Prompt for Module 6 Discussion:

Genji & Heike

Selections from The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike

:<franslated, with Introductions, by

~elen Craig McCullough

Jq9Lf Stanford University Press • Stanford, California

Contents

Tran.slator's Note 1x

~ The TalfJ of Genji Introduction 3 Principal Characters 2I Table of Contents 23 Text 25

The Tale of the Heike Introduction 24 5 Principal Characters 257 Table of Contents 26I Text 265

Appendix: Offices, Ranks, and the Imperial Palace 46I

Maps 463 The Heian Capital, 463; Japan in the Classical Age, 464

Glossary 467

Bibliography 489

Translator's Note

This book, p4qlished as a companion volume to Classical Japanese Prose: An Anthology, is intended for students in survey courses and others who may lack the time to read The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike in their entirety. The, translations are based on the texts published in Nihon koten bungaku ta'ikei, Vols. r4-r8 and Vols. 32-33, respectively. I am grateful to the Stanford University Press for permission to use copyrighted material.

Ages mentioned in the texts are calculated in the Japanese manner, ac- cording to the number of calendar years during which a person lives. Except in the case of fictional characters, those mentioned elsewhere are calculated in the Western manner.

For translations of characters' names in the Genji, I have followed the principles outlined in the Introduction. Names in the Heike, which appear in many different forms, have usually been reduced to given names after the initial occurrence.

Because the Japanese calendar was divided into twelve months approxi- mately equivalent to the lunations, they did not correspond to their numeri- cal equivalents in the Western calendar. The seventh month, for example, always included part of August, and in a given year might fall as late as the latter half of August and the first half of September. The four seasons were regarded as consisting of three months each, with spring beginning on the first day of the first month, summer on the first day of the fourth month, and so ori.

Terms not defined in the footnotes and particulars on many of the his- torical figures of the pre-Heike period will be found in the Glossary. For basic information about the imperial palace and the court, see the Appen- dix; and for fuller information on Heian society, see McCullough and

X Translator's Note

McCullough, Tale of Flowering Fortunes. The following abbreviations have been used in the footnotes:

GS IS GSS IM

IS KDKYS KKKS KKRJ KKS MYS

NKBT

SAS scss ShokuKKS SIS SKKS SKT

SSRES TN WKRES

Goshiiishii. In Vol. 1 of s KT. Gosenshii. In Vol. 1 of s KT. Ise monogatari. In Vol. 9 of N KB T. Iseshii. In Vol. 3 of s KT. Kodai kayoshii. In Vol. 3 of NKBT. Kanke koshii. In Vol. 72 of N KB T. Kokin rokujo. In Vol. 2 of s KT. Kokinshii. In Vol. 1 of s KT. Man'yoshii. In Vol. 2 of s KT. Nihon koten bungaku taikei, ed. Takagi Ichinosuke et al. 102 vols. 1957-68. Saneakirashii. In Vol. 3 of s KT. Shin chokusenshii. In Vol. 1 of s KT. Shoku kokinshii. In Vol. 1 of s KT. Shiiishii. In Vol. 1 of s KT. Shinkokinshii. In Vol. 1 of s KT. [Shinpen] kokka taikan, ed. Taniyama Shigeru et al. 5 vols. 1983-87. Shinsen roeishii. In Vol. 2 of s KT. Tosa nikki. In Vol. 20 of NKBT. Wakan roeishii. In Vol. 2 of s KT.

Chapter I

me: seventh month of u69 to around fifth month of r 177 Incipal subject: growth of bad feeling between the Taira clan and the court jncipal characters:

Go-Shirakawa, Retired Emperor. Head of the imperial clan Joken. Prominent Buddhist monk; holds title Dharma Seal Kiyorpori (Taira). Retired head of the Taira clan; main power at court Moto':tu'sa (Fujiwara). Imperial regent Narichika (Fujiwara). A favorite courtier of Retired Emperor Go-Shi-

rakawa; the principal Shishi-no-tani conspirator Naritsune (Fujiwara). Son of Narichika; son-in-law of Norimori Norimori (Taira). Brother of Kiyomori; father-in-law of Naritsune Shigemori (Taira). Eldest son of Kiyomori, on whom he is a restraining

influence; clan head Shunkan, Bishop. High official at Hosshoji, an important Buddhist

temple; a Shishi-no-tani conspirator Takakura. Reigning emperor; son of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa Yasuyori (Taira). A minor member of the Taira clan; a Shishi-no-tani

conspirator

r. r. Gian Shoja

}ound of the Gion Shoja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; ?color of the siila flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. :(proud do not endure; they are like a dream on a spring night; rnighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind ....

r.6. Gia

js is one of a series of early episodes describing the rise and increasing $•nee of the Taira and their leader, Kiyomori. ]

that Kiyomori held the whole country in the palm of his hand, he ~din one freakish caprice after another, undeterred by the censure of

266 The Tale of the Heike

society or the scorn of individuals. For instance, there were two famous accomplished shirabyoshi dancers who lived in the capital in those sisters called Gio and Ginyo. They were the daughters of another da Toji. Kiyomori took a great fancy to Gio, the older one, which meant' Ginyo, the younger, became a popular favorite. He also built a fine h for the mother, Toji, installed her in it, and sent her five hundre.d bushe rice and a hundred thousand coins every month. So the whole family exceedingly prosperous and fortunate.

When the other dancers in the capital heard about Gio's good luck, s. of them felt envious and others felt spiteful. The envious ones said, ' has all the luck! I wish the same thing would happen to me. It must be 'Gi' in her name. I'll use it, too." One called herself Giichi, another another Gifuku, another Gitoku, and so forth. The spiteful ones, of w there were many, stuck to their own names. "What difference could a n: or part of a name make?" they sniffed. "Good luck is something a pe gets from a previous existence." ·

After things had gone on like that for three years, another famous d .. arrived in the capital from Kaga Province. Her name was Hotoke, and was sixteen years old. Everybody in the city showered her with praise, and low alike. "We've had lots of shirabyoshi ever since the old days, we've never seen dancing like this," people said. · "No matter how famous I am, I'm disappointed that I've never

called in by Kiyomori, the most important man in the country," Hot thought. "What's to keep me from volunteering to r,erform for him? usual enough." She went to Kiyomori's house at Nishihachijo, and som announced her.

"Hotoke is here, the dancer they're talking about in the ca nowadays." ·' \

"What's that you say? Entertainers like her aren't supposed to justs up without being called. What makes her think she can do this? Besides has no business coming to the place where Gio lives, whether she's a g a buddha. 1 Throw her out!" Kiyomori said.

As Hotoke was about to leave after that harsh dismissal, Gio spo . Kiyomori. "It's quite customary for an entertainer to appear withouf invitation. And they say Hotoke's very young, too. Now that she's pht up the courage to come, it would be cruel to send her home with that dismissal. As a dancer myself, I can't help feeling involved; I'd be miser. You'd be doing her a great kindness if you just received her, even if didn't watch her dance or listen to her sing. Won't you please bend a and call her back?"

"Well, my dear, if you're going to make a point of it, I'll see her be she goes," Kiyomori said. He sent a messenger to summon Hotoke.

1. A pun on Hotoke's name, which can mean "Buddha."

otoke had en g, but sher, et her. "I sh ade a point

have an ima

kimi o haj miru o

chiyo mo himek,

omae no 1 kamec

tsuru kos, asobw

'e chanted tr one. Kiyom

pect you're : the drumm ed. eautiful git hardly ha, iyomori w hat can th thrown ou

.rme. Whal nder abou

hat's out of f her," Kiyc .couldn't dr

'2of us here 1 .ent her aw

lime you ha hat! What

tnow." He •- had resii . ed that it

Conventional ale of the He -':With warriors We are to un, ns of the tale gano, Heike

Phrase fr01 I kikishikad say, man set

~ two famous a ta! in those da f another <lane which meant t built a fine ho undred bushels whole family w

; good luck, so s ones said, "G ne. It must be t :hi, another Gi ul ones, of who' :nee could a na • mething a pers

,er famous <lane . Hotoke, ands · with praise, h( the old days,

t I've never b :ountry," Hot· orm for him? 1ijo, and someo

.t in the capi

osed to just sho , this? Besides, ·· :her she's a god

,sal, Gio spoke ppear without that she's pluc ae with that ha ; I'd be miserati i her, even if y ,lease bend a liF

I'll see her bef nHotoke.

Chapter One

otoke had entered her carriage after that harsh dismissal. 2 She was just ing, but she returned in obedience to the summons. Kiyomori came out · eet her. "I shouldn't have received you today; I'm just doing it because made a point of it. But I may as well listen to a song as long as I'm here. have an imayo," he said. Hotoke assented respectfully:

kimi o hajimete miru ori wa

chiyo mo henubeshi himekomatsu

omae no ike naru kameoka ni

tsuru koso mureite asobumere

Now that it has encountered this lord for the first time,

it will live a thousand years- the seedling pine tree.

Cranes seem to. have come in flocks to disport themselves

where Turtle Island rises from the garden lake.

e chanted the song three times, and the beauty of her voice astonished yone. Kiyomori felt a stir of interest. "You sing imayo nicely, my dear. spect you 're a good dancer, too," he said. "I'll watch you do a number. 1 the drummer." The drummer was set to his instrument and Hotoke hd. ; , 'beautiful girl with a magnificent head of hair and a sweet, flawless voice d hardly have been a clumsy dancer. Her skill was beyond imagination,

iyomori was dazzled, swept off his feet. hat can this mean?" Hotoke said. "It was my own idea to come, and

... thrown out for my pains, but then I was called back because Gio spoke or me. What would she think if I were kept here? It's embarrassing even onder about it. Please let me go home now." 3

· hat's out of the question. If you're hanging back because of Gio, I'll get ''f her," Kiyomori said.

couldn't dream of such a thing! It would be bad enough if you kept the /of us here together, but I couldn't possibly face the embarrassment if ,s.ent her away and kept me by myself. Please let me go today. I'll come ime you happen to remember me."

at! What! That's out of the question. Tell Gio to get out of the house .now." He sent Gio three separate messages. ·o had resigned herself to this possibility long ago, but she had never med that it might happen "so very soon as today.'' 4 Now, with Kiyo-

,-Conventional storyteller's phrases, such as "that harsh dismissal," occur fairly often in ale of the Heike. As will be seen later, they are especially numerous in episodes having

ith warriors. We are to understand that Kiyomori has decided to keep Hotoke as a mistress. In some . .,s, of the tale, this speech occurs after a retainer has carried her off into another room. ·. gano, Heike monogatari no kansho, p. 2 3.

phrase from Ariwara no Narihira's death poem (KKS 861): tsui ni yuku / michi to wa l kikishikado / kino kyo to wa / omowazarishi o ("Upon this pathway, I have long heard ·say, man sets forth at last-yet I had not thought to go so very soon as today").

268 The Tale of the Heike

mori insisting on her immediate departure, she prepared to leave as the room was swept and tidied.

Every parting causes sadness, even when two people have merely s under the same tree or scooped water from the same stream. W1 regret and grief did Gio prepare to bid farewell to her home of thr her eyes brimming with futile tears! But she could not linger; the e come. Weeping, she scribbled a poem on a sliding door before out-perhaps to serve as a reminder of one who had gone:

moe1zuru mo karuru mo onaji

nobe no kusa izure ka aki ni awadehatsubeki

Since both are grasses of the field, how may either

be spared by autumn- the young shoot blossoming forth and the herb fading from view? 5

She got into her carriage, rode home, and fell prostrate inside the sJ doors, sobbing wildly.

"What's the matter? What's wrong?" her mother and sister askecl could not answer. They had to learn the truth by questioning the maid had come with her.

The monthly deliveries of rice and coins ceased, and it was the tti' Hotoke's connections to prosper. All kinds of men sent Gio letters ancF sengers. "People say Kiyomori has dismissed her. Why not see her and some fun?" they thought. But she could not shrug everything off and le gay social life. She refused to receive the letters, much less the messen and spent more and more time in tears, her gloom. deepened by importunities.

The year ended, and in the following spring a messenger came to house from Kiyomori. "How have you been since we parted? Hotoke se bored these days; come and amuse her with some imayo arid dances." made no reply.

"Why don't you answer? Do you refuse to come? If so, speak up. Th are steps I can take," Kiyomori sent word. \

Gio's mother, Toji, was upset. "Do give him some kind of answer, Gi: she urged tearfully. "That would be better than having him scold you Ii this."

Gio still refused to answer. "I'd promise to go at once if I meant to ob him, but I don't mean to, so I don't know what to say. He says he'll 'ta steps' unless I obey his summons, but the most he can do is banish or ~ •. me. Banishment wouldn't matter to me, or death, either. I can't face hi again after the contemptuous way he treated me," she said.

Her mother offered some more advice. "No living creature in our count

5. The poem puns on karuru ("wither"; "separate") and aki ("autumn"; "satiety"). "You shoot" (moeizuru [kusa]) and "fading herb" (karuru [kusa]) are metaphors for Bot 0. and Gio.

bey Kiyom< his life beg 0 stay toget ·· ry may last

orld. That l show of aJ bey his sum ster are yom ·es.But you hen I think

· finish out r ,and the nex told herself

"tifully distn ng herself to

'ster, Ginyo, as not to I

ted . . hat can thii td through n t shall I do?

otoke was 01 rent if she v

or else plea hat's entire!

henKiyomo · been since , ow that she

hotoke, bone

warera hotc

1zure m gu s

hedats1 kan

She repeate, om the eyes fth rank, and

6, The song, a

:o leave as soo

·e merely shelt :ream. With w me of three Ye nger; the end · or before she

ses ,ither m- 3ming forth om view?5

sister asked. S :ing the maid w

.t was the turn. 6 letters and t see her and h ,ing off and lea ;s the messeng .eepened by th

5er came to Gi ed? Hotoke see and dances."

. of answer, Gi- im scold you Ii

,£ I meant to o fe says he'll 'ta ) is banish or . I can't face h' i. ire in our coun

Chapter One

'isobey Kiyomori. The bonds linking a man and a woman are forged . e this life begins. Sometimes a couple may part early, after having n to stay together forever; sometimes a relationship that had seemed orary may last a lifetime. A sexual liaison is the most uncertain thing e world. That you enjoyed Kiyomori's favor for three years was an ual show of affection on his part. Of course he won't kill you if you t obey his summons; he'll simply expel you from the capital. You and

r sister are young; you'll probably survive very nicely, even among rocks trees. But your feeble old mother will be banished too, and my heart

5 when I think of living in some strange country place. Won't you please e finish out my life in the capital? I'll regard it as a filial act in this

Id and the next." 'iii told herself that she had to obey her mother, hard though it was. She 'pitifully distraught as she set out, her eyes brimming with tears. Unable ring herself to go alone, she traveled to Nishihachijo in a carriage with sister, Ginyo, and two other dancers. · was not to her old place, but to a much inferior seat, that she was

ted. hat can t'hls mean?" she wondered. "It was misery enough to be dis-

ed through no fault of my own; now I have to accept an inferior seat. at shall I do?" She pressed her sleeve to her face to hide the tears, but came trickling·through. otoke was overcome with pity. "Ah, what's this?" she said. "It might be

erent if she weren't used to being called up here. Please have her come e, or else please excuse me. I'd like to go and greet her."

'ffhat's entirely out of the question!" Kiyomori made her stay where she s,, henKiyomori spoke up, with no regard for Gio's feelings. "Well, how've been since we parted? Hotoke seems bored; sing her an imayo." ow that she was there, Gio felt unable to refuse. She restrained her tears

hotoke mo mukashi wa bonbu nari

warera mo tsui ni wa hotoke nari

izure mo bussho gu seru m1 o

hedatsuru nomi koso kanashikere

In days of old, the Buddha was but a mortal;

in the end, we ourselves will be buddhas too.

How grievous that distinctions must separate those

who are alike in sharing the Buddha-nature! 6

he repeated the words twice, weeping, and tears of sympathy flowed )nthe eyes of all the many Taira senior nobles, courtiers, gentlemen of

rank, and samurai who sat in rows looking on.

6, The song, an adaptation of a Buddhist chant, puns on Hotoke's name.

The Tale of the Heike

Kiyomori was diverted by the performance. "An excellent entertai for the occasion," he said. "I'd like to watch you dance, but some business has come up today. Keep presenting yourself from now on, I don't summon you; you must amuse Hotoke with your imay~ dances." Gio departed in silence, suppressing her tears. ,

"I forced myself to go to that hateful place because I didn't want obey Mother, and now I've been humiliated again. The same thing wil happening if I stay in society. I'm going to drown myself," Gio said.

"If you do, I'll drown with you," said her sister, Ginyo. The mother, Toji, was greatly distressed. In tears, she offered more ad

"It's only natural for you to feel bitter. I'm sorry I urged you to go; I d' dream things would turn out that way. But if you drown yourself, your's says she'll do the same, and then what will become of your feeble mother, even if she manages to linger on after the deaths of her two da ters? I'll drown with you. I suppose a person would have to say it's on the five deadly sins to make a parent drown before her time. The wor only a transient shelter; it doesn't matter if we suffer humiliation here.<' truly hard thing is the darkness of the long afterlife. This life is nothing' just worrying about your having to face the evil paths in the next one.'•

After hearing her mother's tearful plea, Gio suppressed her own te "You're right. There's no doubt that I'd be committing one of the five de sins if we all killed ourselves. I'll give up the idea of suicide. But I'd just Ii to suffer more if I stayed in the capital, so I'm going somewhere else." ·

Thus it was that Gio became a nun at the age of twenty-one. She bu\ brush-thatched hermitage deep in the Saga mountains, arid there shed · murmuring buddha-invocations.

"I vowed to drown myself with my sister," Ginyo said. "Why shou hang behind when it comes to renouncing the world?" Most!:pitifully, nineteen-year-old girl also altered her appearance and secluded herself Gio to pray for rebirth in paradise.

"In a world where even young girls alter their appearance, why shou! feeble old mother cling to her gray hair?" the mother, Toji, said. She shav her head at the age of forty-five and, like her daughters, performed budd invocations in earnest prayer for rebirth in paradise.

Spring passed, summer waned, and the first autumn winds blew. It . the season when mortals gaze at the star-meeting skies and write of love. the leaves of the paper-mulberry, the tree reminiscent of an oar crossing . heavenly stream.7

One afternoon, the mother and daughters watched the setting sun dis pear behind the rim of the western hills. "People say the western para.A: lies where the sun sets. Someday we'll be born into a peaceful life ther, they said. The thought evoked memories and brought many tears.

7, The passage, written in poetic seven-five meter, contains a pun on kaji ("paper-rnulbf tree"· " " f h ,,. b I d) 0 ,,. b I , oar, a re erence to t e 1ana ata egen . n 1.ana ata, see G ossary.

er the twiligl mp, and sett ile they were ing on the d malevolent ,

ps," they saic · -thatched m, · n the daytim in the world he's a mercil e original vo

trust; we mm es to meet be]

the pure la ations."

'eassuring one

wn initiative 'rely to Gio's i trol her destir moned again

, I couldn't fee lized that you w may eithe 'd gone, but l ied you after uldn't let me !

/When we sto hin a dream; I th in human f, o hell this tirr ay pass. We ca s World. Deal Descent than myself on m·

tole away this· e removed the

nt entertainrne but some urge 1 now on, even rour imay0 an

dn't want to di te thing will ke ·. Giii said.

:red more advic )U to go; I did 11rself, your sist your feeble 0

f her two daug . ' ,-; to say Its one··

ne. The world liation here. T fe is nothing; If te next one." :I her own tea of the five <lea But I'd just ha

vhere else." · -one. She buil l there she dw

. "Why shoul ost pitifully, t .. 1ded herself wi

ce, why shoul said. She shav

rformed budd ··.

.nds blew. It l write of love . oar crossmg

:etting sun dis western para: tceful life ther.· y tears.

:aji ("paper-mulb ;ary.

Chapter One

fter the twilight faded, they fastened their plaited bamboo door, lit the \amp, and settled down to intoning buddha-invocations in unison. bile they were chanting, they were frightened by the sound of someone

ocking on the door. /'A malevolent spirit must have come to interfere with our humble invo- tions," they said. "What mortal would wait until late at night to visit a

sh-thatched mountain hermitage, a place where nobody ever calls, not n in the daytime? The door is just plaited bamboo; it would be the easiest dg in the world to smash it if we refused to open it. We'd better let him iJf he's a merciless creature bent on our destruction, we must rely firmly the original vow of Amida, the Buddha in whom we have always placed r trust; we must just keep repeating the sacred name. The heavenly host mes to meet believers when it hears their voices, so it will be sure to take .to the pure land. We'll simply have to be careful not to falter in our . ' '' 1tat10ns.

Reassuring one another in that manner, they opened the door. But the \tor was not a malevolent spirit. No, it was Hotoke. ''What in the world!" Giii said. "Can it really be Hotoke? Am I awake or aming?'' :~ i otoke tried to restrain her tears. "What I say will probably sound self-

Ving, but it would seem callous to keep quiet about it, so I want to go 'er the whole story from the beginning. I went to Kiyomori's mansion on · own initiative and was turned away, but then I was called back, thanks 'rely to Gio's intervention. A woman is a poor, weak creature who can't trol her destiny. I felt miserable about being kept there. When you were moned again to sing the imayi5, it brought my own situation home to I couldn't feel happy when I knew my turn would come some day. I also ized that you spoke the truth in the lines you left on the sliding door, w may either be spared by autumn?' Later on, I didn't know where 'd gone, but I heard that the three of you were living together as nuns. I ied you after that, and I kept asking for my freedom, but Kiyomori ·•· ldn't let me go. When we stop and think about it, good fortune in this world is a dream )n a dream; happiness and prosperity mean nothing. It's hard to achieve

in human form, hard to gain access to the Buddha's teachings. If I sink hell this time, it will be hard to rise again, no matter how many eons pass. We can't count on our youth; the old may outlive the young in world. Death refuses to wait for the space of a breath; life is more escent than a mayfly or a lightning flash. I couldn't bear to keep preen- yself on my temporary good fortune and ignoring the life to come, so

Je away this morning, put on this appearance, and made my way here." :removed the robe that had covered her head, and they saw that she had .me a nun.

ow that I've come to you in this new guise, please forgive my past

272 The Tale of the Heike

offenses," she pleaded, with tears streaming down her face. "If you sa forgive me, I want to recite the sacred name with you and be reborn 0 same lotus pedestal. But if you can't bring yourself to do it, I'll w off-I don't care where-and then I'll recite buddha-invocations as lo I live, lying on a bed of moss or the roots of a pine tree, so that I c reborn in the pure land."

Gi6 tried to restrain her tears. "I never dreamed you felt that way. I · · to have been able to accept my unhappiness here at Saga, for sorrow common lot in this world, but I was always jealous of you. I'm afraid would have been no rebirth in the pure land for me. I seemed str halfway between this world and the next. The change in your appea has scattered my old resentment like dewdrops; there's no doubt now;. I'll be reborn in the pure land. To be able to attain that goal is the gre of all possible joys. People have talked about our becoming nuns as th·· it were unprecedented, and I've more or less thought the same thing, b was only natural for me to do it when I hated society and resented myC What I did isn't worth mentioning if it's compared with the vows you'v. taken. You weren't resentful, you knew no sorrow. Only true piety c instill such revulsion against the unclean world, such longing for the land, in the heart of someone who's barely turned seventeen. I look on\ as a teacher. Let's seek salvation together."

Secluded in a single dwelling, the four women offered flowers and inc before the sacred images morning and evening, and their prayers n flagged. I have heard that all of them achieved their goal of rebirth in. pure land, each in her turn. And so it was that the £out names, "the sp of Gio, Ginyo, Hotoke, and Toji," were inscribed together on the mem register at Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa's Chogodo Hall. Theirs . touching histories. .i ;,,

I.II. Horsemen Encounter the Regent

Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa became a monk on the sixteenth off seventh month in the first year of Kao [u69]. He continued to deal affairs of state after taking the tonsure, and there was no way to distin \ between him and the reigning sovereign. The senior nobles and court .. closest to him, and even the warriors in his north guards, received offi. ranks, and emoluments beyond their deserts, but some of them were dis: isfied, human nature being what it is. They exchanged whispered compla with their friends. "If only So-and-so would die, somebody else couli appointed to his province," they said. "If Thus-and-so died, I might get; office." In private conversations, the retired emperor expressed similar s. timents. "Since early times, many men have subdued the court's enemi:,; one reign or another, but nothing like this has ever happened before, would say. "When Sadamori and Hidesato put down Masakado, when riyoshi crushed Sadato and Munet6, when Yoshiie conquered Takehira

' their only ori to do v in these 1

e for him to anwhile, th,

·xteenth of t happened tl that time, Sl teen-year-o snowfall, w

ecided to lea, sakino, anc

g a great rn ed back tow ·mperial rege near the int, as travelin: ikado Aver mori met b Inokuma St

ho goes th is the reger kemori wa:

'r teens. Non ing to then to pay hir

!>ugh.

s, making; retaliated

into a rag< efer to my

hely ahead re slights. I' 'Why worry Genji like

ne not to di urai who 1

dthem. ''l'r Went home

e. "If you say y be reborn on t ·

:lo it, I'll wan cations as long , so that I can b

that way. I oug}\ for sorrow is t

1. I'm afraid the seemed strand your appearan ) doubt now th Jal is the greate g nuns as thou ·· ;ame thing, but resented my fat , vows you've ju true piety cou\

ging for the pu en. I look on yo

:1r prayers nev of rebirth in t

tmes, "the spiri on the memori !all. Theirs we

nt

•ay to distingui les and courtie , received offic hem were dissa pered complaint dy else could i, I might get ti ,ssed similar se ourt's enemies i ened before," 1kado, when Y. :ed Takehira an

Chapter One 2 73

tira, their only rewards were provincial appointments. 8 It's not right for yomori to do whatever he pleases; it's because the court has lost its au- ority in these latter days of the Law." But there never seemed to be a ance for him to administer a reprimand. Meanwhile, the Taira bore the court no particular ill will. But then, on e sixteenth of the tenth month in the second year of Kao [1170], some- ing happened that was to plunge the nation into chaos. At that time, Shigemori's second son, Middle Captain Sukemori, was only hirteen-year-old boy, with the title Governor of Echizen. Charmed by a

gilt snowfall, whic~ had created interesting e~ects in the_ withered fie_lds, e decided to lead thirty young mounted samurai on an outmg to Rendamo, urasakino, and the riding grounds of the bodyguards of the right. He took 'ng a great many hawks, spent the day hunting larks and quail, and

ned back toward Rokuhara as twilight fell. Meanwhile, Lord Motofusa, e imperial regent, happened to be on his way to the palace from his man- n near the intersection of Naka-no-mikado and Higashi-no-toin avenues.

e was traveling south along Higashi-no-toin Avenue and west along 6i- -mikado Ayt/nue, intending to enter through the ~uhomon Gate, when kemori mei: his procession at the intersection of Oi-no-mikado Avenue d Inokuma Street. "Who goes there?" asked the regent's men. "You're breaking all the rules.

•his is the regent's procession. Get off your horses! Dismount!" ; Sukemori was arrogant and high-spirited, and all of his samurai were in eir teens. None of them understood the niceties of social conduct. It meant thing to them that they had encountered the regent, nor did it occur to em to pay him the courtesy of dismounting. Instead, they tried to gallop rough.

,Unaware that the leader of the band was Kiyomori's grandson (or, per- ps, making a pretense of not recognizing him in the dark), the regent's

.en retaliated by pulling them all off their horses in a most humiliating · hion. When Sukemori went dragging back to Rokuhara with his tale, Kiyomori

.l!W into a rage. "I don't care whether he's the regent or not! He's supposed defer to my relatives," he said. "It was a hateful thing to do-to just go

lithely ahead and insult a young boy. That's the kind of thing that leads to pre slights. I'll teach him a lesson if it's the last thing I do. I'll get even!"

· "Why worry about nothing?" Shigemori said. "It would be a real disgrace .. a Genji like Yorimasa or Mitsumoto insulted us. It was rude for a son of Jne not to dismount when he met a regental procession." He called in the

urai who had gone with Sukemori. "Remember this from now on," he pld them. "I'm going to apologize to the regent for your discourtesy." Then ): went home.

>8. Sadamori, Hidesato, Yoriyoshi, and Yoshiie were court-appointed warriors who defeated !JWerful local rebels in the 10th and nth centuries. See Glossary.

2 74 The Tale of the Heike

Later, without a word to Shigemori, Kiyomori called in sixty or so ru warriors-Nanba, Seno, and other rustics, who feared nothing except commands. "The regent will go to the palace on the twenty-first to cons about the emperor's capping ceremony. Intercept him wherever you pleJ: and give his way-clearers and escorts haircuts to avenge Sukemori," he sa(

Without the faintest suspicion of any such thing, the regent traveled along Naka-no-mikado Avenue toward the Taikenmon Gate, which he scheduled to use that day. He was to stay awhile in his palace apartments make arrangements about the capping officiant and the promotions for ceremony in the following year, so his procession was somewhat gran than usual.

When he reached the vicinity of lnokuma and Horikawa streets, a pa of helmeted and armored horsemen from Rokuhara surrounded him a shouted a great battle cry from every direction, more than three hundr strong. They chased down his way-clearers and escorts, who were magn\ cently attired for the day's event, dragged them off their horses, abused th with scurrilous remarks, and cut off their hair. One of the ten escorts Takemoto, an aide in the bodyguards of the right. Before the warri sheared Fujiwara Chamberlain Takanori, one of them said in a loud, cl voice, "Don't consider this your hair. Think of it as your master's."

After that, all the warriors poked their bow ends inside the regent's c riage, pulled the blinds down, cut loose the rump and chest ropes from t ox, and perpetrated other outrages. Then they went off to Rokuhara wit victorious whoops. "Well done!" Kiyomori told them.

One of the regent's attendants was a former messenger to Inaba nam Toba no Kunihisamaru, a man of low status but delicate feeling. In te.i . he took hold of the shafts and pulled the regent home to his Naka-n mikado Mansion. Words cannot describe the wretchedness of the state .. \ ,, which Lord Motofusa returned, the sleeve of his court robe r'aised to ho back tears. Never in all the generations since Yoshifusa and Mototsune h such an experience been visited on an imperial regent. (I need say nothi of Kamatari and Fuhito.) 10 This was the first of the Taira clan's evil dee

Shigemori showed his displeasure by dismissing all the participants in attack. "No matter what unexpected order my father might issue, it w your responsibility to at least give me a hint of it," he said. He sent SukemQ away to Ise Province for a time. "It was all your fault," he told him. "'T, sprout of the sandalwood already smells fragrant.' When a boy is twelve '! thirteen, he's old enough to understand and obey the rules of courtesy. Yo rudeness has blackened your grandfather's name; you have no concepti of filial piety.'' His conduct won praise from the emperor and everyone el

9. According to reliable historical sources, it was actually Shigemori who ordered the r taliatory action. The Heike consistently presents Shigemori in a favorable light in order' contrast his character with Kiyomori's. ·

ro. Yoshifusa, Mototsune, Kamatari, and Fuhito were heads of the Fujiwara clan.

As a conseqm stponed. The ired emperor t as he was, nth, notifyin

. rteenth. He • vertheless, tl:i The year dre, ny on the fil [u71), and

y received hi nmon'in, mi s given one< om the retire

Around that left. People the post, bu

s also eager! the late Nak Prayers of va

retired emp th instructio1 tra. One day, rtledoves flev nt of the sh1 superintend

ves, Hachim "mizu Hachi1

.rmed their ri ere was non e for whom Narichika sa • darkness, he -mikado-Kai

sakt kamo r

urar chiru o todomt

sixty or so tu nhing except ty-first to cons· ,rever you plea cemori," he sa( ;ent traveled w tte, which he tee apartments umotions for t ,mewhat gran

·a streets, a Par ounded him a m three hund ho were magn :ses, abused th e ten escorts w ore the warrio 1 in a loud, cle 1aster's." the regent's ca

st ropes from t J Rokuhara wi

to Inaba nam feeling. In tea to his Naka-n ss of the state · be raised to ho 1 Mototsune h ' need say nothi clan's evil dee articipants in t. .ght issue, it w -le sent Sukem , told him. "'T t boy is twelve of courtesy. Yo re no conceptitj nd everyone els.

. who ordered the tble light in order

,jiwara clan.

Chapter One 275

I. I 2. Shishi-no-tani

5 a consequence, the deliberations concerning the imperial capping were fponed. They took place on the twenty-fifth in the courtiers' hall at the i:ed emperor's residence. It would not have been proper to leave the re- i: as he was, so an imperial edict was issued on the ninth of the eleventh th, notifying him that he would be elevated to the chancellorship on the teenth. He proffered his expressions of gratitude on the seventeenth. ertheless, the incident left a disagreeable aftertaste. he year drew to a close. Emperor Takakura performed the capping cere- ~y on the fifth of the first month in the new year, the third of the Kao [rr71], and paid a formal visit to his parents on the thirteenth. When received him, the retired emperor and his consort, Imperial Lady Ken-

'nmon'in, must have found him very appealing in his new man's cap. He .s given one of Kiyomori's daughters as a consort-a fifteen-year-old girl om the retired emperor had adopted. round that time, Fujiwara no Moronaga resigned as major captain of left. Peop\e said Tokudaiji Major Counselor Sanesada was next in line

the post, b'ui: Kazan'in Middle Counselor Kanemasa aspired to it, and it s also eagerly sought by New Major Counselor Narichika, the third son he late Naka-no-mikado Middle Counselor Ienari. rayers of various descriptions were begun by Narichika, who was one of retired emperor's favorites. He sequestered a hundred monks at Yawata

instructions to perform a full seven-day reading of the Great Wisdom tra. One day, while those holy men were keeping up a diligent chant, three tledoves flew from the direction of Otokoyama, lit in an orange tree in nt of the shrine, and pecked one another to death. Dharma Seal Kyosei, superintendent, reported the matter to the throne, perplexed because the

ves, Hachiman's favorite messengers, had behaved that way at the Iwa- 'mizu Hachiman Shrine. The diviners in the department of shrines per- med their rituals, and the oracle predicted a political disturbance. But )'e was no need for the emperor to be careful, it said; a subject was the e for whom discretion was indicated. .Narichika saw no reason for alarm. For seven nights running, under cover !darkness, he walked to the upper Kamo Shrine from his house at Naka- smikado-Karasumaro. On the seventh night, he went home, stretched out <rest, and had a dream in which he went back to the shrine. Something shed the sanctuary door open, and he heard an unearthly, majestic voice ant a poem:

sakurabana kamo no kawakaze

uramu na yo chiru o ba e koso todomezarikere

Attach no blame, cherry blossoms, to the wind

where Kama's stream flows. The wind has not the power to prevent your scattering.

The Tale of the Heike

Still unworried, he sent a Buddhist ascetic to the shrine, telling hi perform the Dagini ritual for a hundred days at an altar inside a hol cryptomeria tree, which stood behind the sanctuary.11 While the monk' there, lightning struck the mighty tree and set it afire. A throng of pr1 and others ran over and put out the blaze, which had endangered the shr They tried to eject the performer of the heretical ritual, but he refused to' "I made a solemn vow to shut myself up in this shrine for a hundred d' This is only the seventy-fifth day, so I can't leave," he said. ·

The shrine officials reported to the imperial palace. "Follow your rules," the emperor commanded. "Throw him out!" Some of the lower vants at the shrine beat the ascetic on the nape of the neck with unpain wooden staffs, and chased him off southward beyond lchijo Avenue.

Even though we are told that the gods reject improper petitions, N chika went ahead and prayed for a major captaincy, a post to which he not entitled. That may be why those weird things happened.

In those days, ranks and offices were not conferred at the discretion the retired and reigning sovereigns, nor yet by regental decision, but sol as the Heike saw fit. Neither Sanesada nor Kanemasa won the captain instead, a shocking thing happened. Kiyomori's oldest son, Shigemori, w had been major counselor and major captain of the right, switched major captain of the left; and the second son, Munemori, who was a me middle counselor, leapfrogged over several of his seniors to become maf captain of the right. It was especially galling that Munemori took prec dence over Sanesada, who was the senior major counselor, a member a family eligible for the highest offices, an outstandi~g scholar, and t heir of the house of Tokudaiji. People made private predictions that San· sada would leave secular life to become a monk, but he simply resign· as major counselor and retired to his mansion, where he awaited futu developments.

"I could have put up with it if I'd been passed over for Sanesada Kanemasa," Narichika said, "but I can't abide the thought of yielding pla, to Kiyomori's second son. This is what comes of letting the Taira run eve ·· thing. I'll find a way to bring them down and get what I want!" An appalli~ speech! Even though his father had been a mere middle counselor, he hi self, the youngest son of the family, had risen to major counselor wi senior second rank. He had received revenues from a number of lar provinces; and imperial favors had also been bestowed on his children ail, other dependents. What possible cause for dissatisfaction did he have? I:-1 must have been possessed by an evil spirit. He had been threatened wit execution because he supported Nobuyori during the Heiji Disturbanc and it had been thanks entirely to Shigemori's pleas that his life had bee

r 1. The Dagini ritual was a prayer designed to enlist the aid of demons called dagini (S dakini) in gaining an end. It was considered heretical because dagini did not belong to t Buddhist pantheon.

fed.12 Yet he riors and asst he area in the ress, adj acen• had a villa tl tings to plot akawa went of the late n

en while the his is unbel

'rd won't tak, arichika sec

rting the wini '.What doest

arichika res he retired e u turn," he olice Lieute e; I'm drun1 'What shall 'Off with th ,left the stag, Dharma Sea Qcking beha, f you are c1 vice Renjo; r Motokanc lice Lieuten 'ra Police L su Genji, a

12. Nobuyori Prtive attempt ri's sister, and I 3, Heiji can 1 4, Sarugaku

te, telling him t · inside a ho1[0 ile the monk w throng of pries 1gered the shrin he refused to go a hundred days

•ollow your ow of the lower se;

, with unpainte 5 Avenue. · petitions, Nari to which he wa :I. the discretion 0 cision, but sole! ,n the captaincy , Shigemori, wh ·· ~ht, switched t who was a mer ' :o become majo nori took prece ::ir, a member o scholar, and th ;tions that San , simply resigne

: awaited futur

for Sanesada o of yielding plac Taira run every' lt!" An appallin unselor, he hi counselor with.

rnmber of largi; his children an did he have? H threatened wit . :iji Disturbance, 1is life had been

ts called dagini (Skt. ,d not belong to th

Chapter One 2 77

red. 12 Yet he forgot his obligation and devoted all his time to wooing rfiors and assembling secret stockpiles of weapons. · he area in the eastern hills known as Shishi-no-tani was a perfect natural

'tress, adjacent to the Miidera temple grounds at the rear. Bishop Shun- . had a villa there, and in that villa Narichika and his cronies held regular etings to plot the destruction of the Heike. Once Retired Emperor Go- 'rakawa went to pay them a visit, accompanied by Dharma Seal Joken, a

of the late novice Shinzei. The retired emperor broached the subject to en while the conspirators were banqueting that night.

••This is unbelievable!" Joken exclaimed. "With all these people listening! ord won't take long to leak out; there'll be a crisis." Narichika scowled. He jumped up, the sleeve of his hunting robe over- rning the wine bottle in front of the retired emperor. ''What does that mean?" His Majesty asked. 'Narichika resumed his seat. "The downfall of the heiji!" 13 The retired emperor smiled. "Everybody come forward and do a saru- ku turn," he said. 14 Police Lieqtenant Yasuyori advanced. "We have entirely too many heiji

ere; I'm drui'il<," he announced. '"What shall we do about them?" Bishop Shunkan asked. '"Off with their heads!" said the monk Saiko. He decapitated a bottle as

left the stage. ., IJharma Seal Joken was speechless with amazement. To be sure, it was

,pcking behavior. .•· If you are curious about the identities of the conspirators, they were the (>Vice Renjo; the Hosshoji administrator Bishop Shunkan; Yamato Gover- or .Motokane; Senior Assistant Minister of Ceremonial Masatsuna; Taira lice Lieutenant Yasuyori; Koremune Police Lieutenant Nobufusa; New

ira Police Lieutenant Sukeyuki; and Tada no Kurando Yukitsuna of the '"i:tsu Genji, as well as many members of the north guards.

•x2. Nobuyori was the principal court noble involved in the Heiji Disturbance of n59, an .ortive attempt to overthrow the Taira and their allies. One of Narichika 's wives was Shige- Ori1s sister, and Shigemori's son Koremori was married to Narichika's daughter.

"13. Heiji can mean both "wine bottle" and "Taira clan." 14. Sarugaku was a type of comic dance. The next three speakers are performers.

,bishop Meiun, t Kakukai, who ha

have decided th to be the empress kuhara, leaving i 111 affairs of state, emperor refused t to cede the respo · tings as you pleas

Palace until mi 1d fields; the moo 1 foot left its tra flocks of birds ha e bell at the Gre. Jn the western hill : faint, chill echoe .e frosty night; ca :ching into the di :I the travelers an5

by the realizatio :somely, he said, ' :o the guards at th e was nothing th .. elves evoked flood vard his sightseein 1es and temples i

:ho era [1180].

rt of Kobe).

a temple near the To Bo Juyi.

Chapter 4

jrne: fifth rnonth of 1 1 80 · rincipal subject: a second atternpt to overthrow the Taira, led by Minamoto

no Yorimasa rincipal characters:

Kio. A samurai in Yorimasa's service Mochihito, Prince. Son of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa Munemori (Taira). Second son of Kiyomori; now clan head with Shi-

. gemori's death Nakatsuna (Minamoto). Son of Yorimasa Yorimasa (Minamoto ). An aged warrior

4.6. Kio

[ At the instigation of Yorimasa, Prince Mochihito has agreed to lead a revolt ;;against the Taira, but the plot has been discovered, and he is forced to flee the capital. ]

Prince Mochihito traveled northward on Takakura Street, eastward on inoe Avenue, and across the Kamo River to Nyoiyama Mountain. Long b, we are told, Emperor Tenmu fled to the Yoshino mountains, disguised ;a young woman, after having been attacked by rebels during his days as ·· wn prince; and now this prince found himself in the same situation. Be- \1se he was unaccustomed to such travel, blood from his feet reddened the hd as he plodded nightlong over the unfamiliar mountain paths, and the

7f1VY dew on the luxuriant summer foliage must have increased his discom- irt. He arrived at the Miidera Temple as dawn approached. /'My life isn't worth much, but I don't want to lose it, so I've come to you rprotection," he said. Awed and happy, the monks prepared the Horin'in II as a residence for him. Then they took him inside and offered him

Jreshment. On the next day, the sixteenth [ of the fifth month in the fourth year of .ho, r r 80 ], the capital was thrown into an uproar by the news that Prince ochihito had rebelled and disappeared.

The Tale of the Heike

"The cause for rejoicing predicted by Yasuchika was my departure fr the Toba Mansion; the cause for sorrow is this," said Retired Emperor Shirakawa. 1

If we ask why Yorimasa started a rebellion in that particular year, a£ having survived so long by remaining passive, the answer is to be sough the reprehensible behavior of Kiyomori's second son, Munemori. This son teaches us that a man must be very careful about permitting himsel indulge in improprieties of speech and conduct, merely because he happ to be blessed with prosperity.

Yorimasa's heir, Nakatsuna, had owned a horse that was famous throu out the capital. It was an incomparable bay with a black mane, easier ride, faster, and better natured than any other mount could possibly h been. It was named Konoshita [Under the Trees]. Munemori heard abou and sent Nakatsuna a message. "I'd like to take a look at that famous hq I've heard about," he said.

"I did have a horse like that, but I sent him to the country for a short re he was tired from having been overridden lately," Nakatsuna answered.

"Well, all right." Munemori let the matter drop. But later, when a la party of Heike samurai were seated in rows at the mansion, several !l'l said, "That horse was in the capital as late as the day before yesterday,"" was here yesterday, too," and, "They were riding him around the courtya this very morning, training him."

"In other words, Nakatsuna just doesn't want to send him here! Th beneath contempt! Go tell him I want the horse!" By urgent samurai n{ senger and letter, Munemori asked for Konoshita five or six or seven eight times in a single day.

Yorimasa called Nakatsuna in. "Even if the horse were made of gold, y couldn't hold onto him with Munemori pressing you lik<l tl;iat. Send him to Rokuhara now," he said. There was nothing for Nakatsuna to do obey. He composed a poem to go with the horse: 2

koishiku wa kite mo mi yo ka shi

m1 no soeru kage o ba ikaga hanachiyarubeki

If it attracts you, please come to see it here:

how might I manage to detach and send away something that is my shadow?

Munemori sent no answer to the poem. 3 "Yes, he's a fine horse, mag cent. But the owner was stingy. Brand him with his owner's name," hes/

r. A few days earlier, on the 12th, some weasels had appeared in the Seinan Palace ( Mansion), where Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa was still confined. When asked to el<p, the significance of the visitation, Abe no Yasuchika, the head diviner, had said, "Joy and so will visit His Majesty within three days." Subsequently, on the r 3th, Kiyomori had all owe</ retired emperor to move back to the city. '

2. In a variant Heike text, Genpei jOsuiki, the poem appears after Munemori's initia., quest, a more suitable location. There is a pun on kage ("shadow"; "bay horse").

3. An act of rudeness. Poems required responses in kind.

r a visitor a suna and le:

a wallop," akatsuna VI

twas as de: d for this!'

'The Heike tempt to th r they dish .hance to de 1vate revengt n that conn r Shigemor

ress's apa1 ke coiled it ladies-in-VI held down right, and ly called ·

Nakatsuna ke. Nakats

Jside the cc · m, but the .ainer of his nd got rid

he next rr entto Na]

~ pleasure t it a pretty

ress to a 1 ~ellency's E embled th,

ow could at he shou prising, b1 ause he cc fter dark

d son Kar to Nakam · a Temple-

ne of Yo

' departure fr ·ed Emperor

icular year, af s to be sought 1emori. This le 1itting himself :ause he happe

famous throuJ . mane, easier 1ld possibly ha ,ri heard abou} iat famous ho ·

r for a short re na answered. :er, when a lar ion, several m : yesterday,""· nd the courty

: six or seven

iade of gold, y hat. Send him

,re:

ty iadow?

1e horse, ma ·s name," he

: Seinan Palace (1i hen asked to exp said, "Joy and sor ,mori had allowed

viunemori's initial,- . horse").

Chapter Four

bad Konoshita branded "Nakatsuna" and put him in his stable. When- a visitor asked to see the famous animal, he would say, "Saddle Na-

'§una and lead him out," "Mount Nakatsuna," "Whip Nakatsuna; give ta wallop," and so forth. akatsuna was furious. "It was bad enough for that bully to seize a horse

'twas as dear as life to me. Now he's using him to ridicule me. I won't d for this!" he said.

•The Heike make those humiliating remarks because we're objects of tempt to them," Yorimasa told him. "They think we have to take what- i they dish out. A life like this isn't worth living; I'm going to look for ance to do something." As became evident later, he did not attempt a ate revenge; instead, he persuaded Prince Mochihito to act.

n that connection, as in so many others, people remembered Palace Min- Shigemori with nostalgia. One time when Shigemori called in at the

press's apartments during a visit to the imperial palace, an eight-foot ke coiled itself around the left edge of his bloused trousers. "It may upset · ladies-in-waiting and alarm the empress if I make a fuss," he thought. \held down the snake's tail with his left hand, took hold of its head with

right, and put it inside the sleeve of his cloak. Then he stood up and roly called for a chamberlain of sixth rank. The summons was answered l')!akatsuna, who was a chamberlain at the time. Shigemori gave him the ke. Nakatsuna took it, went past the archery hall to the small courtyard

Jside the courtiers' hall, and called over a page from the Giyoden store- ' m, but the page ran off, shaking his head. Nakatsuna had to summon a

iner of his own, Palace Guard Kio. He gave Kio the snake, and Kio took nd got rid of it. he next morning, Shigemori had someone saddle a good horse, which ent to Nakatsuna. "You handled yourself very well yesterday. This horse pleasure to ride. Use him when you leave the guard quarters at night to ta pretty woman," he said. Nakatsuna's reply was a suitable one to ess to a minister of state: "I am delighted to respectfully receive Your

"ellency's gracious gift of a horse. May I say that your actions yesterday ·mbled the 'Return to the Castle'?" 4

ow could Munemori have been so different from his admirable brother? the should have failed to achieve quite the same high standard was not

... rising, but it was disgraceful to plunge the country into turmoil, just 'ause he coveted someone else's favorite horse and took it away. .· fter dark on the sixteenth, Yorimasa, his oldest son Nakatsuna, his sec- cl son Kanetsuna, Rokujo no Kurando Nakaie, Nakaie's son Kurando ii Nakamitsu, and others burned their houses and went off to the Mii- a Temple-more than three hundred mounted men altogether. ne of Yorimasa's samurai, Palace Guard Kio, stayed behind because he

·,.A court dance in which a performer dressed as a Central Asian introduced a snake into leeve.

The Tale of the Heike

had failed to join the others in time. Munemori summoned him.5 "Why. you stay behind instead of going with Yorimasa?" he asked.

"I always meant to be the first to gallop forward and give my life for in a crisis," Kio said respectfully, "but for some reason he didn't say aw to me about it."

"Well, do you plan to side with Yorimasa, the traitor? You've been in out of our houses too. Do you want to prosper in the future by servingc Say what you really think."

Kio shed tears. "My family and His Lordship's have been close for erations, but I can't cast my lot with a traitor. I want to serve you."

"Then do so. You'll find us quite as generous as Yorimasa," Mune said. He went inside.

From morning until evening on that day, Munemori kept asking hiss rai if Kio was around. The answer was always yes. He went outside to nightfall, and Kio addressed him in a respectful voice. "They say Yori has gone to Miidera. You must be planning to send a punitive force ag him. He's not very strong; there's probably nobody with him except Miidera monks and some men from Watanabe, whom I know quite I'd like to kill one of his best men, but a so-called friend of mine stol horse I keep for fighting. Could you lend me one of yours?"

"I'll be glad to," Munemori said. He had a good saddle put on a valu horse, a whitish roan named Nanryo [Silver], and gave it to him. ·

Kio went home. "I'm going to ride this horse to Miidera the mimi gets dark; I'll be the first man in Lord Yorimasa's force to gallop out die in battle," he said. · ·

When night came at last, he sent his wife and children into hiding. with a full heart, he prepared to leave for Miidera. He put on a hunting with a three-colored design and large chrysanthemum-shapi:d braided decorations, a hereditary suit of armor with flame-red lacing, and a h with silver studs. At his waist, he hung a magnificent oversized sword his back, he placed a quiver containing twenty-four arrows, the white f, ers of each marked with broad black bands, as well as a pair of t shooting arrows fledged with hawk feathers, which he may have inc. through a wish to honor the etiquette observed by the palace guards picked up a rattan-wrapped bow, mounted Nanryo, and assigned a JlJ, ride a remount and a groom to carry a shield under his arm. Then he b his house to the ground and galloped off toward Miidera.

Shouts arose at Rokuhara. "Kio's house is on fire!" Munemori h out. "Is Kio here?" he asked. No, he was not. "I gave that fellow the b' of the doubt, and now he's turned around and cheated me! Catch u~ him and kill him!" he said. But Kio was a superb archer, famous f

5. Kio is said in other Heike texts to have lived near Munemori in the Rokuhara a( 6. The palace guards (takiguchi), the group of archers to which Kio belonged, ma

practice to add a target-shooting arrow or two to their quivers.

on't volunteer t the very s:

wish we coulc e League. 7 "'

kuhara." orimasa kne . "He's devo appeared be

'What did I tt io spoke res1

hange for Lo una the hon akatsuna w , and had hi

lowing night. h his fellows !Look who's

unemori h1 yiceMunem t cur the ben · alive them

" he said. : ppear.

ince Moel, didn't get: ripped ur him into t

eanwhile . ' nnce is fie

force of rr

A league wa ties.

The horse's', Soldier-man ~d support (l'vliidera), :

ve my life for didn't say a w

, , b ou ve een in 1re by serving

een close for g :rve you."

"M nasa, une

t asking his sa nt outside tow 'hey say Yorim itive force agai h him except know quite w of mine stole

?" put on a valua to him. !era the minut to gallop out a

into hiding. Th on a hunting r Lped braided se · :ing, and a hel ersized sword; s, the white fea a pair of targ

iay have includ; •alace guards. 6

assigned a man" n. Then he bur ·

Junemori hurr' • fellow the ben 1e! Catch up w ~r, famous for

,e Rokuhara area, 6 belonged, made i

Chapter Four

d with the bow, and a strong, brave man. "He'll kill twenty-four oppo- s with those twenty-four arrows in his quiver," Munemori's men said. n't volunteer." Not one of them was willing to face him. t the very same time, the warriors at Miidera were discussing Kio. ish we could have brought him with us," said a member of the Wata-

e League.7 "Terrible things might be happening to him back there at · uhara." orimasa knew Kio. "That one will never let himself be captured," he

d. "He's devoted to me. Wait and see; he'll show up any minute now." ·~ appeared before he finished. •What did I tell you?" Yorimasa said. i6 spoke respectfully. "I've brought Nanryo, a horse from Rokuhara, in

change for Lord Nakatsuna's Konoshita. Here, he's yours." He gave Na- tsuna the horse.

akatsuna was delighted. He cut off Nanryo's mane and tail, branded · and had him chased inside the gate at Rokuhara in the middle of the ' [owing night. The horse went into the stable and began to exchange nips

th his fellows, ''Look who''s 'here! It's Nanryo!" said the startled grooms. iMunemori hurried out to see. The horse's brand said, "Taira Buddhist pvice Munemori, formerly Nanryo." 8 In a rage, he swore revenge. "I gave at cur the benefit•of the doubt and he turned around and cheated me. Take m alive the minute we start the attack on Miidera! I'll behead him with a w," he said. But Nanryo's mane did not grow back, nor did the brand · appear.

4.II. The Battle at the Bridge

.[ Prince Mochihito has left Miidera for Nara, escorted by Yorimasa's men and La group of soldier-monks. ] 9

.Prince Mochihito fell off his horse six times between Miidera and Uji. e didn't get any sleep last night; that's what's the matter," the others said. ey ripped up the planking of the Uji Bridge as far as the third pillar, and k him into the Byodoin to rest awhile.

Meanwhile, the men at Rokuhara said, "What do you know! It looks like e prince is fleeing toward Nara. Go after him and kill him." A force of more than twenty-eight thousand riders crossed Kohatayama

7. A league was an association of middle- and low-level local warriors, usually based on food ties. .8 .. The horse's cropped mane was meant to suggest a monk's shaven head.

Soldier-monks (sohei) were fighting men maintained by temples to safeguard their prop- and support them in disputes. The best-known aggregations were at the Enryakuji, the

}:,°ioji (Miidera), and the great temples of Nara, notably the Kofukuji and the Todaiji.

The Tale of the Heike

Mountain and bore down on the Uji Bridge, led by these commanders chief:

Commander of the Military Guards of the Left Tomomori Head Chamberlain-Middle Captain Shigehira Director of the Stables of the Left Yukimori Satsuma Governor Tadanori

And by these samurai commanders:

Kazusa Governor Tadakiyo His son Kazusa no Taro Hangan Tadatsuna

Hida Governor Kageie His son Hida no Taro Hangan Kagetaka

Takahashi no Hangan Nagatsuna Kawachi no Hangan Hidekuni Musashi no Saburozaemon Arikuni Etchii no Jirobyoe-no-jo Moritsugi Kazusa no Gorobyoe Tadamitsu Akushichibyoe Kagekiyo

The Taira saw that the enemy warriors were inside the Byodoin. Th shouted three rounds of battle cries, and the prince's men answered wf. shouts of their own.

"They've pulled up the planks! Watch it! They've pu)led up the plank Watch it!" the Heike vanguard yelled. But their cries failed to carry tot men in the rear, who were pressing ahead in the hope of gaining the lea More than two hundred of the foremost riders were pushed into the riv where they drowned and floated away. ' ;': .

Archers from the two sides took their places at the bridge for the e change of arrows. 10 The prince's men-Shuncho, Habuku, Sazuku, a Tsuzuku no Genta-released a flight of arrows that pierced both armor a shields.

Yorimasa was wearing a heavy silk tunic and a suit of indigo-laced ar!U with a white fern-leaf design. As though to show that he expected that d to be his last, he wore no helmet. His heir, Nakatsuna, wore a red broca tunic and a suit of black-laced armor. He had left off his helmet so that could wield his bow more easily. '

Tajima strode onto the bridge alone, with his mighty spear unsheathed,!) "Shoot him down, men!" the Heike commander ordered. Expert archers stood in a row and let fly a fast and furious barrage

arrows, but Tajima calmly ducked under the high ones, jumped over the 1°, ones, and used his spear to fend off the ones that came straight at him. T

ro. The arrow exchange was a declaration of mutual intent to do battle. I 1. Tajima was a soldier-monk from Miidera.

on both sid Tajima the,

omyo Meishi e tunic, a su1 his waist, th, his back, th( h black eagle

d his favorite ounced his 1

"You must h: Miidera kno rrior worth :

come forw, twenty-forn

ven others. " tied and disc bridge beam myo might a

ye enemies v apped in th, ord. Hard-p n, employin

heel maneuv, the ninth s1

Opped loosed e fury, using Fighting in . attendant c passJomyo

.ut his hand c lchirai died

.n the grass i . ive shafts ha

e treated th, white cleric low clogs,: One after a

eague dashe rophies; oth, he river. The

One of th( adakiyo w( . ' aid. "There':

Ord the rive1

•n

: Byodoin. The' 1 answered wit

i up the plank i to carry to t ;aining the lea :d into the river

idge for the ex :u, Sazuku, an both armor an

. igo-laced armo cpected that da. re a red brocad elmet so that h

u unsheathed."

:ious barrage o Jed over the low; ight at him. The

Chapter Four 3II

on both sides watched in admiration, and from then on people called Tajima the Arrow-scatterer.

prny6 Meishii of Tsutsui, one of the worker-monks, was wearing a dark e tunic, a suit of black-laced armor, and a helmet with five neckplates. his waist, there was a sword with a black lacquered hilt and scabbard; his back, there was a quiver containing twenty-four arrows, all fledged

th black eagle-wing feathers. Grasping a lacquered, rattan-wrapped bow d his favorite long, plain-handled spear, he advanced onto the bridge and

110unced his name in a mighty voice. ••You must have heard of me long ago; see me now before you! Everyone .Miidera knows me-the worker-monk Jomyo Meishii from Tsutsui, a rrior worth a thousand! If anybody here considers himself my equal, let

!Ii come forward. I'll meet him!" He let fly a fast and furious barrage from

5 twenty-four-arrow quiver, killing twelve men instantly and wounding i~ven others. Then, with one arrow left, he sent the bow clattering away, 'htied and discarded the quiver, took off his fur boots, and ran nimbly along \bridge beam in his bare feet. Other men had been afraid to cross, but !IlYO might.as well have been on lchijo or Nijo Avenue. He mowed down e enemies 'With his spear and was engaging a sixth when the blade

napped in the middle. He abandoned the weapon and fought with his 'word. Hard-pressed by a host of adversaries, he struck out in every direc- ion, employing zigzag, interlacing, crosswise, dragonfly reverse, and water- heel maneuvers. He cut down eight men on the spot, and struck the helmet

j the ninth such a mighty blow that the sword snapped at the hilt rivet, lipped loosed, and splashed into the river. Then he fought on with desper- te fury, using his only remaining weapon, a dagger. Fighting in Jomyo's wake, there was a strong, agile monk called Ichirai, attendant of Holy Teacher Keishii at the Joenbo Cloister. Ichirai wanted

p pass J6my6, but the beam was too narrow. "Pardon, Jomyo," he said. He ~;ut his hand on Jomyo's helmet, bounded over his shoulder, and fought on.

Ichirai died in battle. Jomyo crawled back, took off his armor and helmet .n the grass in front of the Byodoin, and counted sixty-three arrow dents. ive shafts had penetrated the leather, but none of the wounds was serious . e treated the places with moxa, wrapped his head in a cloth, and donned white clerical robe. Then he broke his bow to make a staff, shod his feet

'plow clogs, and set off toward Nara, chanting the name of Amida Buddha. One after another, the monks from Miidera and the men of the Watanabe

eague dashed across the beams as Jomyo had done. Some returned with 'trophies; others, mortally wounded, cut open their bellies and jumped into the river. The battle on the bridge raged like a fire.

One of the samurai commanders on the Heike side, Kazusa Governor . adakiyo, went to the commanders-in-chief. "Look what's happening!" he faid. "There's fierce fighting on the bridge. Now would be the time for us to ford the river on horseback, but it's flooding from the summer rains. We'd

312 The Tale of the Heike

probably suffer heavy losses of horses and men. Would it be best to: toward Yoda and Imoarai, or should we go around by the Kawachi R

A warrior came forward: Ashikaga no Matataro Tadatsuna, a resid Shimotsuke Province. "It's not a question of summoning warriors fro dia or China to send to Yoda, lmoarai, or the Kawachi Road; we'd l:l ones to go. If we let these enemies reach Nara instead of destroying when they're right in front of us, there are men in Yoshino andTotsu who won't waste any time in joining them, and then there could be tro

"A great waterway, the Tone River, forms the boundary between Mu and Kozuke provinces. Once when the Chichibu and the Ashikaga fallen out and were always fighting, the Ashikaga decided to make a fro attack across the ford at Nagai and a rear attack across the fords at · and Sugi. But the Chichibu destroyed all the boats that had been asse!ll at Sugi by the Nitta novice of Kozuke, who was allied with the Ashikag will be an eternal disgrace to us as warriors if we don't get across n Nitta said. 'If we drown, we drown. Come on! We'll ride across!' And c they did, probably by means of horse rafts.12

"When we see an enemy across a river, we eastern warriors don't ma·· habit of picking and choosing between shallow and deep. This stream's\ faster or deeper than the Tone. Follow me, men!" He led the way into.· water, and more than three hundred riders entered after him, foreni among them Ogo, Omuro, Fukazu, Yamagami, Naba no Taro, Sanuki Shirodaifu Hirotsuna, Onodera no Zenji Taro, and Heyako no Shiro-a among the retainers, Ukukata no Jiro, Kiriu no Rokuro, and Tanaka Muneda.

"Put the strong horses upstream and the weak ones' downstream," .•• datsuna shouted. "As long as they can stand, let them walk with the rei slack. If they start to struggle for footing, tighten the reins.to make the swim. Anyone who sees a straggler, have him catch hold ot the end of yo bow. Hold hands and stay shoulder to shoulder while you cross. Get a fi seat in the saddle; put plenty of weight on your stirrups. Pull your hors head up if it goes under, but not so hard that it submerges again. If t water gets deep enough to go over your head, move back to the rump. 'f to keep your weight off the horse; make the river carry you. Don't use yo bow while you're in the water, not even to answer enemy fire. Keep yo., neck-guard down all the time, but don't bend so far that they can hit top of your helmet. Cross in a straight line; don't let yourself be carr· downstream. Don't try to head upstream. Come on! Come on!" Thanks his instructions, the three hundred riders surged onto the opposite ba without losing a man.

12. A military technique. The mounted warriors crossed in compact parallel rows, with! foot soldiers clinging to the horses.

ime: last thri rincipal subj

hito's Cf (Principal chat .. Go-Shi1

Kiyom< at Cl

Korem Mong~ Moton Mune1 Shigeh Tadak Tadan Takak Torno Yoritc

liv

[ The leadet have lost tb the court t< Fukuhara (·

lnauspicio ukuhara, a1

down one ni :between two

On anoth

ild it be best to the Kawachi Ro :iatsuna,. a reside ng warnors fro 1i Road; we'd be :i of destroying t hino and Totsuk ere could be trou 1ry between Musa d the Ashikaga ··. ed to make a fro ss the fords at had been assem ,ith the Ashikaga. n't get across n e across!' And er

1rriors don't mak' :p. This stream's• ed the way into tfter him, forem · 10 Taro, Sanuki ako no Shiro-a ro, and Tanaka

downstream," .valk with the rei eins to make th of the end of yo

,u cross. Get a fir :. Pull your hors· erges again. If :c to the rump. T Ju. Don't use yo· ny fire. Keep yo 1t they can hit t. ourself be carrie 1e on!" Thanks t he opposite bari

parallel rows, with t

Chapter 5

'fime: last three months of II 80 Principal subject: unrest in the provinces as a consequence of Prince Mochi-

hito's call to arms pdncipal characters:

Go-Shirakawa, Retired Emperor. Head of the imperial clan Ki)'tnhori (Taira). Retired head of the Taira clan and principal power

at court Koremori (Taira). Son of Kiyomori's dead heir, Shigemori Mongaku. Eccentric Buddhist monk Motomi~hi (Fujiwara). Regent to the infant Emperor Antoku Munemori (Taira). Son of Kiyomori; leader of the Taira clan Shigehira (Taira). Son of Kiyomori Tadakiyo (Fujiwara). A senior samurai in the service of the Taira Tadanori (Taira). Brother of Kiyomori; known as a poet Takakura, Retired Emperor. Father of the infant Emperor Antoku Tomomori (Taira). Son of Kiyomori Yoritomo (Minamoto). Heir to the chieftainship of the Minamoto clan

living in exile in the eastern province of lzu

[ The leaders of the revolt against the Taira, Prince Mochihito and Yorimasa, have lost their lives, but Kiyomori has now invited more trouble by forcing the court to move from Heian-kyo (modern Kyoto) to his seat of power in Fukuhara (within modern Kobe). ]

5.3. Strange Occurrences

Inauspicious dreams preyed on the nerves of the Taira after the move to ukuhara, and there were many strange apparitions. As Kiyomori was lying own one night, a huge face peered in at him, big enough to fill all the space

. etween two pillars of the room. He glared back at it, and it vanished at once. On another night, people heard the sound of a great tree crashing to the

round near the hill palace, foUowed by a burst of laughter, which seemed o come from twenty or thirty throats. 1 That palace had just been built;

r. The hill palace is mentioned again in "The Flight from Fukuhara" (Sec. 7.20), where it s said to have been designed as a place from which to view spring blossoms.

314 The Tale of the Heike

there were no big trees near it. In the thought that goblins were pr responsible, the Taira created a "whizzing-arrow watch," made up of dred men who were to be ready to release whizzing arrows by nig fifty who were to be ready by day. Not a sound was heard when the a . shot toward the place where the goblins seemed to be lurking, but ther boisterous laughter when they shot in other directions.

Again, Kiyomori left his curtain-dais one morning, pushed open the .. door, and found the inner courtyard full of skulls, an immense numb them, clashing and rebounding with a frightful clatter and rumble, an ing up and down and in and out. He called for his attendants. "Is so on duty? Is anyone around?" But nobody happened to be within ea· All the skulls merged into a single enormous whole, bigger than the. den-a veritable mountain, a hundred and forty or fifty feet high. I · great head, there appeared thousands and tens of thousands of big h eyes, all fixed on him with an unblinking, angry stare. He stood his gr calmly, glaring back, and the wrath of his gaze wiped out the great without a trace, just as the sun melts frost or dew.

Furthermore, one night a mouse made a nest and gave birth in the t · a horse on which Kiyomori had lavished special attention, housing it i. best stable and assigning many grooms to cater to its needs. He ord seven yin-yang masters to divine the significance of the birth, and the s reported, "You must observe great caution." The horse had been prese. to him by Oba no Saburo Kagechika, a resident of Sagami Province, · had told him that it was the finest mount in the eight eastern provinc was black, with a white forehead, and its name was Moch'izuki [Full Mo. Abe no Yasuchika, the director of the Bureau of Divination, received it gift. (During Emperor Tenchi's reign, so the Chronicles of Japan tell us insurrection broke out abroad after a mouse built a nest and, gave birt. the tail of an imperial mount.)

Also, there was a man, a young samurai in the service of Minan:i: Middle Counselor Masayori, who had an ominous dream. It seemed tha throng of senior officials, all dressed in formal attire, had assembled L, conference in what looked like the office of the department of shrines at_ greater imperial palace, and that they were expelling someone who sat 1, low seat, and who gave the impression of belonging to the Taira faction,,

"Who is it that they're expelling?" the dreamer asked an old man. "The deity of Itsukushima," the ancient answered. Then the dignified occupant of the highest seat spoke. "The Swor .

Commission, which had been entrusted temporarily to the house of Ta ... is now to be presented to Yoritomo, the lzu Exile." • ..

"Please give it to my grandson after that," said another old maw his side.

When the dreamer asked about the speakers, he was told, "It was Great Bodhisattva Hachiman who said the sword was to go to Yorito

samurai tc who sent Gi rni, the one rai took to l urried to K th to the rt to the buh

seem in dar d the imper en news c

nt Koya, he able that t that that d

ra. Also, it, ·ve the Swor divinity sh,

military su1 e regental h

aced them?' uddhas anc happened

·· etimes as g , but she is ers and thn would hav, ern, seeing , but it is ,

stice.

n the seco uro Kaged rier. "The ] this father- or of Izu Pr night atta

nth. Later , Yama-Toi.

· The ltsukus to, and Fujiw:: lwashimizu H

1s were probaH 1ade up of a hu '1S by night, a ll'hen the arche 1g, but there w

d open the out 1ense number ·umble, and ro

"I 1ts. s someo within earsho

er than the ga eet high. In th ls of big huma tood his groun t the great sku

rth in the tail o housing it in hi :ds. He ordere b., and the seve I been presente i Province, wh · ,rn provinces. l 1ki [Full Moon]. , received it as 'apan tell us, a 1d gave birth i

~ of Minamot lt seemed that 1ssembled for Jf shrines at th ne who sat in 'aira faction. )Id man.

house of Taira;

Id, "It was the o to Yoritomo,

Chapter Five

it was the Kasuga divinity who asked to have it go to his grandson next. the Takeuchi divinity." 2

he samurai told people about his dream, and the story reached Kiyo- ri, who sent Gendayii no Hangan Suesada to Masayori. "Tell your young

< urai, the one who had the dream, to report here at once," he said. The urai took to his heels, but the matter was allowed to drop after Masa-

. ri hurried to Kiyomori's house with assurances that there was absolutely truth to the rumors. It was sad, others observed, that the house of Taira, herto the bulwark of the throne and the protector of the land, should w seem in danger of losing the Sword of Commission for having disre- rded the imperial will.

/When news of these events reached Consultant-Novice Nariyori at · ount Koya, he said, "The Heike won't last much longer! It was under- andable that the Itsµkushima divinity sided with them. But I'd always eard that that divinity was feminine, the third daughter of the dragon king agara. Also, it was natural for the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman to propose

give the Sword of Commission to Yoritomo, but I can't see why the Ka- ga divinity;should have said, 'Give it to my grandson next.' Can it mean at military supremacy will pass to the descendants of Kamatari, the sons f the regental house, once the Taira have been destroyed and the Genji have eplaced them?" .

"Buddhas and bodhisattvas can assume many forms," said another monk ho happened to be present. "Sometimes they may appear as mortals,

sometimes as goddesses. We call the ltsukushima divinity a goddess, it's true, but she is a miracle-working deity, possessed of the six supernatural · owers and three insights: it isn't impossible for her to assume human form."

It would have been correct for such men to make enlightenment their sole oncern, seeing that they had rejected this transitory world for the path of uth, but it is only human nature to admire good government and deplore justice.

5 .4. The Fast Courier On the second of the ninth month in that same year [n8o], Oba no

§aburo Kagechika of Sagami Province sent a message to Fukuhara by fast 'courier. "The Izu Exile, the former assistant guards commander Yoritomo, ent his father-in-law, Hojo no Shiro Tokimasa, to challenge the deputy gov- rnor of lzu Province, Izumi no Hangan Kanetaka, and Kanetaka was killed

<ma night attack on his Yamaki Residence on the seventeenth of the eighth month. Later, about three hundred men established a stronghold at Ishiba- shiyama-Toi, Tsuchiya, Okazaki, and others. I led a thousand Taira par-

•· The ltsukushima, Hachiman, and Kasuga shrines were associated with the Taira, Mina- )hoto, and Fujiwara clans, respectively. The Takeuchi divinity was worshipped at a shrine in )he Iwashimizu Hachiman complex.

The Tale of the Heike

tisans against them, attacked, and reduced them to seven or eight horse including Yoritomo himself. Yoritomo fled to Sugiyama in the Toi re after a desperate last stand. Hatakeyama rallied to our side with five lf dred men, and the sons of Miura no 6suke Yoshiaki joined the Genji three hundred. Hatakeyama retreated to Musashi Province after losin the Miura in engagements at the Yui and Kotsubo beaches, but the attacked the Kinugasa stronghold of the Miura with a force of three th sand riders, made up of his kinsmen (the Kawagoe, the Inage, the Oyama the Edo, and the Kasai) and members of the Seven Leagues of Musa Yoshiaki was slain; his sons crossed by boat from Kurihama beach to and Kazusa provinces."

There was foolish talk among the young senior nobles and courtiers the Heike clan, for whom the transfer of the capital to Fukuhara had ready lost its novelty. "If only something would happen soon! Noth' would suit us better than to be part of a punitive force," they said.

Hatakeyama no Shoji Shigeyoshi, Oyamada no Bett6 Arishige, and U nomiya no Saemon Tomotsuna happened to be in the capital as member the provincial guards. "There must be some mistake," Shigeyoshi said. '11 impossible to be sure about the H6j6 because they're very close to Yorito · but I can't believe those others would join a traitor. There's bound to I) correction to Oba's report before long." Some people agreed with him,~. many others whispered, "Oh, no! There's going to be a national crisis." '

Kiyomori flew into a rage. "Yoritomo would have been executed if La. Ike hadn't persuaded us to reduce his sentence to exile," he said.3 "Now h taking up arms against us, just as if he didn't owe us a thing. The gods a. buddhas won't stand for behavior like that. Heaven will punish him so enough!"

5.7. Mongaku's Austerities On the twentieth of the third month in the first year of Eiryaku [n6o),·

a consequence of his father Yoshitomo's revolt in the twelfth month of.( first year of Heiji [n59], the fourteen-year-old Yoritomo had beens tenced to live in exile at Hirugashima in Izu Province; and there he h remained for more than twenty years. If we ask why he started a rebelli in that particular year, after having survived for so long by lying low, so say the answer is to be found in the exhortations of the monk of Takao, saintly Mongaku.

Mongaku was known in lay life as Endo Musha Morita, the son of tanabe no Endo Mochit6. 4 At the age of nineteen, while he was a min. functionary in Josaimon'in's service, he experienced a religious awakenill

3. Lady Ike, Kiyomori's late stepmother, is said to have pitied Yoritomo because he· minded her of a son who had died young.

4. Probably to be associated with the Watanabe League in Settsu (Sec. 4.6).

--------~

· unced the wo1 .s To find out a thicket on a de of grass w: and lay mot and other po for seven daJ oes it hurt ab e other perso hen there's n,

e decided to n e famous wa1

nary exercise. was deep, t!-

a freezing wi1 'waterfall, and

. Mongaku v neck, and beg d to go on for footing and fl, e, in spite of t . carried him d

.or seven hunc . ashore by th he regained

tthen.) . he moment 1 de a solemn v ite the name c

day. Who d k?" he demai ongaku wen

pnd day, eigh rd as he could. e been some ths with thei Waterfall. Wi head to the f he awakenec

'Who are you "Kongara and commanded 1 ccordance w:

s. Josaimon'in (1

}r eight horsem •• . h e tn t e Toi regi ·

ide with five hu ted the Genji Wif ice after losing f ches, but then • rce of three tho ,ge, the Oyamad .gues of Musash ma beach to AW

, and courtiers 0 Fukuhara had al n soon! Nothin ney said. . rishige, and UtsJ ta! as members J geyoshi said. "It' Jose to Yoritom e's bound to be :ed with him, b tional crisis." executed if La said. 3 "Now he

11g. The gods an punish him soo

iryaku [rr6o], fth month of th o had been sen. nd there he ha arted a rebellio ' lying low, som nk of Takao, th·

,, the son of Wa- he was a mino •

4.6).

Chapter Five 317

ounced the world, and resolved to embrace the life of a wandering as- c,s To find out how painful the austerities might be, he made his way a thicket on a hillside during the sixth month, on a day when not even

ade of grass was stirring under the blazing sun. He stretched out on his k and lay motionless, while swarms of horseflies, mosquitoes, wasps,

"s, and other poisonous insects settled on his body and bit him. He stayed re for seven days, and on the eighth he got up. ,;Does it hurt about this much to perform austerities?" he asked someone. .·· he other person answered, "Nobody could survive if it did." Then there's nothing to worry about." He embarked on his travels. e decided to make a retreat at Kumano Nachi. First, he went to the base

.the famous waterfall, with the idea of braving the torrent as a brief pre- jnary exercise. By then, it was past the tenth of the twelfth month. The bw was deep, the ice was thick, the valley streams had fallen silent. There

5 a. freezing wind blowing from the mountaintops, icicles had formed in e waterfall, and everything was perfectly white, even the branches on the

'.ees. Mongaku waded into the pool below the falls, submerged himself to i, neck, and ~egan to recite a set number of invocations to Fuda. He man- ed to go o~ for two or three days, but on the fourth or fifth day he lost footing and floated to the top. Was there any chance that he might stay

ere, in spite of the rush of the great waterfall? The current swept him away 1 d carried him dbwnstream, rising and sinking amid knife-edged rocks, for

or seven hundred yards. Then a handsome youth appeared and pulled ashore by the hands. An amazed bystander built a fire to warm him,

d he regained consciousness very soon. (It was not in his karma to die st then.) The moment Mongaku came to his senses, his eyes began to blaze. "I ade a solemn vow to stand under the waterfall for twenty-one days and ite the name of Fuda three hundred thousand times. Today is only the

. h day. Who dared to bring me here before I had even finished the first ... ek?" he demanded. The other people felt too frightened to answer. ;"Mongaku went back to the pool and stood under the waterfall. On the · ond day, eight youths came to pull him out, but he fought them off as

rd as he could. On the third day, he finally stopped breathing. There may ~ve been some concern lest the pool suffer defilement, for two divine ouths with their hair dressed in side loops descended from the summit of · e waterfall. With warm, fragrant hands, they stroked him from the top of 's head to the fingernails and palms of his hands and the soles of his feet, nd he awakened as though from a dream. :«Who are you who treat me so kindly?" he asked.

"Kongara and Seitaka, messengers from the Mystic King Fuda. Our mas- . r commanded us to come here. 'Mongaku is undertaking heroic austerities

accordance with a supreme vow. Go and help him,' he told us," they said.

5- Josaimon'in (1126-89) was Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa's sister.

The Tale of the Heike

"Now tell me, where is the Mystic King Fudo?" Mongaku shouted. "He is in the Tu~ita Heaven." The two ascended into the distant ski Mongaku joined his palms in prayer. "The holy Fudo himself k

of my austerities," he thought with a confident heart. He returned t pool and stood under the waterfall again. Thanks to the divine protec the gales no longer pierced his flesh and the descending waters felt w Thus he accomplished his mighty vow to stay under the falls for twent days.

After spending a thousand days in retreat at Nachi, Mongaku vis Omine three times and Kazuragi twice. He also made pious journeys t the other holy places in Japan-Koya, Kokawa, Kinpuzen, Shirayama, 1: yama, Mount Fuji, Togakushi in Shinano Province, and Haguro in D Province. When he finally decided to return to the capital (possibly bee not even he was impervious to homesickness), he brought with him a r · tation as a miracle worker with razor-sharp skills, someone who could P. a flying bird down from the sky. ·

5.8. The Subscription List

After that, Mongaku devoted himself to pious exercises far back in. mountains at Takao, where there was a temple called the Jingoji, faun by Wake no Kiyomaro during Empress Shotoku's reign. Long fallen i; disrepair, the building was shrouded in haze during the springtime and fil with mist in autumn. Its doors lay moldering under fallen leaves, brou · low by the winds; its roof tiles exposed the very altar to the sky, ravage . the rains and dews. There was no abbot, nor were there any visitors, e:x:( for occasional shafts of moonlight and sunlight.

Mongaku swore a mighty vow to restore the temple, no !Ilfltter what . cost. Then he began to make the rounds with a subscription°l1~t, looking donations. One day, he arrived at Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa's Ho ... Mansion. 6 A concert was going on, and the former sovereign brushed as, his request for a contribution. To this most audacious and self-assertive monks, it seemed that someone must have failed to deliver his message, .. burst into the inner courtyard without worrying about the proprieties. "~ are a supremely merciful, supremely benevolent lord. How can you turn down?" he bawled. He unrolled the subscription list and began to chant a sonorous v01ce:

The novice Mongaku speaks with respect. A request for donations, in order t with the assistance of noble and base, clerical and lay, I may build a hall on the h

6. This episode takes place before Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa's stay at the Toba 111. sion (late n79-fifth month of II8o), and thus before the transfer of the court to Fukuhara. the sixth month of II 80. The name of the retired emperor's residence was derived from, nearby temple, the Hojiiji, which is said to have been located southeast of the present San) sangendo, in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto.

t Mount Taka, ' and the next. .en we conside are mere pro, has been cov aks of the tw( lotus-pure Bi and four ma

et, should ha, 's founder in l

esemble mad :. $ and against a's torturers? rhough I have ll strong in m suffering reje n again to th( rievous wheel us it is that '

n Buddhahoc ugh the provi, , moved to tc ks and laity c . hism, so tha1 kao is a loft)

g the mossy g ; the monkey,

•distant; nois( · ious pursuits

assistance? ' antly become it of one who ask that I ma safety of the i praises of a r tn city and cm

laity; and tt d in particula , may go imn s, and that th ee bodies. . hus it is that

· Mongaku's 8, The mythic

; urnn.,, See Wal Sharon).

aku shouted. he distant skie do himself kn le returned to divine proteqj waters felt Wa ills for twenty ·

M~ngaku vist )US Journeys to' , Shirayama, T' Haguro in De'

. (possibly beca' t with him a re 1e who could p

es far back in e Jingoji, found . Long fallen i ringtime and fil :n leaves, brou he sky, ravaged ny visitors, exc

o matter what m list, looking hirakawa's Hoj :ign brushed asi 1d self-assertive :r his message. , proprieties. "Y, v can you turn began to chant ·.·

ations, in order t Id a hall on the ho.

stay at the Toba Ma e court to Fukuhara :e was derived from t of the present Sanj

Chapter Five

j\,1ount Takao and offer prayers to attain the great boon of happiness in this :and the next. n we consider it, absolute reality is vast and great. "Sentient being" and "Bud- re rnere provisional terrns. But ever since the true nature of the phenomenal has been covered by the thick clouds of distracting notions, which trail over

;ks of the twelve-linking chain of dependent origination, the light of the moon lotus-pure Buddha nature has been too dim to appear in the sky of the three

sand four mandalas. How lamentable it is that the Buddha-sun should already iet, should have left the world of transmigration enveloped in darkness! Human

5 founder in lust and wine; they cannot emancipate themselves from illusions

esernble rnad elephants and leaping apes. Immoderate in their slanders against

5 and against the dharma, how may they escape punishment at the hands of 's torturers? bough I have shaken off the dust of the world to don the garb of religion, evil l strong in my heart, battening day and night; virtuous words still offend my

·suffering rejection morning and evening. How bitter it is to know that I must n again to the firepits of the three evil paths, that I must long remain bound to rievous wheel of the four births! 'us it is that the millions of scrolls in Sakyamuni's teachings show us how to

Buddhahood. We may reach the opposite shore of enlightenment either ' ' . gh the provisional instructions or through the teachings of absolute truth. And

moved to tears by the transitoriness of all things, I have resolved to call on nks and laity of high and low degree to assist in the creation of a site sacred to dhism, so that they may attain rebirth in the highest level of paradise. akao is a lofty mountain, a veritable Vulture Peak, with tranquil valleys resem-

•·g the mossy grottoes of Shang Mountain. Its white waters echo among the boul- ; the monkeys on its heights call as they play in the branches. Human habitations

. distant; noise and dirt are absent. The site is excellent, most appropriate for gious pursuits. I ask only a trifling donation: can there be anyone who will with- d assistance? We hear that even when a child builds a pagoda of sand, the deed ' ntly becomes a cause leading to Buddhahood. 7 How much greater must be the

t of one who gives a sheet of paper or half a coin from his personal belongings! 'isk that I may succeed in my vow to build the hall; that the imperial petition for safety of the imperial palace and the tranquility of the reign may be fulfilled; that 'praises of a rule as restrained and benign as those of Yao and Shun may resound

city and country, from far and near, from officials and commoners, from clergy laity; and that we may enjoy peace as enduring as the leaves of the chun tree.• in particular, I ask that the spirits of all who die, whether early or late, high or

, may go immediately to lotus pedestals in the pure land of which the Lotus Sutra , and that they may assuredly bask in the moonlight of the myriad merits of the

ee bodies. hus it is that I have undertaken the pious work of soliciting contributions.

In the third month of the third year of Jish6 [u79] Mongaku

7• Mongaku's source is the Lotus Sutra. See Hurvitz, Scripture, p. 38. ,-The mythical chun tree "counted 8,000 years as one spring and 8,000 years as one

\lmn." See Watson, Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, p. 30 (where the tree is called the Rose Sharon).

320 The Tale of the Heike

5.9. Mongaku's Exile

As it happened, there was great animation behind the jeweled blinds a brocade curtains just then. Chancellor Moronaga had been playing the hi and chanting roei to most delightful effect in the imperial presence; Maj Counselor Sukekata had been singing fuzoku and saibara, beating time t accompany himself; Suketoki and Morisada had been playing the si · stringed koto and singing imayo; and the retired emperor had joined t supporting chorus, caught up in the pleasure of the occasion. Mongakq loud voice made the singers stray off-key and the rhythm-beaters falter i confusion.

"Who is that? Hit him on the head!" the retired emperor said. Some im petuous youths raced toward Mongaku, and one of them, Police Lieutenan Sukeyuki, dashed out in front. "What are you jabbering about? Get out q here!" he said.

Mongaku stood his ground. "I'm not budging until His Majesty donat an estate to the Takao Jingoji," he said. Sukeyuki tried to hit him on t head, but Mongaku knocked off his cap with the subscription list, flattene him with a blow to the chest, and sent him skulking back to the verand~ minus his cap. Then Mongaku drew from his breast a dagger with a hi!' bound in horsehair, unsheathed its glittering blade, and waited, ready t stab anybody who came near him. Prancing about, with the subscriptio list in his left hand and the naked blade in his right, he seemed to th stunned spectators to be brandishing two forged weapops. The bewildere4 exclamations of the senior nobles and courtiers put an end to the concert and the palace was thrown into an uproar.

Ando Musha Migimune, a resident of Shinano Province, was serving r the Military Office at the time. He came running up with his sword to se. what was wrong. Mongaku sprang at him. Perhaps out of reluctance to she, a monk's blood, Migimune turned his blade sideways and used the flat ed~ to deliver a powerful blow to Mongaku's dagger arm. Then, as Mongak faltered, Migimune dropped the sword and grappled with him. "I've gq you!" he shouted.

Although Mongaku had been thrown, he managed to stab Migimune i the right arm; although Migimune had been stabbed, he held fast. Tw exceptionally strong men, they rolled over and over, now on top and no underneath. Newly courageous onlookers of various statuses came forwa{ and hit Mongaku wherever they could, but the fearless monk merely show ered them with abuse.

At last, Mongaku was dragged outside the gate and turned over to son) lackeys in the service of the police, who started to march him off. As t~e,. tugged at him, he glared at the retired emperor's palace. "I say nothlll" about your refusal to make a donation. But I'll have my revenge for th,

. outrageous treatment. The three worlds are a burning house; not even a

perial palace perial positio

nd horse-head pping up and Sukeyuki sta:

·s cap. As a re- . third-level o rough the hig

.Mongaku w, e death of La actice austeri Jicitations w ocking stater the brink of n," he woul, In retaliatio1 hat monk c: Nakatsuna, lzu at the ti the Easterr

tailed to ace "When we I the prisone u must hav veto go int,

. "I don't ha, ink of it, I d note," Mon1 'The guards can't write

They found rite," he sai, ng contribu

· P against the lished my vo anished to Ii

9, Lotus Sutrt Unenlightene, Springs was

re believed to lo, Bifukumc

. any Years. She 9n list.

11 · The legal

st severe. The

,d blinds a ,ying the lu ;ence· M •.

. ' a1 Htng time i: fog the si' . d joined th . Mongak · ters falter

id. Some i e Lieutenan ., G .· .. et out 0

esty donate : him on th' ist, flattene' the verand' r with a hil ed, ready t. subscriptio emed to th' : bewildere the concer

1s serving i ;word to se. ance to she the flat edg 1s Mongak

"I' . n. ve gor

op and now 1me forward 1erely show-

,ver to some off. As they say nothing nge for this.

Chapter Five 321

perial palace can escape destruction. You may pride yourself on your •· erial position now, but you won't escape the torments of the ox-headed

horse-headed torturers after you go to the Yellow Springs!" he yelled, ·. ping up and down. 9 Outraged by his insolence, they clapped him in jail. ukeyuki stayed away from court for a while, humiliated by the loss of ,cap. As a reward for having wrestled with Mongaku, Migimune became

third-level official in the stables of the right, without having passed ough the highest post in the Military Office .

ongaku was soon pardoned, thanks to a great amnesty occasioned by death of Lady Bifukumon'in. 10 But instead of going away somewhere to ctice austerities for a while, as would have been suitable, he resumed his 'citations with the subscription list. Furthermore, he kept on making eking statements during his rounds. "Things are terrible! The country is the brink of chaos. The ruler and his courtiers are all doomed to destruc- n,'' he would say.

'n retaliation, the court sentenced him to distant-exile in Izu Province.11 at monk can't be allowed to frequent the capital," they said. akatsuna, the oldest son of Minamoto no Yorimasa, was the governor

Jzu at the timei Pie issued orders for Mongaku to be transported by sea, the Eastern Sea Road, and two or three minor police functionaries were

· ailed to accompany him on the journey to Ise. "When we policemen perform this kind of duty, we always try to be nice the prisoner," the guards told Mongaku. "How about it, Reverend Sir? u must have friends, even though you've met with this misfortune and

ave to go into exile. Ask them for farewell presents and food." ·· ,.''I don't have any friends I can call on for favors like that. But come to

ink of it, I do know somebody in the eastern hills quite well. I'll send him 'note," Mongaku said. 'fhe guards located a piece of cheap paper, but he threw it back at them. .can't write on paper like that," he said. They found some thick paper for him. He laughed. "I don't know how to fite," he said. "You write it." He dictated a message: "While I was solic- ng contributions to build and dedicate the Jingoji Temple at Takao, I came against the sovereign who's ruling now. Needless to say, I haven't accom-

'shed my vow. Furthermore, I've been thrown into jail, and now I've been . nished to Izu Province. It will be a long trip, and I'll be greatly in need of

9•. Lotus Sutra: "There is no safety in the three worlds [i.e., the types of existence into which unenlightened are reborn]; they resemble a burning house." Hurvitz, Scripture, p. 72. Yel- Springs was a term for the nether regions, including the Buddhist hells. Jailers in the hells

e believed to have heads like those of horses and oxen. ·:vro, Bifukumon'in, the favorite consort of the late Emperor Toba, was a power at court for

ny years. She had actually died in n6o, 19 years before the date of Mongaku's subscrip- n list.

: Ir, The legal codes recognized three degrees of exile, of which distant-exile (onru) was the Ost severe. The other two were near-exile (konru) and intermediate-exile (churu).

322 The Tale of the Heike

farewell presents and food. Please give something to the bearer of this sage." One of them made a careful record of his words.

"How shall I address it?" the scribe asked. "Write, 'To the Reverend Kannon at Kiyomizu Temple.' " "You're trying to make us look like fools." "No, not at all. I have absolute faith in Kannon. And there's nobod

I can turn to," Mongaku said. The party set out to sea from Ano Harbor in Ise Province. When

reached Tenryii Bay, offshore from T6t6mi Province, a sudden gale whi up huge waves. The sailors and helmsman did their best to keep the from capsizing, but the wind and waves raged with mounting fury: S of the passengers intoned Kannon's name, others recited the ten bud invocations of the dying. Mongaku lay oblivious, emitting loud snores; ti!, at the very last minute, something made him jump up. He stati himself in the bow and glared toward the offing. "Are you there, Dra; Kings? Are you there?" he shouted. "What's the idea, trying to capsize' boat when it's carrying a monk who's sworn a mighty vow like m. Heaven will visit instant punishment on you, Dragon Kings!" Perhaps is why the elements subsided almost at once, allowing the boat to reach Province.

On the day of his departure from the capital, Mongaku had begu .. repeat a prayer. "If it's my destiny to return to the capital, and to build. dedicate the Takao Jingoji, I won't die; if my vow is to come to nothing, perish on this journey.'' For lack of fair winds, the bot1t had to follow' coastline and hug the islands all the way to Izu, and no food passed his for thirty-one days. But he kept up his ascetic practices with as much vi as ever. There were many indications that this was no ordinary man!

5.10. The Retired Emperor's Fukuhara Edict In Izu Province, Mongaku lived far back in the area called Nagoya,

the surveillance of a man named Kondo no Shiro Kunitaka. While he. there, he made it a practice to visit Assistant Commander of the Mili Guards Yoritomo, and to amuse him with talk of the past and prese •· One day, he said to him, "Shigemori was the steadiest and wisest of aH Heike, but he died last year in the eighth month. I wonder if that wasJ.11

sign that the luck of the Heike is ending. These days, there's nobody, G: or Heike, whose face shows the marks of a supreme military comman the way yours does. Rebel now! Rule Japan!" .

"I've never dreamed of anything like that," Yoritomo said. "The late nun saved my worthless life; my only thought now is to pray for her sa\ tion by reciting the Lotus Sutra every day."

12. Here and elsewhere, as a sign of respect, the Heike gives Yoritomo a title of whic had been stripped.

ongaku persi en's censure;

k I'm just try or not." Fro

hat's that y t's the head , Heiji fightin1 nobody offe ed the ward e than ten y k he's been r best to help · ·oritomo foUJ n he heard ed to him w:

'Oh, that's n don," Mong ,'Don't be rid a pardon fo

'I'd be wron to prevent 1 new capita!

ting the edic n seven ore

ongaku w nd seven da

.ee days, just • all on the f h whom hi e Izu Exile.

.ainers in th, nly he recei 'Well, I dor tall three c !lfinement, s ·_ow."

hemomen Ort, he issu lzu Provine Yoritomo h ck of discre

.ce. When th n gale whippe , keep the boa ing fury. Som 1e ten buddh md snores, u . He statione there, Drago to capsize th'

ow like mine !" Perhaps tha ,at to reach Ii

had begun t' 1d to build an to nothing, I' :I to follow th' passed his Ii ; as much vigo

.ry man!

diet

Nagoya, uncle, . While he wa of the Militar and present,

visest of all th f that wasn't nobody, Geni

ry commande,

. "The late I r for her salv

a title of which h

Chapter Five 32 3

Itv1ongaku persisted. "The book says, 'He who refuses heaven's gifts incurs 'oven's censure; failure to seize opportunity leads to disaster.' 13 Do you ink I'm just trying to feel you out? See for yourself whether I'm on your de or not." From his breast he drew a skull swathed in white cloth. · "What's that you have there?" Yoritomo asked. "It's the head of your father, the late chief of the stables of the left. After

·e Heiji fighting, it stayed in front of the prison, buried under the moss, •·· d nobody offered prayers for His Lordship. For my own reasons, I per- 'aded the warders to let me have it, and I've carried it around my neck for ore than ten years, visiting many mountains and temples and praying. I ink he's been rescued from a kalpa of suffering. You can see that I've done y best to help him." Yoritomo found the tale hard to believe, but tears of longing filled his eyes hen he heard Mongaku say the skull was his father's. From then on, he 'tked to him without reserve. "How could I lead a rebellion? I'm still under

niperial censure," he said. ; "Oh, that's no problem. I'll go to the capital right away and get you a ardon," Mongaku said. "Don't be ridtoillous. You're under censure yourself. You can't promise to

et a pardon for someone else." "I'd be wrong to claim I could try to get one for myself, but there's noth-

rig to prevent me £rpm speaking up for you," Mongaku said. "I can reach he new capital at Fukuhara in three days, at the most. I'll spend one day etting the edict from the retired emperor. The whole trip won't take more ban seven or eight days." He hurried off.

Mongaku went back to Nagoya, told his disciples that he was going to pend seven days in private retreat at Oyama Shrine in Izu, and set out. In hree days, just as he had anticipated, he arrived at Fukuhara. There he went '.i:i call on the former commander of the military guards Mitsuyoshi, a man

ith whom he had a slight acquaintance. "Tell the retired emperor this: · he Izu Exile, Yoritomo, says that he is prepared to mobilize his family's tainers in the eight eastern provinces, crush the Taira, and restore peace, only he receives a pardon and an edict from His Majesty,'" he said to him. "Well, I don't know," Mitsuyoshi said. "This is a bad time for me; I've

,, st all three of my court offices. Also, the retired emperor is being held in )mfinement, so I'm not sure how things will work out. But I'll try to let him now." The moment Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa received Mitsuyoshi's secret

(eport, he issued the edict. And on the third day after that, Mongaku arrived ti;i Izu Province, with the edict around his neck. . C Yoritomo had been fearing all kinds of misfortunes because of Mongaku's ack of discretion. But on the eighth day, at the hour of the horse [II:oo

13. A quotation from the Chinese Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji).

The Tale of the Heike

A.M.-I:oo P.M.], Mongaku arrived and turned over the document. Awe the word "edict," Yoritomo cleansed his hands, rinsed his mouth, donne new cap and a white robe, and made a triple obeisance to the paper. W: he opened it, he read:

In recent years, the Taira have governed as they pleased, contemptuous of imperial family. They have violated the Buddhist Law and have sought to bring d~ the imperial authority.

Our country is the land of the gods. Ancestral shrines stand side by side; di power works miracles. Consequently, during all the thousands of years since founding of the imperial line, failure has met every attempt to interfere with·• imperial rule and jeopardize the state.

Therefore, I command that you make haste to chastise the house of Taira ~. eliminate the enemies of the court, placing your reliance on divine aid and follow/ the instructions of this imperial edict. Win prominence for yourself and prospe for your family by perpetuating the martial tradition of the Genji and surpassing' loyal service of your ancestors!

The above edict of His Majesty the Retired Emperor is hereby transmitted. Fourteenth day, seventh month, fourth year of Jisho [r I 80] Received by Mitsuyoshi, the former commander of

the military guards of the right To the former assistant commander of the military guards of the right

People say that Yoritomo put the edict in a brocade bag and wore: around his neck, even during the battle of Ishibashiyama.

5. I I. Fuji River

Meanwhile at Fukuhara, a council of senior nobles decided to dispatc punitive force against Yoritomo before he could recruit allies. More t thirty thousand horsemen left the capital on the eighteehth of the ni month [of u8o], with Lesser Captain Koremori as commander-in-chief Satsuma Governor Tadanori as deputy commander. They reached the capital on the nineteenth, and set out promptly toward the east on ..•. twentieth.

The commander-in-chief, Koremori, was twenty-three years old, mo splendid in deportment and attire than any painter's brush could depict. had ordered his heirloom suit of armor, Karakawa [Chinese Leather],tD carried in a Chinese chest. For the journey, he wore a red brocade tunic~ a suit of green-laced armor, and he rode a white-dappled reddish horse a saddle edged in gold. The deputy commander, Tadanori, wore a blue.tu and a suit of armor with flame-red lacing, and he rode a stout and braw. black horse with a gold-flecked lacquer saddle. The army was a magnifice sight as it departed-the horses, the saddles, the armor, the helmets, bows and arrows and swords-even the daggers seemed to gleam.

For several years, Tadanori had been intimate with a certain prince daughter. One evening, he arrived at her house to find her engaged in a lo•

nversation wi leaving, even ile, Tadanori rmured two

no mos musl

Tadanori imr came agam, "Because I hi

· Now, sadder

azur kusaba

sod( taenu t tsuyu z

wa1 nani k,

koe seki m, ato to

There was g ne of bygone ommander S In the past,

ourr, he wen he emperor I e foot of the

nd outside t~ . e nobles of .0 mmander-i1 at the prect ere too anci ave Koremo1

14- The lines Ya/ ware dar

nee-how clan mments to the ·s lady; I must 1 5, Shohei a,

spectively.

ument. Awe 1outh, don he paper.

de by side; divi 3f years since t interfere with t

mse of Taira a aid and followi elf and prosperi md surpassing t

ransmitted. ,So]

:ds of the right

,ag and wore

ed to dispatch .lies. More tha 1th of the nin .der-in-chief a reached the ol the east on t

years old, mo ;ould depict. H ~ Leather], to b ·ocade tunic an idish horse wit vore a blue tuni out and brawn as a magnifice the helmets, th gleam.

. . , ertam prmcess ngaged in a Ion

Chapter Five

trversation with a feminine caller of high birth. The guest showed no signs leaving, even when it got very late. After loitering under the eaves for a hiie, Tadanori rattled his fan. In an elegant voice, the princess's daughter 'urmured two lines from a poem:

no mo se ni sudaku mushi no ne yo

The voices of insects everywhere in the fields! 14

Tadanori immediately stopped his fanning and went home. Later, when e came again, the lady asked, "Why did you stop fanning the other night?" ''Because I heard someone saying I was noisy," he said. Now, saddened by the prospect of his long journey, that same lady sent

im a poem with the gift of a short-sleeved robe:

azumaJ1 no kusaba o waken

sode yori mo taenu tamoto no tsuyu zo koboruru

wakareji o nani ka nagekan

koete yuku seki mo mukashi no ato to amoeba

There will be more dew drenching the sleeve of the one

bowed down by sorrow than wets the sleeve of the one who parts the eastland grasses.

What need to lament the parting of the ways

when we remember, "The barrier we cross now is the one of bygone days?"

There was great refinement in the lines, "The barrier we cross now is the ne of bygone days." He must have been thinking about the time when Taira

lSommander Sadamori went east to subjugate Masakado. •·. In the past, before a commander left the capital to defeat an enemy of the ·ourt, he went to receive a Sword of Commission at the imperial palace. he emperor proceeded to the Shishinden, the bodyguards formed ranks at

p.e foot of the stairs, two ministers of state supervised the ceremonies inside nd outside the Shomeimon Gate, and there was a banquet, attended by all he nobles of sixth and higher rank. Swords were received by both the

, ommander-in-chief and the deputy commander. But now it was decided hat the precedents set in the Shohei and Tengyo eras [931-37, 938-46]

,were too ancient for successful imitation.15 Instead, the authorities merely •&ave Koremori a bell, citing the example of Taira no Masamori's march to

14. The lines are from a roei (SSRES 313): kashigamashi / no mo se ni sudaku / mushi no e ya I ware .dani mono o / iwade koso omoe ("Despite my passion, I long for you in si-

. nee-how clamorous the voices of insects, everywhere in the fields!") Tadanori's mistress \:Comments to the guest on the insects in the garden, while saying to her lover, "I can't offend this lady; I must yearn for you in silence."

{( 15. Shiihei and Tengyii were the eras during which Masakado and Sumitomo rebelled, "respectively.

The Tale of the Heike

Izumo Province to subdue Minamoto no Yoshichika. 16 Koremori gave i a servant to carry around his neck in a leather bag.

In the past, three commitments had been required of a commander went out from the capital to crush an enemy of the court. On the day w he received the Sword of Commission, he forgot his lineage; when hep pared to leave home, he forgot his wife and children; and when he engag the foe on the battlefield, he forgot his life. It is moving to think that th same resolves must have been in the minds of the two Heike leaders, Ko" mori and Tadanori.

On the twenty-second [ of the ninth month in the same year], Retired E peror Takakura began another pilgrimage to Itsukushima in Aki Province He had gone once before, in the third month, and, perhaps as a result, the,, had followed a month or two of tranquility in the country and well-be( for ordinary people. But now, because of Prince Mochihito's revolt, the la

0

was troubled and everything was unsettled. The retired emperor hoped restore peace, and he also wanted to pray for his own return to good heal He was starting from Fukuhara, so he would be spared the trials of a Ion journey. He composed his prayer himself, and the regent, Motomichi, wrn. out a fair copy:

We are told that the true nature of the phenomenal world is like an uncloud moon, soaring high and bright on the fourteenth or fifteenth night of the month, a that the profound wisdom of the ltsukushima deity resembles the alternating win. of yin and yang. The ltsukushima Shrine is a place whose name is invoked far a wide, a source of incomparable miracles. The high peaks encircling it are natur parallel to the lofty eminence of the goddess's supreme mercy·; the boundless sea its feet symbolizes the depth and breadth of the goddess's vow. ·

In the beginning, I was an ordinary man granted the great honor of occupying imperial throne; now, obedient to the teachings of Laozi, I savor ia,guiet, free life the abode of a retired sovereign. Nevertheless, I journeyed once before, pure in he to the holy shrine on this solitary isle; I went to the sacred fence to seek div' benevolence; I prayed until sweat bathed my body; and I was vouchsafed an oracul response, which remains graven in my mind. I was warned to exercise special ca· tion in late summer and early autumn. And, indeed, I fell victim to a sudden illne against which medical treatment proved ineffectual. As time passed, I recogniz with renewed clarity the truth of the divine response. Although I commissioned pra. ers, the burden of my suffering was not lifted. Thus I came to believe that I coul not do better than to undertake another pilgrimage to Itsukushima, a journey ma, with peerless sincerity.

My dreams during travel were shattered by incessant blasts from cold gales; , eyes traced distant routes in the lonely, pale light of the autumn sun. Now, hav .· reached the shrine at last, and having reverently prepared a purified seat and cop sacred writ, I offer the Lotus Sutra in black graphs on colored paper; the Sutra Innumerable Meanings and the Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Univers

I 6. Official travelers rang such bells to requisition men and horses at post stations. --< 17. He had ceded the throne to his I 5-month-old son, Antoku, in the second month oft~

year ( rr Bo).

ue; the Small vadatta Chapt, d. As I do so,

icious benefo nting in prais, he time has b imperial seat. e the srrengt

'o come here it us journeys ir nces, other th ed personages tinguish the B

rnatural bei1 eyes and pn e heed of ill)

ponse!

rsed mount: nth of the •

ce. They ha ditional mu venty thous: e vanguard

;The comm,

_18. Emperor lgrimage to So voy to the eas lieved to exist Grotto). Reti

onse than the ,nggaoshan me tual!y manifes 1 9, "Ninefol

cessary to pas hstitutes for it . >o. The Fuji •dd!e of Surug ere slightly wt e . site of the pi

ommander W 1n the day w· e; when hep 'hen he enga · think that th e leaders, Ko·

1r], Retired E Aki Provine

1s a result, th · and well-bei revolt, the la

tperor hoped to good heal

: trials of a lo otomichi, wr •

ike an unclou of the month, a alternating wi s invoked far a

r of occupying t quiet, free life ore, pure in hea. tee to seek divi 1safed an oracul

;sec!, I recogni mmissioned pra · :lieve that I coul

,m cold gales; sun. Now, havi :d seat and copi aper; the Sutra 1isattva Univers

ost stations. econd month of th

Chapter Five 32,7

e; the Small Amitabha Sutra and the Heart Sutra, each in one scroll; and the adatta Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, which I have inscribed myself in graphs of

J\s I do so, the shade from the luxuriant evergreen trees nurtures the seed of 'icious benefit, the resonant ebb and flow of the sea harmonizes with the voices ting in praise of the Buddha. e time has been short, a mere eight days, since this disciple of the buddhas left

JJ1perial seat. But that I should have braved the western seas a second time brings e the strength of the ties binding me to Itsukushima. More than one are those

ci come here in the morning to pray; numbered in thousands are those who make s journeys in the evening. Yet I have heard of no visits by retired sovereigns or ces, other than Priestly Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, even though many ex- .cl personages have paid homage to the goddess. Emperor Wu of Han could not inguish the Buddha's tempered radiance in the moonlight at Mount Songgao; the ernatural beings of Penglai Grotto were concealed by intervening clouds. 18 I raise eyes and pray to the goddess, I prostrate myself and beseech the Lotus Sutra.

•e heed of my fervent petition now; grant me the unique blessing of your divine ponse!

Twenty-eighth day, ninth month, fourth year of Jish6 [u8o] The retired emperor

eanwhile, :frie Heike were following the thousand leagues of the Eastern Road after their departure from the ninefold capital.19 It was all too

certain whether they would return unharmed. They borrowed lodgings m the dew on the plains and slept on the moss of lofty peaks; they tra-

. sed mountains and rivers. Day succeeded day, until finally, on the six- < nth of the tenth month, they arrived at Kiyomi Barrier in Suruga Prov- ce. They had left the capital with only thirty thousand horsemen, but ditional musters along the way had swelled their numbers to more than • <1nty thousand. The rear guard was still at Tegoshi and Utsunomiya when

vanguard reached Kanbara and the Fuji River. 20 0

'The commander-in-chief, Koremori, summoned the samurai commander, izusa Governor Tadakiyo. "I think we ought to cross the Ashigara Moun- 'ins and fight east of the pass," he said.

18 .. Emperor Wu of Han (157 B.C.-87 B.C.; r. 141 B.C.-87 s.c.) is said to have made a · rimage to Songgaoshan, one of the five sacred peaks of Han China, and to have sent an

Joy to the eastern seas in an unsuccessful search for the elixir of immortality, which was Jieved to exist on the mythical Penglai Island (J. H6rai; also called Mount Penglai and Peng- Grotto). Retired Emperor Takakura is apparently requesting a more favorable divine re- nse than the Chinese monarch received. (According to the dynastic history Han shu, the ggaoshan mountain god, who is represented here as having refused to appear for Wudi,

ually manifested himself as a mysterious voice wishing the emperor a long life.) . 19. "Ninefold" (kokonoe) is a word derived from the nine gates through which it was

essary to .pass to gain access to a Chinese imperial palace. It usually modifies "palace" or stitutes for it. Here it complements the hyperbole of "thousand leagues."

20. The Fuji River (128 km) flows southward to Suruga Bay through what was once the · die of Suruga Province (now the middle of Shizuoka Prefecture). Tegoshi and Utsunomiya re slightly west of the river, in what is now Shizuoka City. Kanbara was a post station on

J~ site of the present town of the same name.

The Tale of the Heike

"When you left Fukuhara, Lord Kiyomori ordered you to be guide my military judgment," Tadakiyo said. "All the warriors in the eight eas provinces have cast their lot with Yoritomo; he must be able to deploy . dreds of thousands of horsemen. It's true that we have seventy thous but they've rushed to join us from many different provinces. They'r hausted, and so are their horses. Furthermore, there's no sign yet of forces from Izu and Suruga that we expected. You need to keep the River in front of you and wait for more allies to arrive." There was not for Koremori to do but halt the advance.

Yoritomo crossed the Ashigara Mountains to Kisegawa in Suruga, the Genji from Kai and Shinano galloped to join him. During a muste,. Ukishima-ga-hara, the names of more than two hundred thousand hor men were recorded.21

A lackey in the service of Satake no Taro, one of the Genji from Hit Province, had set out toward the capital with a message from his mas Tadakiyo, riding in the Heike vanguard, stopped him and took it away fr. him. When it turned out to be a letter to a woman, he gave it back, concl ing that there would be no harm in letting it go through. Then he asked man, "By the way, what's the size of Yoritomo's force?"

"All during my trip-seven or eight days by now-every field, mount~j seashore, and river has been swarming with armed men. I know how count up to four or five hundred, or maybe a thousand, no further; I c say whether the army's large or small. I did hear someone mention yester at Kisegawa that there were two hundred thousand horsemen," the said.22

"If only our commander-in-chief hadn't been so lackadaisical!" Tadakf thought." "If he had sent us out right away, and if we'd crossed the A§,", gara Mountains into the eight provinces, Hatakeyama's family and the 0 brothers would have been sure to join us, and then every grass and tree e. of the pass would have bowed down." But his regrets were useless.

Koremori summoned Nagai no Saito Betto Sanemori, a man who known to be familiar with conditions in the east. "Tell me, Sanemori, h ·. many men in the eight provinces handle a strong bow as well as you do he asked.

Sanemori gave a derisive laugh. "You call my arrows big? They're i. barely thirteen fists long. Lots of eastern warriors can say the same; body's a long-arrow man there unless he draws a fifteen-fist shaft. Fo~ easterner, a strong bow is a weapon that it takes six powerful men to strl!!

21. Kisegawa was the name of an area in the eastern part of the province, on the east_ b_. of the small Kisegawa River (now a part of Numazu). Ukishima-ga-hara was a stretch of s dunes between the two rivers (now inside the cities of Numazu and Yoshiwara). . :

22. There would also have been many foot soldiers. Sizes of military forces tend to . exaggerated in the Heike, sometimes grossly.

23. This seems to be a reference to Munemori, who has stayed in the capital.

nothing for ,armor. "Every big l: ' ce a rider m< rain is, a gal wn in battle,

light in thew es him again ho loses a sor t of commisi rvested. In s1 too cold. fa

"The Genji f hey're plann "I'm not try · ns battles. B , . . re up agam All the Taira The twenty- e arrow exd Looking ou1 uragewhen u and Surug ountains, or ct of warfa1

.mented. "It': ,emies. Wha Midwaythr

f water birdi ith a noise o hat startled "The Genji st like Saner e can't hole e Owari Ri· g their posi

rrows in th,

24, Both of tl Wari River, no'

· ces. Sunomata rovince,

o be guided· he eight eas · to deploy h

·enty thousa :e~. They're · sign yet of;: } keep the p' :re was nothf

in Suruga, a ing a muster 1ousand hor

ji from Hita om his mast )kit away fr back, concl

en he asked t

ield, mountai : know how further; I ca ntion yesterd men," the m'

ical!" Tadaki ossed the Ash ily and the 6 ·· ss and tree ea 1seless. man who w

Sanemori, ho ell as you do/,

g? They're ju the same; n

;t shaft. For a.

e, on the east ba_ as a stretch of sa ara). · forces tend to

pita!.

Chapter Five

nothing for one of those mighty archers to penetrate two or three suits armor. '-'Every big landholder can command at least five hundred horsemen. hce a rider mounts, he never loses his seat; and no matter how rugged the · rain is, a galloping horse never falls. If a man sees his father or son cut wn in battle, he just rides over the body and keeps fighting. In battles ~ght in the west, a man leaves the field if he loses his father, and nobody s him again until he's made his offerings and mourned awhile. A man

0 loses a son is too broken up to come back at all. When westerners run t of commissariat rice, they stop fighting until the fields are planted and rvested. In summer, they think it's too hot to fight; in winter, they think s too cold. Easterners are entirely different. '"The Genji from Kai and Shinano know this area. I wouldn't be surprised 'they're planning to circle around behind you from the base of Mount Fuji. ·· "I'm not trying to scare you. As they say, it's strategy, not numbers, that ins battles. But I don't expect to get back to the capital alive from what •e're up against." · Ail the Taira warriors trembled. · The twenty-third of the tenth month arrived. It had been decided to hold e arrow exchange on the following day, at the Fuji River.

· Looking out toward the Genji positions that night, the Heike lost their .0urage when they saw the cooking fires of the local people-peasants from .zu and Suruga, and others who had gone into the fields, or hidden in the ountains, or taken to the rivers and the sea in boats, terrified by the pros- ct of warfare. "Look at all those Genji campfires!" the shaken warriors mented. "It's true; every field, mountain, seashore, and river is alive with · emies. What are we going to do?" Midway through the night, there was a sudden commotion-a huge flock water birds, rising from the Fuji marshes, where they had congregated,

}th a noise of flapping wings like a typhoon or a thunderclap. Who knows hat startled them? "The Genji host has launched its attack!" the Taira warriors yelled. "It's st like Sanemori said; some of them must be coming around from the rear. e can't hold out if they surround us. Fall back! Set up defensive lines at e Owari River and Sunomata!" 24 They fled in desperate haste, abandon- g their possessions. Some of them grabbed their bows and forgot their

trows in the confusion; some mounted others' horses; some saw their orses mounted by others. Some leaped onto tethered animals and rode in ircles around picket stakes. Screams rose from the lips of innumerable

24. Both of these places were far to the rear, closer to the capital than to the Fuji River. The ,wari River, now called the Kiso, flowed along the boundary between Mino and Owari prov- ces. Sunomata was a strategic point on the Nagara River (a tributary of the Kiso) in Mino _ovince.

33° The Tale of the Heike

courtesans and harlots, women who had been fetched from neighbo post stations to entertain the men, and who now sustained grievou · juries from kicks to the head, or suffered broken hips from being tram underfoot. ·

At the hour of the hare [5:00 A.M.-roo A.M.] on the next day, the twe fourth, the two hundred thousand Genji horsemen swooped down on Fuji River with three battle cries, each mighty enough to rattle the hea and shake the earth. ··

5.r2. The Matter of the Gosechi Dances

Not a sound broke the silence at the Heike campsite; the scouts repoi that the entire army had fled. Some of them came back with armor discarS by the foe; others brought abandoned tents. "There's not even a fly stirr' in the enemy positions," they said.

Yoritomo dismounted and took off his helmet. He washed his ha rinsed his mouth, and knelt facing the capital. "I can claim no credit what's been accomplished. The Great Bodhisattva Hachiman planned 1 he said. To show that he was claiming the territory at once, he assign Suruga Province to lchijii no Jira Tadayori and Tiitomi Province to Yas1;' no Saburii Yoshisada. He might have been expected to pursue and atta the Heike, but he turned at Ukishima-ga-hara and headed back to Saga Province, concerned about possible threats to his rear. ·

There was laughter among the courtesans at the post stations on the Ea. ern Sea Road. "Isn't it disgusting? What a disgrace! The commander-( chief of a punitive force runs back toward the capital without shooting single arrow! It's bad enough for a man to run when he sees enemies on!, battlefield, but that fellow took to his heels the minute he, qeard a nois · they said. ·

Many lampoons appeared. Because Munemori was the commander-L. chief in the capital, and because Koremori, the leader of the punitive fori;: was serving at court as a provisional assistant commander in the guard someone wrote this poem, punning on "Heike" and hiraya:

hiraya naru munemori ika ni

sawaguramu hashira to tanomu suke o otoshite

[Another poem:]

The ridge guardian at the one-story dwelling

must be in despair after seeing the downfall of the mainstay he trusted.25

25. The two graphs used for writing "Heike'' can be read hiraya, "one-story house." M~, nemori puns on "ridge guardian";. suke on "assistant commander" and "mainstay"; and at shite on "let fall" and "let flee," The poem can mean, "Munemori, the man responsible fort·:; house of Taira, must be in a terrible state after the flight of the assistant commander on who he relied to avert the clan's ruin."

fujiga seze no i

mizu hayaku 1 ise heiji

omeone con he Fuji Rive

fujig yoroi w

sum1 koromc nochin

tada nige no

non kazusa kakete

On the eigh• ed at the ne Kikai-ga-sh On the nint

hether Tada ni came for id. "As I re1 radoes in t ansion. Nol all and got

aptured the , her we're go ilure the 01

rayer to try · On the ten1

he right. "H, Y are they

Once in th

2 6, There is _nother on heiii ivers of Japan."

27. The poet Pun on tada k 28. There ar

.'igallop"; "attac

:rom neighbo/ ined grievous

1

n being tramp

:t day, the twen ped down on rattle the heav

ices

.e scouts report 1 armor discar · even a fly stirl

ashed his han 1im no credit man planned i mce, he assign ·ovince to YasU: ,ursue and att i back to Sag

e commander- :thout shootin es enemies on e heard a nois

e commander, ne punitive fat .er in the guar i:

ag

ne-story house." !<mainstay"; and an responsible fort :ommander on wh

fujigawa no seze no iwa kosu

mizu yori mo hayaku mo otsuru ise heiji ka na

Chapter Five

Ah, the lse Heiji! Their flight is even faster

than the swift descent of the Fuji River's stream where rapids cross the rocks. 26

331

orneone composed a poem about Tadakiyo's abandonment of his armor 'he Fuji River:

fujigawa ni yoroi wa sutetsu

sum1zome no koromo tadakiyo nochi no yo no tame

tadakiyo wa nige no uma ni zo

norinikeru kazusa shirigai

'J t . kakete kai nashi

You left your armor beside the Fuji River.

You had best put on black-hued robes, Tadakiyo, and devote yourself to prayer. 27

Tadakiyo rode a horse colored fleeting gray.

It did him no good to gallop with a crupper made in Kaz us a Province. 28

n the eighth of the eleventh month, Commander-in-Chief Koremori ar- d at the new F1,1kuhara capital. Kiyomori was furious. "Exile Koremori 'kai-ga-shima! Put Tadakiyo to death!" he said .

.()n the ninth, all the Heike samurai, old and young alike, met to discuss ·ether Tadakiyo should be sentenced to death. Police Lieutenant Mori- 'ni came forward. "I've never heard anybody call Tadakiyo a coward," he d. "As I remember, he was eighteen years old when the two worst des- adoes in the home provinces took refuge in the treasury at the Toba nsion. Nobody wanted to go after them, but Tadakiyo jumped over the 1 and got inside, all alone, in broad daylight-and he killed one and tured the other. That's something people will still be talking about long

~r we're gone. The way I see it, there was something mysterious about his ·, re the other day. I'd say their lordships should offer every possible

er to try to end this disturbance." n the tenth, Koremori was made a middle captain in the bodyguards of right. "He commanded a punitive force, but he didn't accomplish much.

· y are they rewarding him?" people whispered to one another. nee in the past, Taira Commander Sadamori and Tawara Toda Hide-

"6. There is a pun on otsuru (a form of otsu, "descend," "fall"; "flee"), and probably )her on hetji (surname; "wine bottle"). The Fuji River was known as one of the "three swift ~rs of Japan." · 7. The poet advises Tadakiyo to become a monk because he has been disgraced. There is [!non tada ki yo (man's name; "You had best put on"). ·s. There are puns on nige ("gray horse"; a form of nigu, "flee") and kake (from kaku, foP''; "attach"). Kazusa, known for its fine cruppers, was the province Tadakiyo governed.

332 The Tale of the Heike

sato went into the eastern provinces with orders to hunt down Masaka but found it hard to destroy him. A council of senior nobles dispat· another punitive force under Fujiwara no Tadafun, with Kiyowara no gefuji as junior deputy commander. One night, when the second force. staying at Kiyomi Barrier in Suruga Province, Shigefuji gazed into the tance across the boundless sea. In a sonorous voice, he chanted a Chi couplet: 29 ·

Reflections of fishing-boat fires: cold, they kindle the waves. Sounds of post-road bells: by night, someone crosses the mountains.

The elegance of his gesture moved Tadafun to tears. Meanwhile, Sadamori and Hidesato had started toward the capital

the head of Masakado, whom they had finally managed to kill. They the relief force at the barrier, and the two commanders went back togeth

When rewards were designated for Sadamori and Hidesato, the quest' of rewards for Tadafun and Shigefuji arose in the senior nobles' coun' "Tadafun and Shigefuji marched eastward as commanded, after the origi punitive force had experienced difficulty in defeating Masakado, but sakado was killed before they arrived. They certainly deserve rewards," sa1 Kujo Minister of the Right Morosuke. But the regent of the day, Ononomf Lord Saneyori, decided against it. "The Record of Ritual says, 'Whellj doubt, do nothing,"' he announced. Tadafun was so angry that he starv himself to death. "I'll treat Saneyori's descendants like slaves," he swot, "but I'll be an eternal guardian to Morosuke's." That e~plains why Mor; suke's descendants have enjoyed wonderful good fortune, and why Saney> ri's line has vanished without producing anybody of importance. ·

Kiyomori's fourth son, Shigehira, became middle captain of the left. On the thirteenth of the eleventh month, the emperor nfoved into t

newly completed palace at Fukuhara. It would have been proper to ho! Great Thanksgiving Service. But the emperor goes to the Kamo River la in the tenth month to perform the purification for such a service. A sanct ary is built in the fields north of the imperial palace, and sacred robes a . sacred utensils are made ready. A structure called the Kairyiiden is erect below the Dragon-tail Walkway in front of the Great Hall of State, and t emperor performs ablutions there. Great Thanksgiving shrines are built pat allel to the walkway to receive the sacred food offerings. There are perfof mances of sacred and profane music. An accession audience takes place 1

the Great Hall of State, sacred music is played at the Seishodo, and banque are held in the Court of Abundant Pleasures. But there was no Great Ba of State at the new capital, and thus no place for an accession audien~e. There was no Seishodo, and thus no place in which to present sacred music There was no Court of Abundant Pleasures, and thus no place for banquet The senior nobles decided in council that only a First Fruits Service an.

29. From a composition by the Tang poet Du Xunhe (WKRES 502).

echi dancing 'ts Service wa1 · ow as regarc

ino Palace, t er when a he es five times.

5 ith ruler anc

Enryakuji, th the move as t," he said. motion follc he return to o]. The site

untains, and he waves ne·

tired Empero .he could, ea; .ior nobles ar de haste to 1,

howouldt m the sixth ses for ship

s, and establ ned everythi 'urning homi essive social

ote areas o tion in the ci H we ask th ught in the tnples, whos, cred tree fro

id Kiyomori havior wou d inlets and

•on the twe

3°. When ate the imperial F ch as a god's p lllple), as a me

wn Masaka iles dispatch vowara nos :ond force :d into the nted a Chin

:s. nountains.

ne capital wi kill. They m' back togethe

o, the questi obles' counc' ter the origin kado, but M rewards," sar 1y, Ononomi ,ays, 'When i that he starv 'es," he swor .ns why Mor d why Saney nee. >f the left. 10ved into th 'Oper to hold; amo River la

iden is erecte : State, and th ,s are built pa ere are perfo takes place i

, and banque no Great H sion audienc t sacred musi e for banquets its Service an

Chapter Five 333

echi dancing should be attempted that year. Furthermore, the First its Service was held at the department of shrines in the old capital. ow as regards the Gosechi: on a certain windy, moonlit night at the

;hino Palace, the Kiyomibara Emperor Tenmu was peacefully playing the er when a heavenly maiden descended from the sky and fluttered her ves five times. That was the first Gosechi performance.

5.I3. The Return to the Old Capital

ith ruler and subjects grieving over the transfer of the capital, and with Enryakuji, the Kofukuji, and the other temples and shrines all condemn- the move as improper, the stiff-necked Kiyomori finally yielded. "All t," he said. "The court will return to the old capital." A tremendous motion followed. he return took place abruptly, on the second of the twelfth month [of

'so]. The site at Fukuhara rose high to the north where it adjoined the "untains, and sank low to the south where the sea pressed close. The roar the waves never stopped; the winds swept ashore with frightful velocity. fired Emperor ;Takakura had gradually sickened there, and he left as fast

l .

he could, eagerly attended by the regent, the chancellor, and the other ior nobles and courtiers. Kiyomori and the rest of the Taira notables also de haste to leave ..

tWho would have wished to linger for an instant in the dismal new capital? ;om the sixth month on, members of the court had been dismantling their uses for shipment, bringing in their household effects and other belong-

'gs, and establishing themselves in makeshift quarters, but now they aban- ' oed everything without a backward glance, obsessed with the idea of urning home. Since none of them possessed houses, even people of im- ssive social standing went to Yawata, Kamo, Saga, Uzumasa, and the ote areas of the eastern and western hills, where they found accommo-

Jion in the corridors of temples and the oratories of shrines. ; .f we ask the true reason for the move to Fukuhara, the answer is to be tight in the proximity of the old capital to the Kofukuji and Enryakuji ' pies, whose monks seized the slightest pretexts to create turmoil with the cred tree from Kasuga and the sacred palanquins from Hiyoshi. 30 People id Kiyomori made his decision because he thought that such disruptive havior would be impossible at Fukuhara, which lay beyond mountains Hinlets and was also a considerable distance away. On the twenty-third of the twelfth month, a total of more than twenty ousand mounted warriors set out for Omi Province under the command Left Military Guards Commander Tomomori and Satsuma Governor

a. When a temple considered its interests threatened, its soldier-monks frequently marched .the imperial palace to seek redress, taking along an object imbued with divine authority, has a god's palanquin or a sacred tree from Kasuga (a shrine associated with the Kofukuji

?nple), as a means of intimidation.

334 The Tale of the Heike

Tadanori, with the purpose of attacking the Minamoto rebels there. Oti one, they defeated all the Genji who lived in various scattered locatio the Yamamoto, the Kashiwagi, the Nishigori, and others. Then they crp into Mino and Owari provinces.

5.r4. The Burning of Nara

Meanwhile, the Kofukuji monks were up in arms because they had h that people in the capital were saying, "The monks of Nara became ene of the court in the first place by siding with Prince Mochihito when he to the Onjoji, and then again by going out to meet him, which was worse. The Kofukuji and the Onjoji are both going to be attacked." regent, Motomichi, told the monks that he was ready to transmit any they wanted to say to the throne, no matter how many visits it might t but they paid no attention. He sent them an emissary, Superintendent T nari, but they yelled, "Drag that fellow out of his filthy carriage! Cut o ·· topknot!" Tadanari blanched and went back to the capital. Next, the re sent Chikamasa, an assistant commander in the gate guards, but the mo threatened his topknot, too, and he beat a hasty retreat. On this sec occasion, two men in service at the Kangakuin lost their topknots." ·

The monks made a big wooden ball, which they dubbed "Kiyomo head," and urged one another to hit it and trample on it. As has been s.i "Talk easily accessible to others is the handmaiden of disaster; impru speech is the pathway to destruction." 32 Only devils could have promp, the use of such language about a man who was His Sacred Majesty's mat nal grandfather!

It would have been too much to expect Kiyomori to tolerate the mon, behavior. Determined to put a quick end to their excesses,,h,e made Seno, Taro Kaneyasu chief of police in Yamato Province; and K~rieyasu prepa ·• to set out toward Nara with five hundred horsemen.

"Be careful," Kiyomori warned as he sent him off. "Even if the monks violent, don't retaliate with violence. Don't wear your armor; don't c bows and arrows." But the monks knew nothing about his instructio' They seized more than sixty of Kaneyasu's men, cut off all their heads, hung the heads in rows beside Sarusawa Pond.

"All right! Attack Nara!" said Kiyomori in a rage. More than forty thousand horsemen set out for the southern capital, W

Shigehira as commander-in-chief and Michimori as deputy command Seven thousand monks of all ages put on helmets and waited for thern. the Narazaka and Hannya roads, which they had trenched and barricad with shields and branches. 33

3r. The Kangakuin was a private academy for the education of Fujiwara youths. It• handled matters having to do with the clan's tutelary shrines and temples.

32. Chen gui, a Tang ethical text. 33. Both roads were approaches to Nara from the capital.

he. Heike sf oped down ops. Them<

rt's warriors r the monki ous barragei hour of the

htfall, the pc ne of the r,

o surpassed , swords mans ck lacing ovc ed over a m

ed like co~ J, he slashed ozen monk:

'rses' legs am urt's huge ar ck unprotec1

ow the ba

use on fire, ind blowing, onth, the ni1 e initial loca The battles

an a thous, emoved to si ore down on urpassed by ells.3s The Kofuk1

ow of Tank:

34. The Grea •tue of Vairoc, 35. In Buddb

erce heat (J. da

:bels there. One tttered location Then they eras

use they had hea ra became ene ,. hito when he W: 1, which was e be attacked." transmit anyth( isits it might ta ,erintendent Ta 1rriage ! Cut off I. Next, the reg ds, but the mo t. On this seco opknots. 31

bbed "Kiyomo As has been sa saster; imprud ld have prompt I Majesty's mat

,lerate the mon he made Seno ·

11 if the monks :mor; don't car : his instruction I their heads, a

hem capital, wi ,uty commande aited for them d and barricad

iwara youths. It al

Chapter Five 335

,he, Heike split their forty thousand horsemen into two parties and 'oped down on the fortifications at the two roads, uttering mighty war bops. The monks were all unmounted men with forged weapons, but the rt's warriors were horsemen with bows and arrows, and they galloped

er the monks in all directions, hitting every one of them with fast and ·0us barrages of arrows. The battle began with an arrow exchange during

fhour of the hare [5:00 A.M.-7:00 A.M.) and raged all day long. After ''htfall, the positions on the two roads both went down in defeat.

ne of the routed monks was Saka no Shiro Yokaku, a brave warrior ·0 surpassed everyone in the seven great temples and fifteen great temples

/'swordsmanship, archery, and physical strength. He wore armor with [~ck lacing over a corselet with green lacing, and his five-plated helmet was ed over a metal cap. Holding in one hand a long, unlacquered spear, rved like cogon grass, and in the other a great sword with a lacquered lt, he slashed his way out of the Tegai Gate at the T odaiji, surrounded by dozen monks from his cloister. He held his ground for a time, scything 'rses' legs and felling many opponents. But the waves of attacks from the 'urt's huge a.;n;ny cut down all his companions, leaving him alone with his ·ck unprotected, and he fled toward the south, brave though he was. •Now the battle was being fought in the dark. "Make a fire!" Shigehira dered, standing .in front of the gate at the Hannyaji Temple. One of the

•eike warriors was a man named Tomokata, a functionary from the Fukui tate in Harima Province. This Tomokata promptly set a commoner's

ouse on fire, using a torch made from a broken shield. There was a strong ind blowing, as was usual enough for the season-it was late in the twelfth onth, the night of the twenty-eighth-and the gusts spread the fire from ·e initial location to many different buildings in the temple precincts. ;,The battles at the Narazaka and Hannya roads had claimed the life of ·· ery monk who had feared disgrace and prized honor; and the others who . uld walk had fled toward Yoshino and Totsukawa. Aged monks unable to alk, eminent scholar-monks, pages, women, and children had fled helter- . elter into the Kofukuji, and also into the Great Buddha Hall, where more an a thousand had sought refuge on the second floor, with the ladders

. moved to save them from the pursuing enemy.34 When the raging flames Ore down on them, they uttered shrieks that seemingly could not have been , rpassed by the sinners in the flames of the Tapana, Paritapana, and Avici dis.JS , The Kofukuji was the hereditary temple of the Fujiwara clan, founded by ow of Tankaiko. It was grievous beyond measure that it should all have .een reduced to smoke in an instant-the image of Siikyamuni Buddha in

34. The Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden) at the Todaiji Temple still houses an enormous atue of Vairocana Buddha, erected during the Nara period (710-84).

35. In Buddhism, three of the eight great hells: the hell of burning (J. shi5netsu), the hell of .erce heat (J. daishonetsu), and the hell of suffering without intermission (J. mugenabi).

The Tale of the Heike

the Eastern Golden Hall, which had been brought to Japan during the fi days of Buddhism; the image of Kannan in the Western Golden Hall, wh" had sprung spontaneously from the earth; the corridors on all sides,'. beautiful as rows of gems; the two-storied Nikaido Hall, resplendent in v milion and cinnabar; the two pagodas, their nine rings glittering in the s

At the Todaiji, there had been a gilt bronze statue of Vairocana Buddt one hundred and sixty feet tall, erected by Emperor Shomu (who had p sonally helped with the polishing), and designed to serve as a representati of the eternal, indestructible, enlightened being whose physical body a pears in the Land of Buddha-reward in Reality and the Land of Tranquili and Wisdom. The U$nt$a on its head had towered high, hidden by clouds · midair; the white curl between its eyebrows had inspired the pious to ev renewed devotions.36 But now the head of that holy image-that facer splendent as a full moon-melted and fell to earth, and the body fused in a mountainous heap. Like an autumn moon, the eighty-four thousand sig of buddhahood vanished behind the cloud of the five deadly sins; like sta in a night sky, the ornaments signifying completion of the forty-one stag flickered in the wind of the ten evils. Smoke filled the sky; flames filled t air below. Those present who witnessed the scene averted their eyes; thos afar who heard the story trembled with fear. Of the Hoss6 and Sanro scriptures and sacred teachings, not a scroll survived. It was impossible t imagine such a devastating blow to the Buddhist faith in India or China, f say nothing of our own country.

After all, even the fine gold statue sculpted by King U:dayana and the re sandalwood image carved by Visvakarman were merely 'the size of a man.' How much more ought the Buddha of the Todaiji, unique and unparallele in this human realm, to have endured for eternity! Yet now it mingled wi the dust of the profane world, its ruin a source of everlastihg sorrow. Bo ten, Taishakuten, the Four Heavenly Kings, the dragons and others of th eight kinds of guardian gods, the functionaries and demons in the realm o the dead-all must have been astonished and dismayed. And what can hav been the thoughts of the Kasuga god, the protector of the Hoss6 sect? Th dew on Kasuga Plain changed color; the tempest from Mount Mika shrieked in protest.

When the scribes made a careful record of those who had burned to cleat in the flames, the total amounted to more than three thousand five hundre people: more than seventeen hundred on the second floor of the Great Bu dha Hall, more than eight hundred at the Kofukuji, more than five hundre in this temple building, more than three hundred in that. More than a thou

36. The u,n,,a, a protuberance of the skull, and the white curl, which emits light, are iw_ of the 3 2 distinguishing marks of a buddha.

3 7. According to Buddhist sources, it was King Udayana, the ruler of a central Indian stat/ who carved the sandalwood statue of the Buddha, and Visvakarman, the patron deity ofatt1; sans, who made the golden Buddha. ·

nd monks hac the gate at th On the twent fos. Kiyomori t the empres: ented. "It m

· was a terrible an had been t, em on the tr 'cessary order uji. The heads • In a docume: f my temple J e realm will omed to decl The terrible 181] began.

n during the ,Iden Hall, wh on all sides .·

:splendent in~ tering in the s irocana Budd .u (who had p a representati

1ysical body J 1d of Tranquil Iden by clouds he pious to ev ;e-that face • : body fused in . r thousand sig ly sins; like sta forty-one sta flames filled

their eyes; tho >sso and Sanr as impossible tdia or China

' rana and the r : size of a man md unparallel ' it mingled wi ng sorrow. Bo nd others of t s in the realm d what can ha

burned to dea md five hundr f the Great Bu ian five hundr ore than a tho

emits light, are

Chapter Five 337

d monks had been killed in battle. The victors hung a few heads in front 'be gate at the Hannyaji and carried a few others back to the capital. n the twenty-ninth, Shigehira returned to the capital, leaving Nara in

i-is. Kiyomori greeted the outcome of the expedition with vindictive glee, t the empress, the two retired emperors, the regent, and everyone else 'ented. "It might have been all right to get rid of the soldier-monks, but • as a terrible mistake to destroy the temples," people said. The original n had been to parade the monks' heads through the avenues, and to hang '.tn on the trees in front of the jail, but the court refused to issue the essary orders, appalled by the destruction of the Todaiji and the Kofu- i. The heads were discarded in gutters and ditches. n a document written in his own hand, Emperor Shomu had declared,

'my temple prospers, the realm will also prosper; if my temple declines, realm will also decline." Thus it seemed that the realm was certainly med to decline . he terrible twelvemonth drew to an end, and the fifth year of Jisho Sr) began.