by VIKING ADULT
end up in the company
of those who can only blush.
In the meantime the appeal to Nara read as follows:
FROM: Miidera
TO: Kfukuji Administration
SUBJECT: Assistance to avert the destruction of this temple
ARGUMENT: The supreme virtue of the Buddha’s Way is to safeguard the Way of the Sovereign, and that way owes its everlasting vigor to the Way of the Buddha. At present Lord Taira no Kiyomori, known in religion as Jkai, arbitrarily arrogates to himself authority over the realm, lays waste to His Majesty’s government, and within and without provokes bitterness and lamentation.
Therefore this month, on the night of the fifteenth day, the second prince born to the cloistered emperor abruptly arrived at this temple in order to escape unforeseen disaster. Next came a so-called retired emperor’s decree, demanding that we surrender him. However, the temple monks refused categorically to do so. For that reason we now expect Kiyomori’s forces to attack.
The Buddha’s and the Sovereign’s Ways both face extinction. Of old, the Tang emperor Wuzong moved to suppress the Buddha’s Way by force of arms; whereupon the monks of Qingliang-shan joined battle and stopped him. Thus a legitimate sovereign failed in the attempt. How much more dismally, then, must fail a subject guilty of eightfold treachery! Prominent for Kfukuji among these crimes must be the exile of a blameless head of the Fujiwara house.130 If that shame is not to be expunged now, then when? Monks of Kfukuji, if in our common cause you save the Buddha’s Way from destruction, and if for the sake of the wider world you ward off the evildoers, then you will have achieved all we or anyone could ask.
This appeal sent in conformity with the will of the council of monks.
Jish 4, fifth month, eighteenth day
The monks of Miidera
So read the appeal to the monks of Kfukuji.
The monks of Kfukuji examined this letter and sent an immediate reply. It read:
FROM: Kfukuji
TO: Miidera Administration
SUBJECT: Your communication regarding imminent destruction of Miidera by Taira no Kiyomori
RESPONSE: The Tendai and Hoss schools uphold each its own doctrine, yet both issue from the same golden utterances of the Great Teacher. The northern and southern capitals are at one in following the Buddha. It is this temple’s duty, as it is that of others, to quell the evil of any Devadatta.131 And, indeed, Kiyomori is the dregs of the Taira house, the dust and sweepings of those who bear arms.
His grandfather, Masamori, served in the household of a chamberlain of the fifth rank and ran errands for provincial governors. He became a country police inspector in the days when Tamefusa, lord of the Treasury, was governor of Kaga. When Akisue, the director of palace upkeep, was governor of Harima, Masamori oversaw the governor’s stables. Nevertheless his father, Tadamori, gained access to the privy chamber.
Young and old, city dwellers and country folk lamented the flaw that had marred Retired Emperor Toba’s judgment, while Buddhist and Confucian sages alike mourned that the predictions of disaster made for Japan in the Yamato Prophecy132 had proven correct. No doubt Tadamori had taken wing into the empyrean, but the world still despised his all-too-earthly origins. No ambitious manservant aspired to service in his house.
In the twelfth month of Heiji 1, however, impressed by Kiyomori’s valor in battle, Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa vouchsafed him extraordinary recognition. Thereafter he rose to chief minister, with authorization to keep an armed escort. His sons became ministers or ranking officers in the Palace Guards. Daughters of his are now empresses: one in her own right and another honorary, by decree.133 His younger brothers and lesser sons are all senior nobles, his grandsons and nephews provincial governors. Moreover, he lords it over the land, appoints and dismisses functionaries at will, and suborns to his purpose every minion and maid in official employ. Anyone, even imperial, who crosses him in some small matter, he arrests; anyone, even a senior noble, who offends his ear with a word or two, he apprehends.
Therefore the sovereign himself receives him, flatters him, and cultivates his goodwill in the hope of living longer and being spared humiliation, while the scion of an ancient line greets him on his knees. Robbed of property held by his house for generations, the regent nonetheless bites his tongue in fear; deprived of their hereditary estates, cowed princes say not a word. Intoxicated by success, last year in the eleventh month Kiyomori confiscated the residence of the cloistered emperor and banished the regent. Brazen treachery of this order has never been seen in past or present.
It was our duty even then to march against the brigand and hold him to account for his crimes. In awe of the gods’ will, however, and obedient to decrees said to emanate from His Majesty, we kept our peace while the months and days went by. Then he sent again armed men to encircle the second prince born to His Cloistered Eminence, whereupon Triple Hachiman and the Kasuga Deity secretly bore His Highness’s conveyance to your temple, where they entrusted him to the Shinra Deity’s care.
The Way of the Sovereign is clearly destined not to fail. Consequently your temple’s protection of him, at the risk of its very existence, can only inspire rejoicing in the hearts of men of goodwill. Sensitive as we are to your kindness, here in our distant province we have already caught wind of Kiyomori’s plan to have murderous warriors invade you, and we are therefore prepared. Early on the morning of the eighteenth, we roused the monks, announced our intentions to the other Nara temples, issued orders to our branch temples, and assembled our warriors. Then your messenger arrived in great haste to deliver your appeal.
At that moment the gloom of the past few days lifted. Yes, under the Tang the united monks of Qingliang-shan repelled a government army. Shall not we, then, monks of the northern and southern capitals in Japan, repel the perverse hordes of a traitorous subject? Secure your position to the right and left of His Highness and await news of our departure. Mark the above well, and never doubt us. Such is our message to you.
Jish 4, fifth month, twenty-fifth day
The monks of Kfukuji
So read the reply to the monks of Miidera.
9. The Interminable Debate
At Miidera the body of monks assembled to reach a decision.
“Mount Hiei has had a change of heart,” they reasoned, “and Kfukuji is not here yet.
We cannot afford delay. Let us attack Rokuhara by night.
Say that we do: The older and younger monks then will split into two divisions.
The older ones will descend Mount Nyoi and engage the attackers from the rear.
Four or five hundred foot soldiers will advance into Shirakawa, burning houses there,
provoking local and Rokuhara warriors to raise the alarm and rush to the scene.
Then they will fall on Iwasaka and Sakuramoto, delaying the enemy’s progress.
Meanwhile our main force of armed monks, under Nobutsuna’s command,
will drive toward Rokuhara, set fires upwind, and strike a decisive blow.
That way we can hardly fail to burn Kiyomori out and kill him.”
The adept Shinkai, who had prayed in the past on behalf of the Heike,
then joined the council with the several dozen disciples who shared his lodge.
“You may attribute my views to sympathy for the Heike,” he began,
“but even so you will grant, I trust, that I would not violate solidarity with you
or do anything to sully our temple’s name. Once upon a time,
the Genji and the Heike were rivals in zeal to protect the imperial house,
but since then the fortunes of the Genji have waned,
and for twenty years now the world has belonged to the Heike.
Not a blade of grass in the land fails to bow before them.
Such is the layout of their compound that no limited force could expect to take it.
I suggest devising some other plan, recruiting more men, and attacking later.”
He went
on and on, in order to buy more time.
Now, there was at Miidera an aged monk known as the adept Keishū. With armor under his robe and a great battle sword slung before him, with his head cloth-wrapped as a warrior-monk and leaning on the plain shaft of a long halberd, he advanced to say his piece.
“The proof that we can succeed is ready at hand,” he declared. “When our founder, Emperor Tenmu, was still heir apparent, he retreated far into the Yoshino mountains in deference to Prince tomo, then emerged once more and passed through Uda county, in the province of Yamato. Despite having with him a band of only seventeen mounted men, he got across Iga and Ise and with forces from Mino and Owari destroyed Prince tomo and succeeded at last to the throne. As it says in the classics, a man naturally pities the desperate bird that seeks refuge in his bosom. What others may wish to do, I know not, but to my own followers I say, Come, die tonight in an attack on Rokuhara!”
Such was his contribution to the debate, whereupon Genkaku of Enman-in stepped forward. “We have discussed this too long already,” he said. “The night is passing. Hurry! Let us be on our way!”
10. The Roster of Fighting Monks
To engage the attackers’ rear,
the elders under their commander,
Minamoto no Yorimasa,
set off, among them such mighty men
as adepts Keishū and Nichiin,
the Dazaifu deputy’s brother Zenchi,
and a pair of Zenchi’s disciples,
Gih and Zen’ei. A thousand men,
each brandishing a burning torch,
set out for the slopes of Mount Nyoi.
The main force had for its commander
Yorimasa’s firstborn son,
Nakatsuna, governor of Izu.
Kanetsuna, his second, was there, too,
and the chamberlain Nakaie
with Nakamitsu, his firstborn.
Among the corps of fighting monks
were Genkaku of Enman-in,
Aradosa of Jki-in,
Iga-no-kimi, and Onisado,
each one of them so powerful
that with a grip on his weapon
he feared neither devil nor god
and stood fast against a thousand.
From Miidera’s Byd-in
came Aradayū; Rokurb,
the Shima adept; the Tsutsui monks;
the Ky adept; and Akushnagon.
From Kita-in the Six Tengu:
Shikibu, Taifu, Noto, Kaga,
Sado, Bingo—a sturdy lot.
Matsui-no-Higo, Shnan’in-no-Chikugo,
Gaya-no-Chikuzen, Shunch,
Tajima, and of the sixty men
who shared a lodge with adept Keishū,
two above all: Kj from Kaga
and Gybu Shunshū. The rank and file
boasted Ichirai, second to none,
and temple servants like Jmy Meishū,
Ogura no Songatsu, Son’ei,
Gikei, Rakujū, Gen’y Steelfist.
Then there were the warriors proper:
Watanabe no Habuku;
Harima no Jir; Sazuku;
Satsuma no Hye; Chjitsu Ton;
Ki, the guardsman from the palace;
At no Uma-no-j;
Tsuzuku no Genda; Kiyoshi;
and Susumu: These led the way
as one thousand five hundred men
strode forth from Miidera.
When Prince Mochihito joined them,
the monks had cut the saka barrier and Shinomiya roads with deep trenches,
dug a dry moat, and laid down abatis.134
Now they had to clear the abatis and bridge the moat,
which took time. All too soon cocks were crowing on the barrier road.
“We will get nowhere near Rokuhara until broad day. What are we to do?”
said Nakatsuna. Genkaku spoke up, as he had before in council:
“Of old, in the days of King Zhao of Qin, the king imprisoned Lord Mengcheng,
but thanks to the queen, Mengcheng escaped with three thousand men.
They came to the Han Ravine barrier, where the gate was not to be opened until cockcrow.
Now, one among Mengcheng’s three thousand, Tenkatsu by name,
mimicked a cock so well that they called him Cock-a-Doodle.
Mengcheng had him run to a high place and crow,
at which every cock nearby did the same.
Deceived, the barrier warden opened the gate and let them through.
Now, too, I assume that the enemy started those cocks crowing.
Get on with it! Attack!”
Meanwhile, in this fifth month, the short night
began ever so slowly to dawn.
Nakatsuna said, “A night attack, yes—I felt confident of success, but an attack in broad daylight would certainly fail. Call them back!”
So they called the men back from Mount Nyoi, and the main force returned from Matsuzaka. “This is all because adept Shinkai kept the debate going till daybreak!” the younger monks cried. “Let’s get over to his place and wreck it!” Which they did. Several dozen of the disciples and others who shared Shinkai’s lodge were killed. Shinkai dragged himself to Rokuhara, where he told the story with tears streaming from his old eyes. Alas, tens of thousands of mounted warriors were just then assembling there, and no one paid him much attention.
At dawn on the twenty-third, Prince Mochihito reflected,
“Miidera cannot do it alone, Mount Hiei has turned its back,
and Kfukuji is still not here. The next few days bode ill.”
He therefore abandoned Miidera and started off to Nara.
Now, His Highness owned two flutes made of bamboo from China.
Semiore and Koeda were their names.
Semiore—“Broken Cicada”—had come to him in this way:
Of old, Emperor Toba sent the emperor of Song China a thousand taels of gold
and got in return, so it appeared,
a joint of bamboo right for a flute,
bearing along its length a growth
just like a living cicada.
Merely to open finger holes,
then and there, in such a treasure—
why, that would have been unthinkable!
First, by His Majesty’s order
Kakus, abbot of Miidera,
built himself a special altar
and before it worked a great rite
seven whole days; once that was done,
and not before, came the finger holes.
Then one day the counselor
Sanehira went to the palace
and there played this flute, Semiore.
Absentmindedly he assumed
that it was like any other flute
and set it down below his knees.
The flute apparently felt the slight,
for at that the cicada broke off.
That is how the flute got its name.
Expert that he was on the flute,
Prince Mochihito inherited it.
Now, though, he saw the end coming.
He made a gift of Semiore
to Miroku in the Golden Hall.135
Perhaps he did so to be there
when Miroku, in that great dawn,
preaches beneath the dragon-flower tree.
All this makes such a sad story!
The prince gave the older monks leave to stay behind. The more suitably able youths and the hardened temple warriors went with him. Yorimasa brought all his men. They say the band numbered a thousand in all. Adept Keishū presented himself before His Highness, leaning on a staff with its head carved in the shape of a dove. Tears poured from his old eyes as he spoke:
“I should by rights follow you to the ends of the earth,
but I have lived eight decades by now and have trouble walking.
My disciple Shunshū is at your disposal.
His father was Sud Toshimichi, who back in the time of the Heiji wars
fought under Yo
shitomo and died in battle on the Rokuj riverbed.
He is a distant relation, and I took it upon myself to bring him up.
I know him as I know myself. He will go with you wherever you go.”
Keishū fell silent and sought to stem his tears.
Deeply touched, Prince Mochihito
wondered what he had done for this man
to deserve such steadfast devotion,
and in his turn he wept freely.
11. The Battle on the Bridge
Between Miidera and Uji, Prince Mochihito fell six times from his horse,
and no wonder, since he had not slept the night before.
His men pried the planks off a three-span stretch of the Uji Bridge
and took him to the Byd-in,136 where he rested.
At Rokuhara the order went out:
“Aha! His Highness is apparently fleeing to Kfukuji. After him! Kill him!”
These were the chiefs of the Heike army:
Left Watch Intendant Tomomori;
Shigehira, a secretary captain;
Chief Left Equerry Yukimori;
and Satsuma governor Tadanori.
Under them served these corps commanders:
Kazusa governor Tadakiyo;
his first son, Tadatsuna;
the Hida governor Kageie;
his first son, Kagetaka;
the magistrate Nagatsuna;
Kawachi magistrate Hidekuni;
Musashi no Saburzaemon Arikuni;
Etchū no Jir Moritsugi;
Kazusa no Gor Tadamitsu;
Akushichibye Kagekiyo.
These men led a force, in all,
of over twenty-eight thousand horse.
After crossing the Kohata hills,
they pushed on to the Uji Bridge
and saw that the enemy occupied
the Byd-in. They shouted thrice,
and those off on the prince’s side
answered with their own battle cry.
The advance guard uttered loud warnings:
“Look out! They’ve stripped the planks from the bridge!”
But those coming up behind them ignored them and raced ahead,
shoving two hundred into the river, to drown and be swept away.
From either end of the bridge, the sides exchanged opening arrows.
