed. I try to forget, but forgetting is impossible; I try to control my'( grief, but that's impossible too. Those who were left behind uttered so great and· terrible a cry that it seemed not even the shrieks of sinners under the flames in the hot hells could sound worse. ·

When I was returning to the city after the warriors captured me, we stopped at< Akashi Shore in Harima Province. I dozed off, and in a dream I saw the former •• emperor and the Taira senior nobles and courtiers, all in formal array, in a place far ·. grander than the old imperial palace. I asked where we were, because I had seen nothing like it since our departure from the capital. Someone who seemed to be th~ nun of second rank answered, "This is the palace of a dragon king." "What a splen, did place! Is there no suffering here?" I asked. "The suffering is described in the Ryiichikukyo Sutra. Pray hard for us," she said. I awakened as she spoke. Since then,. I've been more zealous than ever in reciting the sutras and invoking Amida's name so they can be saved. I think it's all been exactly like experiencing life in each of the . six paths.

"We're told that Xuanzhuang of China saw the six paths before h~; achieved enlightenment, and that the holy Nichizo of our land saw theIJJ.

through the po rare to see ther tears, and all sleeves. The ir sleeves.

Meanwhile, day, and the e1 bye, the retire, perial lady co memories nov cession gradu image. "May I Heike achieve tears.

In the past, Ise and the be tumns and a and prayed w in Amida's p1 bedchamber:

ko itsu n

W2

omiy: koish

ini yume

ko shiba hisasl

I believe I pillars at the . with the retir

in tsuki

ki sono miya

At a time, and depressi: fly by, its voi

; husband ny vessel•• arts faint'· ,vhen we ast battle •usand myd 1t relative • ces for us. llgh the ba. •

r the Emper g me, Gran he said. "Yo r last life, b end. Turn

est and repe to escort yo

l happy real

up in a boy' :It toward th the west and :I jumped intCl ves; my brain •o control my. so great and flames in thes

ve stopped at w the former , in a place far se I had seen ned to be the What a splen- :cribed in the :e. Since then, lmida's name . in each of the

s before he d saw them

The Initiates' Chapter

0 ugh the power of Zao Gongen," said the retired emperor. "But e to see them before one's very eyes, as you have done." He choked ·,• rs, and all the senior nobles and courtiers in his retinue wrung :u. eves. The imperial lady also wept, and her attendants drenched th::~

l.5. The Death of the Imperial Lady

Meanwhile, the sound of the bell at the Jakkoin announced the end of the y, and the evening sun sank in the west. Hard though it was to say good-

ye, the retired emperor restrained his tears and set out for home. The im- }rial lady could not help weeping until her sleeves were drenched, her emories now more poignant than ever. After she had watched the pro-

ession gradually recede into the distance, she turned toward the sacred · age. "May the holy spirit of the Son of Heaven and the dead spirits of the eike achieve perfect wisdom and prompt enlightenment," she prayed in ars. In the past, she had faced eastward and said, "May the Grand Shrine of

e and the bodhisattva Hachiman grant the Son of Heaven a thousand au- tumns and a myriad years of life"; now, pathetically, she faced westward and prayed with folded hands, "May the holy spirit of the dead be reborn in Amida's pure land .. " She wrote two poems on the sliding door of her bedchamber: ·

kono goro wa itsu naraite ka

waga kokoro omiyabito no koishikaruramu

inishie mo yume ni narinishi

koto nareba shiba no amido mo hisashikaraji na

How has it happened that suddenly of late

my heart grows heavy with nostalgia for those who serve the imperial court?

Since the past has become only a fleeting dream,

surely this sojourn behind a wooden door will prove no more permanent.

I believe I have heard that another poem was inscribed on one of the pillars at the hermitage by Tokudaiji Minister of the Left Sanesada, who was with the retired emperor:

inishie wa tsuki ni tatoeshi

kimi naredo sono hikari naki miyamabe no sato

This is the empress whom we compared to the moon

in earlier days, but no radiance now brightens the lonely mountain dwelling.

At a time when the imperial lady was lost in tearful memories of the past and depressing thoughts of the future, a cuckoo from the hills happened to fly by, its voice raised in song. She murmured:

iza saraba namida kurabemu

hototogisu ware mo ukiyo ni ne o nomi zo naku

The Tale of the Heike

If we are to meet, cuckoo, in this way-come, then,

let us compare tears, for I, also, like yourself, cry constantly in this cruel world.

The captives from Dan-no-ura had either been paraded through th; streets and beheaded, or else sent into distant-exile, far from their wives and children. Of the male members of the clan, Ike Major Counselor Yorimori" remained the only one who had neither been deprived of his life nor been denied the privilege of living in the capital. The forty or more women, to, whom no punishment had been meted out, had turned to relatives for aic!C: or gone to stay with other connections. But there was no house free of wor-i risome winds, not even inside jade blinds; there was no dwelling where thei dust never rose, not even beyond brushwood doors. Husbands and wivei who had slept on adjoining pillows were as remote from one another as the; sky; nurturing parents and their children were set apart, neither knowin&. the whereabouts of the other. Tormented by longing, they barely managed to struggle through the melancholy days.

It was all the fault of Chancellor-Novice Kiyomori, that man who had.• held the whole country in the palm of his hand, and who had executed and·· .. banished people as he pleased, unawed by the emperor above and heedless, of His Majesty's subjects below, with no concern for society as a whole or ·· for individuals. It seemed beyond doubt that the evil deeds of a father must be visited on his offspring. .

With the passing of time, the imperial lady fell ill. She recited Buddha- invocations, clasping a five-colored cord attached to the hand of the central> image. "Hail, Amitabha Tathagata, teaching lord of the we.stern paradise!.· Please admit me to the pure land!" she prayed. Overcome \vith sorrow a~:. the end approached, Dainagon-no-suke and Awa-no-naishi wailed on her left and right. · .•

After her chant had gradually weakened, a purple cloud trailed through• the western skies, a marvelous fragrance permeated the chamber, and music sounded on high. Man's time on earth is finite, and thus it was that her lik, drew to a dose at last, midway through the second month in the second, year of Kenkyii (1191]. The parting caused agonies of grief to the two atteW dants who had never left her side, not since the days when she was empresd They had nowhere to turn for help, for the grasses of old ties had withere . long ago, but somehow, in a most touching fashion, they managed to per· form the periodic memorial services. People said both of them attained thd wisdom of the dragon girl, emulated the wife of King Bimbisara, an . achieved their goal of rebirth in the pure land. 11

r r. The dragon girl was a dragon king's daughter who grasped the Buddhist doctrines an attained enlightenment at the age of seven. Her story is told in the Lotus Sutra. The wife

0

King Bimbisara reached the pure land by listening to one of Sakyamuni's disciples preach,