by VIKING ADULT
but to ride that way through the sea—
why, the like has never been known
in India, China, or our own realm!”
And so it is that Sasaki received
the island of Kojima in Bizen,
by Yoritomo’s written command.
15. The Enthronement Festival
On the twenty-seventh, in the capital,
Kur Yoshitsune received the fifth rank and appointment as a lieutenant in the police.
People then acknowledged these titles by calling him Kur Tayū no Hgan.
Meanwhile the tenth month came around.
At Yashima storm winds swept the shore
while high waves crashed on the rocks.
No warriors turned up to attack them,
and few merchants managed the crossing.
They yearned for news of the capital.
Then leaden skies pelted them with hail,
until they foundered in blank despair.
In the capital there was to be an Enthronement Festival.
His Majesty accordingly made a progress to undergo the required purification.
The palace minister, Tokudaiji Sanesada, oversaw the event.
Taira no Munemori, likewise palace minister at the time,
had overseen the previous emperor’s purification two years earlier.
Seated within his curtained enclosure, the dragon banner raised before him,
Munemori had looked extremely imposing,
from the fit of his cap to the drape of his sleeves and the fall of his court trousers.
Other Heike gentlemen—Tomomori, Shigehira, and lesser Palace Guards officers—
had held the ropes of the imperial palanquin,
and it was plain to see that none could compare with them.
This time Yoshitsune led the procession.
Although used to the capital, quite unlike Kiso Yoshinaka,
he still fell short of the least of the Heike.
The Enthronement Festival was held on the eighteenth of the eleventh month.
Ever since the Jish and Ywa years, [1177–82]
the common people and the peasants
throughout every province of the land
had suffered Genji depredations
and destruction at Heike hands.
They had abandoned hearth and home
to flee into mountains and forests.
In spring they forgot to till their fields;
in autumn they could harvest nothing.
How, then, was this feast even possible?
And yet it could not be omitted.
Therefore it was followed at least in form.
Noriyori’s attack, pursued without break, would have finished the Heike.
But no, he disported himself instead at Muro and Takasago,
day after day, month after month, among courtesans and singing girls.
The many eastern leaders, great and small,
could act only at their commander’s order.
The province’s resources went to waste,
and great misery afflicted the people.
223. Antoku’s.
224. The oral delivery of such a text was primary and had greater authority than writing.
225. Hnen (1133–1212), the founder of the “exclusive nenbutsu” (senshū nenbutsu) practice of Pure Land Buddhism, is one of the most famous figures in Japanese religious history.
226. The evil realms of hell, beasts, and hungry ghosts.
227. There are nine levels of rebirth into Amida’s paradise. On the lowest the soul is born into a closed lotus bud that will open only after the passage of ages. On the highest the soul is reborn onto a fully open lotus throne. The “six syllables” are those of the invocation Namu Amida Bu(tsu), the last syllable of which was not usually voiced.
228. The Chinese Pure Land patriarch Shandao (613–81).
229. Wada (now Hygo-ku in Kobe) was where Kiyomori had convened a great gathering of monks (6:9).
230. This full-scale michiyuki (“travel song”) is unique in the tale, and the translation follows its approximate five- or seven-syllable meter. The passage relies more on wordplay than on grammar to take Shigehira from the brook at Shinomiya (the saka barrier) to Ikeda in present Shizuoka-ken. It begins with the story of Semimaru (Introduction, “The Capital, the Provinces, and the Tkaid”), from whom Hakuga no Sanmi secretly learned the three essential biwa pieces.
231. Part of a poem from Ise monogatari, episode 9: “Robe from far Cathay, / long and comfortably worn, / bound by love to stay, / I cover these distances / shrouded in melancholy.” Translation from Mostow and Tyler, The Ise Stories, p. 33.
232. A Wakan reishū passage by Sugawara no Michizane, the “Kitano Tenjin deity” mentioned below.
233. Such becomes the phonetic meaning of the name of the gagaku piece Gojraku when the j is changed to sh. “Rebirth in Bliss” (j), below, plays phonetically on the name of another gagaku piece, written with entirely different characters.
234. Princess Sotri is one of the patron deities of Japanese poetry.
235. Now the port of Wakayama.
236. Warriors stationed at the Takiguchi guard post, northeast of the Seiryden.
237. A Chinese goddess of immortality. The wizard Dongfang Shuo, below, served Emperor Wu of Han.
238. His master was Shb (832–909), a fourth-generation disciple of Kb Daishi.
239. Fugen (Sanskrit: Samantabhadra), understood as having received initiation directly from the cosmic buddha Dainichi.
240. The Sanskrit term for a stable state of deep meditation.
241. Miroku (note 135).
242. Renounce the world. On freezing nights the “Himalayan bird” utters endless, piteous cries expressing its realization that it must make a nest. Every day, though, it forgets and never does.
243. Presumably Koremori’s childhood name.
244. A locality on the road to Kumano. There are small “ji shrines” all along the way.
245. Practice of faith in the Lotus Sutra.
246. The rocky outcrop (iwakura), high on the hillside, inhabited by the Shingū deity. Such outcrops were often, and still are, associated with a divine presence. This one was especially revered.
247. Two lower falls precede the Nachi waterfall proper.
248. Kenshunmon-in (Taira no Shigeko), Go-Shirakawa’s empress.
249. Hama-no-miya, on the shore at Nachi.
250. The first pair of lovers (“in the Lishan Palace”) are Yang Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong, of Tang, in Bo Juyi’s “Song of Everlasting Sorrow”; the second (“in the Ganquan Hall”) are Lady Li and Emperor Wu of Han, also celebrated by Bo Juyi. The last two names are Han immortals.
251. The Hundred Arhats (Japanese: Hyaku Rakan) are the vaguely conceived ideal followers of the Buddha.
252. The decisive battle that took place during the Hgen Conflict.
253. The formal enthronement of Go-Toba.
254. “Ninefold” is a noble epithet for the imperial palace (the “cloud dwelling”).
255. Since Kojima is no longer an island, Fujito, which separated it from the mainland, no longer exists.
BOOK ELEVEN
1. Bow Oars
(recitative)
Genryaku 2: On the tenth of the first month, [1185]
Kur Yoshitsune called at the cloistered emperor’s palace
and through Yasutsune, the lord of the Treasury, submitted this declaration:
“The gods and the sovereign alike have abandoned the Heike,
who have fled the capital and now wander the waves.
Nonetheless these three past years they have survived further attack
and have blocked passage to and from many provinces.
Now I, Yoshitsune, undertake never to return to His Majesty’s seat
until I have pursued the Heike even to Kikai-ga-shima,
to Korea, India, or China if need be, and destroyed them forever.”
This stalwart pronouncement greatly
impressed the sovereign.
“By all means,” Go-Shirakawa responded,
“pause neither by day nor by night until victory is yours.”
Yoshitsune returned to his lodging and announced to the warriors from the east,
“Representing Lord Yoritomo in Kamakura, I have received this day
His Cloistered Eminence’s decree ordering me to destroy the Heike.
I shall pursue them by land as far as a horse can go,
by sea to the farthest range of the oar.
Those whose hearts are not wholly with me, let them leave now.”
(song)
At Yashima, meanwhile, time sped by.
The first month soon became the second;
spring green dulled into the waning year;
the first breath of autumn on the wind
came bearing its shiver of surprise;
then the autumn wind was gone, for spring
had come again, bursting with new green.
Three times they saw the old year out and the new year in.
“Tens of thousands of fresh warriors from the east are on their way down from the capital to attack us.”
Such was the news that reached them, and this rumor, too:
“The Usuki, the Betsugi, and the Matsura leagues have joined forces
to cross over from Kyushu and mount a campaign against us.”
Both disturbing reports aroused only terror.
Kenreimon-in, Lady Nii, and their women clustered together to share their lament:
“Oh, what miseries await us now? What ghastly news is to reach us next?”
Lord Tomomori declared,
“The men of the east and the north
enjoyed our favor time and again
yet forgot everything they owed us
and shifted their allegiance elsewhere,
to follow instead Yoritomo,
Yoshinaka, and more of that ilk.
I had no doubt the men of the west
would in their time do just the same,
and that is why I myself favored
meeting our fate in the capital,
but that was not my decision to make.
So we weakly gave ground and fled,
only to suffer our present misfortune.
How I wish that it were not so!”
Sad to say, he was perfectly right.
On the third of the second month, Kur Yoshitsune set out from the capital
and assembled a fleet of boats at Watanabe, in the province of Settsu,256
to mount an attack against Yashima.
Noriyori left the capital on the same day
and likewise assembled a fleet at Kanzaki, also in Settsu,
so as to sail down the coast of the Inland Sea.
On the thirteenth, imperial envoys from the Bureau of Shrines
were dispatched to the Grand Shrine of Ise, to Iwashimizu, Kamo, and Kasuga.
They and the chief priest at each were ordered to pray:
“O grant safe return to the emperor and the three regalia!”
On the sixteenth the Watanabe and Kanzaki fleets were ready to launch
when a north wind swept down on them, strong enough to fell trees.
Huge waves scattered the vessels and damaged them.
The fleets remained in harbor that day, to allow for repairs.
(speech)
At Watanabe local squires great and small gathered in council. “We are not trained for seaborne combat,” they declared. “We do not know what to do.” Kajiwara Kagetoki recommended installing bow oars for the coming battle.
“Bow oars?” inquired Yoshitsune. “What are they?”
Kajiwara replied, “You can easily turn a galloping horse left or right,
but not a boat. That is much harder.
So you fit the bow, too, with oars and add side rudders as well.
Then you can move the boat readily in any direction.”
To this, Yoshitsune:
“A warrior heading into battle
resolves not to take one backward step
but usually does so nonetheless
when faced by an overwhelming threat.
Why prepare in advance to flee? What a way to get started! Bow oars, get-out-fast oars, whatever you call them—by all means, gentlemen, give your boats bow oars by the hundreds and thousands, but for me the oars normal for any boat are good enough.”
Kajiwara retorted, “To my mind a good commander defeats the enemy by advancing when he can, retreating when he must, and staying alive: That is what good command means to me. Charging blindly ahead, fighting like a maddened boar: That for me is no good at all.”
“Boar, deer—who cares?” Yoshitsune retorted. “Making war means attack, attack, and victory is sweet.”
The men feared Kajiwara too greatly to laugh aloud,
but they exchanged looks and nods, and a buzz ran through them:
The two seemed on the point of coming to blows.
By and by the sun set and night fell.
“The repairs are done,” Yoshitsune announced. “The boats are as good as new.
Have something to eat, gentlemen, have a drink, celebrate!”
As though laying out a feast, he had the boats loaded with arms and provisions
and had horses, too, brought aboard. Then he issued the order “Go!”
The captains and helmsmen protested.
“Yes,” they said, “the wind is behind us, but it is unusually strong,
and at sea this must be quite a blow. How can we possibly launch the boats?”
Yoshitsune was furious.
“Whether you die in the wilderness or drown in river or sea,” he roared,
“that is up to the karma you bring from past lives!
So you get out to sea and find it’s blowing a gale? Too bad!
You’d rather cross against the wind?
You’d be mad! But no, it’s behind you!
Perhaps it’s a little strong today,
but this chance is too good to miss!
How dare you suggest staying put?
If you refuse to launch the boats,
I’ll have every last one of you shot!”
That was his command.
Sat Saburbye Tsuginobu, from Mutsu, and Ise no Sabur Yoshimori
stepped forward, each with an arrow in hand.
“What is this nonsense?” they demanded to know. “You have your order.
Obey it now or we shoot you all!”
The captains and helmsmen listened.
“If we’re to be shot, there’s nothing to lose—
might as well die running down the gale.
Go for it, men!” Of two hundred boats,
only five actually put to sea;
all the rest, for fear of the wind,
or perhaps in terror of Kajiwara,
never budged. Yoshitsune said,
“Merely that others refuse to go
makes no excuse for doing the same.
Good weather keeps an enemy watchful.
When howling winds and foaming waves
seem to guarantee perfect safety,
that is when an attack hits hardest.”
The five boats in question belonged
first to Yoshitsune himself,
then to Tashiro no Kanja,
to Gotbye, father and son,
to the two brothers Kaneko,
and to Yodo no Gnai Tadatoshi,
who had brought the fleet together.
Yoshitsune instructed them,
“Light no flares aboard your boats.
I will lead in mine. Keep an eye
on those lit at my bow and stern.
Too many fires and the enemy
will be alarmed and stand on guard.”
They ran all night, and a crossing
that should have taken them three days
took them instead a mere six hours.
It was the sixteenth of the second month
when, at the hour of the ox, they left [ca. 2 A.M.]
Watanabe and Fukushima257
and daybreak, at the hour of the hare, [ca. 6 A.M.]
when, gale-borne, they reached the Awa coast.
2. Katsu-ura and zaka Pass
Day dawned. A few red banners fluttered along the beach.
“Oh, no!” Yoshitsune cried. “They have a welcome for us!
We’ll make easy targets if we tip the boats to disembark the horses.
No, get the horses off before we come to the beach,
tie them to the boats, and make them swim alongside.
Once they have footing to keep the lower edge of the saddle dry,
then, gentlemen, mount them and charge!”
What with all the arms and provisions,
those five boats carried just fifty horses.
When they came within reach of the shore,
the men threw themselves into the saddle
and with fierce battle cries attacked.
The hundred riders on the beach
could not muster a moment’s resistance
and fell back a good two hundred yards.
Yoshitsune paused on the beach to let his mount catch its breath. Then he summoned Ise no Sabur Yoshimori and said, “Some of those men over there must be worth something. Get one over here. I have some questions for him.”
Yoshimori respectfully complied. All alone he galloped in among the enemy and managed to persuade one, a man of about forty in black-laced armor, to doff his helmet, loosen his bowstring, and come with him back to the Genji commander.
“Who is this?” Yoshitsune asked.
“A local, sir, from Banzai,” Yoshimori replied. “His name is Kondroku Chikaie.”
“Fine. Never mind his name. Don’t disarm him. He’s going to guide us to Yashima. And don’t let him out of your sight. If he makes a run for it, gentlemen, shoot him!”
“What is the name of this place?” Yoshitsune asked.
“Katsu-ura,” the man replied.
Yoshitsune laughed. The name sounded like “Victory Beach.”
“Why, I’m flattered!” he said.
“It really is Katsu-ura, sir. People here call it ‘Katsura,’ because that is easier to say,
but it is written with the two characters katsu and ura.”
“Listen to this, gentlemen!” Yoshitsune exclaimed.
