Biographies LXXI: Kiyohara-no-Takenori, Fujiwara-no-Kiyohira, and the Fujiwara of Ōshū

Kiyohara-no-Takenori

¶Kiyohara-no-Takenori was the Fushū-chō, chieftain of the submitted Emishi, of Senboku in Dewa province (Note: following the Mutsu Waki and the Konjaku Monogatari. According to the genealogies, Takenori's father was Hyōbu-no-taifu Mitsukata, Senior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs, and his grandfather was Sakyō-no-gon-no-daibu Motomitsu, Provisional Master of the Left Capital Office, and he was a descendant of Natsuno, Minister of the Right; but since there is no other source to confirm this, it is not adopted here). When Minamoto-no-Yoriyoshi set out to subdue Abe-no-Sadatō and, after many years, still could not prevail, he asked Takenori and his elder brother Mitsuyori for reinforcements. In the fifth year of Kōhei (1062) Takenori led more than ten thousand of his kinsmen and followers and joined Yoriyoshi at Eioka in Kurihara district, Mutsu province. Yoriyoshi conversed with him and was greatly pleased, and divided the force, appointing Takenori, his son Takesada, his nephews Tachibana-no-Sadayori and Yorisada, Kimiko-no-Hidetake, and others as commanders of units. Takenori bowed in the direction of the capital and swore: "Your servant will lead his sons and younger kinsmen and follow the General's commands. I am resolved to uphold my duty and will not spare my life. O Three Shrines of Hachiman, look upon your servant's sincerity. If any man fails to give all his strength, may the gods punish him." The officers and men were all moved.

¶Soon the government army reached Ogibaba and was about to attack the Komatsu stockade, but because the day chosen by divination was inauspicious, Yoriyoshi halted the army and did not advance. When the decision for a decisive battle was finally settled, Takenori said, "The anger of the government army is fierce as water and fire. There is no better moment than now to use our troops," and at last he attacked with cavalry and broke the stockade.

¶Before long long rains set in, and the government army ran short of provisions. Sadatō himself led his picked troops in a sudden assault. Takenori sent a messenger to Yoriyoshi to say, "The rebels have erred in their plan. Before long they will be offering up their heads." Yoriyoshi asked, "Our army is scattered and exhausted; my camp is isolated and has few men. The rebels have come suddenly with a great host, and the advantage in the battle lies with them. Yet you say the rebels have erred in their plan. What do you mean?" Takenori replied: "Our army is a guest army (Note: an army that has come on a distant campaign), constantly troubled by shortage of provisions, and its advantage lies in swift battle. If the rebels held to a defensible position and refused to fight, a guest army would tire easily and could not endure; its momentum would give out and reveal weakness, and the enemy would take advantage of it. I have always feared this. Now that the rebels have chosen of their own accord to fight, Heaven is helping the General. Moreover, a black vapor like a tower is rising above the rebel army, which is a sign of defeat. The government army will surely win." Yoriyoshi was pleased and said, "Through your loyal counsel the majesty of the court will shine forth. I ask you to give your best." Takenori replied, "To throw away my life for the General now is as light a matter as a swan's feather. I would rather advance and die than retreat and live on." And so he fought and won a great victory.

¶Takenori led more than eight hundred picked men and pursued the enemy by night. He further chose fifty men resolved to die, and had them enter the rebel camp by a side path and set fire to it. Seeing the flames, the government army beat drums and raised a battle cry and closed in. The enemy was taken by surprise; Sadatō's camp fell into great confusion, his men struck at one another, and at last he abandoned the Ishizaka stockade at Takanashi-no-shuku and withdrew to the Koromogawa barrier to hold it fast. Takenori, together with Takesada and Yorisada, divided the roads and attacked it, but without success. Takenori dismounted and stood on the riverbank, and looking at both banks he saw a bent tree whose branches and leaves overhung the river. Among his followers was a man named Hisakiyo, whose lightness and agility had no equal. Takenori ordered him to cross the river by way of the tree and burn the rebel camp. Hisakiyo leaped nimbly across, climbed a tree on the far bank, and let down a rope; more than thirty soldiers pulled one another across, slipped into the camp of the rebel commander Fujiwara-no-Narichika, and set it on fire. Sadatō was startled and fled. The government army advanced to the Torinoumi stockade, and the rebels abandoned the stockade and ran.

¶Yoriyoshi was delighted and said to Takenori, "That we were able to enter this stockade is truly owing to your strength. How does my face look to you?" Takenori answered: "The General has given himself wholly to the king's business and has fought on, heedless of wind and rain. In more than ten years in the field your armor has even been infested with lice, but Heaven and Earth have responded to your sincerity, and officers and men alike have gladly served you. Breaking the rebels' great host was like breaking a dammed-up flood all at once. Your foolish servant merely took up the whip and followed in attendance; what merit have I? Now, looking at the General's white hair, I see that it has in fact turned half black again. If you take Sadatō's head, the hair at your temples will turn wholly black and your complexion will glow." Yoriyoshi thanked him and said, "You raised a great army and brought your sons and nephews, put on armor and took up weapons and faced arrows and stones yourself, took the enemy's camps and captured their strongholds. Your merit is very great. You need not defer to me any further. But if you say that my hair is half black, then I think so too." Takenori bowed and gave thanks.

¶Soon Yoriyoshi combined his forces and surrounded the Kuriyagawa stockade. When the stockade fell, the rebels fought with desperate strength, and the government army too suffered many dead and wounded. Takenori quickly ordered one side to be opened so that the rebels could escape; the rebel force collapsed, and the government troops cut off their flight and struck them down, so that none could get away. In this way Sadatō was destroyed. In the second month of the sixth year of Kōhei (1063) the court rewarded his merit, conferring on him Junior Fifth Rank Lower and appointing him Chinjufu-shōgun, General Commanding the Defense of the North (Note: following the Mutsu Waki). Once, when Takenori was hunting in the fields with Yoriyoshi, he brought down two wings (two birds) with a single arrow. Yoriyoshi marveled and praised him, gave him his own horse, and with his own hand took the reins and handed it over (Note: following the entry for the fourth year of Kenkyū in the Azuma Kagami). His sons were Takesada (Note: following the Gosannen Gunki and the entry for the fifth year of Bunji in the Azuma Kagami) and Takehira (Note: following the entry for the first year of Yōwa in the Azuma Kagami).

¶Takesada was called Arakawa Tarō (Note: following the Gosannen Gunki and the entry for the fifth year of Bunji in the Azuma Kagami). Takehira was called Shōgun Saburō (Note: following the entry for the first year of Yōwa in the Azuma Kagami). Takesada held the lands of the six districts of Isawa, Kaga, Esashi, Hienuki, Shiwa, and Iwate in Mutsu province (Note: following the Gosannen Gunki and the entry for the fifth year of Bunji in the Azuma Kagami). His eldest son Sanehira inherited and held them.

¶In the days when Sadatō was defeated, Takesada had taken the wife of Fujiwara-no-Tsunekiyo and had a son by her named Iehira. Tsunekiyo's son Kiyohira also followed his mother and was raised in Takesada's household. Sanehira, relying on the power left by his father and forebears, grew ever stronger, and the whole clan became little better than Sanehira's retainers. He governed without private interest, and his domain prospered. Sanehira had no son of his own and adopted a man named Naritaira, who was called Kaidō Kotarō.

¶Earlier, when Yoriyoshi was subduing Sadatō, he had advanced his army into Hitachi province and noticed a daughter of Taira-no-Munemoto, Take-no-gon-no-kami, Provisional Governor of Take; delighted, he secretly became intimate with her. The girl became pregnant and bore a daughter, whom Munemoto took in and raised. Sanehira took this girl as wife for Naritaira, and ordered his kinsmen to send food and drink, gold and silver, and silk cloth to entertain the bride. Kimiko-no-Hidetake, who was the husband of Sanehira's mother-in-law, came from Dewa bringing a great deal of wine and delicacies, and with gold heaped on a tray he presented himself to Sanehira. But Sanehira happened to be playing go with a guest and paid Hidetake no heed. Hidetake was made to sit stiffly for a long time, and in anger he said: "I am Sanehira's kinsman by marriage. Intimidated by the times, I am treated like a retainer and kneel in the courtyard in my old age, and he does not even look at me. This I cannot bear." He flung away the gold and strode off. Then he had his followers put on their armor, let them eat and drink their fill of the wine and delicacies he had brought, and returned to Dewa.

¶Sanehira heard of this and was greatly angry, and meant to raise troops and attack him. Hidetake, thinking that with few men he could not resist, sent messengers to persuade Kiyohira and Iehira to raid Sanehira's fortress. Kiyohira and his brother gladly raised troops and attacked it, burning more than four hundred houses in Shiratori village in Isawa district. Sanehira heard of this, was greatly alarmed, and hurried back. Kiyohira and Iehira too, judging that they could not hold their own, withdrew their troops.

¶In the third year of Eihō (1083) Minamoto-no-Yoshiie became Governor of Mutsu, and Sanehira invited him and entertained him. When the entertainment was over, Sanehira again raised troops and went to attack Hidetake. Kiyohira and Iehira took advantage of his absence and attacked Sanehira again. At that moment Yoshiie's followers Fujiwara-no-Masatsune and Ban-no-Sukekane were inspecting that district. Sanehira's wife sent a messenger to say: "Kiyohira and Iehira have attacked, but since we have troops and horses ready, there is nothing to fear. Only, as a woman I cannot lead soldiers. I beg you both to come here, take command of the force, and give us your counsel, and then report the course of the fighting to the provincial governor." The two entered the castle at once, and Kiyohira and Iehira withdrew their troops. Yoshiie went to Dewa and attacked Iehira's Numa stockade, but Iehira defended it and drove him off (Note: in the original text, immediately after the account of Kiyohira and Iehira attacking Sanehira, there appears a passage beginning, "Takehira, hearing that the provincial governor [Yoshiie] had been defeated and gone home, came out in the rain and said to Iehira," and so on; but given the sense of the passage, the facts cannot be made clear. Probably, after Kiyohira and Iehira withdrew their troops, Sanehira asked Yoshiie to attack them, but Yoshiie's attack went badly and the rebels' strength somewhat revived, and that is why Takehira made this remark. But the account of this interval is missing, and Sanehira's later deeds do not appear. Nor is it known why Takehira took the field. Here, on the basis of Takehira's remark, the general sense has been inferred and set down).

¶His uncle Takehira led troops and built the Numa stockade, and said to Iehira: "Yoshiie's superior military skill surpasses other men's, yet you with few troops have driven him off. This is an honor not for you alone but for all of us." The two then conspired, abandoned the Numa stockade, and took up position at the Kanazawa stockade. When Yoshiie heard that Takehira had come to reinforce Iehira, he was greatly angry. In the ninth month of the first year of Kanji (1087), he himself led tens of thousands of troops to attack it. His vanguard fought hard and the battle was grim, but those within the stockade defended it with all their strength; the cliffs rose like walls, arrows and stones flew, and the government army suffered very heavy casualties (Note: in the original text the account of the vanguard's fighting is placed before Yoshiie's arrival at the Kanazawa stockade, which is probably a displacement in the order of the text [sakkan]. It has been corrected here).

¶Kimiko-no-Hidetake urged Yoshiie to adopt a strategy of protracted siege over many days, and Yoshiie followed his advice. So the siege was kept up for a long time; Yoshiie himself invested two sides, his younger brother Yoshimitsu invested one side, and Kiyohira and Shigemune invested one side (Note: the Gosannen War began with Hidetake. Kiyohira and Iehira were his confederates. When Yoshiie became provincial governor and Sanehira disbanded his troops and served him, Hidetake should have been an enemy to Sanehira and his side. That he is now attacking Iehira together with Yoshiie must be because there were circumstances in between; for details see the biography of Yoshiie. Who Shigemune was is not known. That in the original text, after the attack on Sanehira, Kiyohira is not mentioned again and appears only here is probably due to the circumstance that Hidetake had joined Yoshiie and taken part in the siege lines. Because the original text is missing parts and has omitted them, none of this is known, and it is transmitted here only as doubtful).

¶Some time later Takehira sent a messenger into Yoshiie's camp to say: "We have long ceased fighting, and all is well within the stockade. I have a sturdy soldier named Kameji, who is brave and skilled in battle. I ask that you choose one picked man and let him fight this man." Yoshiie at once found a stout fellow in the army, Onitake, and had him answer the challenge. Onitake killed Kameji, and those within the stockade, ashamed of this, sallied out and fought a great battle.

¶Presently the food within the stockade ran out, and Takehira offered surrender to Yoshimitsu, but Yoshiie would not allow it. Those within the stockade tried to send out the old and weak, but Yoshiie killed them all, and the distress within the stockade grew worse each day. In the eleventh month (Note: the original text dates the siege to the fifth year of Kanji, but this is an error; for details see the biography of Yoshiie), Iehira himself set fire to the stockade, changed his clothes, and fled. Takehira hid himself in the water of a pond, covering his face with grass, but Yoshiie's soldiers searched for him and captured him.

¶In the beginning, when Yoshiie was besieging the stockade, Iehira's soldier Sentō climbed a watchtower and reviled Yoshiie, saying: "Your father Yoriyoshi was hard pressed by Abe-no-Sadatō, and offered a myōbu (Note: a document with the name written on it, presented when entering a relation of lord and vassal) to the late General Kiyohara [Kiyohara-no-Takenori] to beg for help, and at last, relying on his strength, was able to wipe out the rebels. You are a retainer of our Kiyohara house, yet you have forgotten gratitude and betrayed righteousness from the first. How can you escape Heaven's punishment?" Yoshiie was greatly angered. And now, when the time came, he reproached Takehira, saying: "To ask for reinforcements while on campaign is the common practice of soldiers and is nothing strange. Your father Takenori answered an official order and led his troops to follow my late father [Yoriyoshi]. But the other day you had Sentō say that my late father offered a myōbu to your father; where is that myōbu now? Because your father joined the campaign, my late father specially memorialized the throne and he was appointed General Commanding the Defense of the North. The reward for that service was already ample. Yet you forgot that kindness and plotted rebellion, and with lies you have shamed me. Your crime would not be paid for even by putting you to death." And he ordered him beheaded. Takehira looked at Yoshimitsu and begged for his life, and Yoshimitsu said to Yoshiie, "Sparing a general who has surrendered is the way of warriors, yet you, General, insist on killing him; is that right?" Yoshiie answered with a darkened face, "A surrendered captive [kōryo] (Note: a prisoner who has yielded) means one who seeks to live on, repents his crime, and submits sincerely from the heart, like Munetō and his kind. Takehira was taken prisoner and, driven into a corner, is merely praying to live. Can he be called a surrendered captive?" And he beheaded him.

¶Iehira was killed by Agata-no-Kojirō Tsugutō, who ordered his followers to present the head to Yoshiie (Note: after Sanehira attacked Hidetake, the original text has no further account of Sanehira, and his end is not known. The same is true of Kiyohira. For details see above. Nor is anything recorded of the time before Takehira led troops and built the Numa stockade, and how he joined forces and combined strength is not known. Probably Sanehira has a beginning and no end, and Takehira has an end and no beginning; in both cases the record is missing. Here the editor's own view is recorded together with them).

¶Sentō too was captured, and Yoshiie ordered an official to cut out his tongue. When the official tried to reach in with his hand, Yoshiie scolded him: "Do you mean to touch a tiger's mouth with your hand?" So he ordered another man to pry open his teeth with iron chopsticks, pull out the tongue and cut it; then Sentō was bound to the branch of a tree, and Takehira's head was placed beneath him so that he would be made to step on it. Sentō drew up his legs and would not step on it, but his strength gave out and at last his feet reached the head, it is said (Note: following the Gosannen Gunki).

Fujiwara-no-Kiyohira

¶Fujiwara-no-Kiyohira was a seventh-generation descendant of Fujiwara-no-Hidesato, Chinjufu-shōgun. Hidesato begot Chitoki, and Chitoki became Chinjufu-shōgun. Chitoki begot Chikiyo, and Chikiyo begot Masayori, who became Shimotsuke-no-kami, Governor of Shimotsuke. Masayori begot Yoritō, who lived in Shimōsa. Yoritō begot Tsunekiyo (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Tsunekiyo was the first to live in Mutsu; he became a Gon-no-kami, Provisional Governor, and was called Watari-no-gon-no-daibu (Note: following the Gosannen Gunki and the Genpei Jōsuiki; that he was a Provisional Governor follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku). He was Kiyohira's father (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Gosannen Gunki). For this reason Kiyohira was called Gon Tarō (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki).

¶Tsunekiyo took as wife a daughter of Abe-no-Yoritoki. Yoritoki held the six districts of Isawa, Esashi, and others, and relying on his power he seized land by force and did not pay the tribute taxes. In the Eishō years [1046-1053], Fujiwara-no-Naritō, Governor of Mutsu, attacked him but could not win, and by deliberation of the court Minamoto-no-Yoriyoshi was sent to his post. Yoritoki had long been awed by Yoriyoshi's fame and bowed low in token of submission. But before long, because of an affair involving his son Sadatō, he rose in revolt, holding the Koromogawa barrier. Tsunekiyo, together with Taira-no-Nagahira, led troops and answered Yoriyoshi's call. Nagahira was called Igu Jūrō; he had served the previous governor Naritō, then took a daughter of Yoritoki as wife and again attached himself to Yoritoki. Someone urged Yoriyoshi, "Nagahira is a man of divided loyalty and will surely become a trouble within our ranks. It would be best to kill him," and so Yoriyoshi seized Nagahira and had him beheaded.

¶Tsunekiyo, fearing this, was uneasy and secretly said to one of his guests: "They say that the overturning of the cart ahead is a warning to the cart behind; Jūrō [Nagahira] is already dead. I do not even know where I will die." The guest said: "Even if you try to serve the General with a sincere heart, you will surely be suspected and not trusted. If I am to think for you, there is nothing better than to go over to Abe-no-Taifu [Yoritoki] and turn disaster into fortune. If you do not decide now, regret will be too late." So Tsunekiyo had a rumor spread through the army that "Yoritoki has sent light cavalry by side paths to attack and seize the wives and children of the officers and men." The army was thrown into great uproar. Yoriyoshi dashed back to the provincial capital, leaving Kon-no-Tametoki behind to attack Yoritoki, but the army fared badly. Tsunekiyo seized the moment, led more than eight hundred men, and galloped to join Yoritoki.

¶Soon Yoritoki was killed in battle, and Yoriyoshi fought Sadatō and was defeated; the government army suffered many casualties, and the rebels' strength greatly increased. Tsunekiyo privately made fu (Note: documents of command or passes) and sent them to the districts to collect government goods, ordering, "White fu are to be used; red fu must not be used. The provincial fu is red and bears a seal; a private fu is white and has no seal." Yoriyoshi could not check this; for several years the two sides faced one another, and he sought to win by every means. He obtained more than ten thousand troops from Kiyohara-no-Takenori and attacked the Komatsu, Takanashi, Ishizaka and other stockades, breaking them all. Sadatō fled to the Torinoumi stockade, and Tsunekiyo, together with Sadatō's younger brother Munetō, held the Kuriyagawa stockade. The ground there was steep and precipitous and the defense was very strong, but the government army attacked with all its strength, set fires and fought desperately, and at last took it. Sadatō was defeated and died, and Tsunekiyo was captured. Yoriyoshi hated his divided loyalty and, deliberately using a blunt sword and cutting slowly, said, "Can you use the white fu now?" (Note: following the Mutsu Waki).

¶After Tsunekiyo was put to death, Kiyohara-no-Takesada took his wife and had a son by her named Iehira. For that reason Kiyohira followed his mother and was raised in Takesada's household. Takesada's son Sanehira inherited the work of his father and forebears and his power grew ever greater, until he came to take up arms against his subordinate Kimiko-no-Hidetake. Hidetake, thinking that with few men he could not resist, sent a man to entice Kiyohira and Iehira, saying: "Sanehira is arrogant, relying on his power. You are treated like menials; how can you not be ashamed? Sanehira is now coming with his whole army to attack [Hidetake]. You should quickly seize the chance, burn his fortress and capture his wife and children. Then Sanehira will have nowhere to attack if he advances and nowhere to fall back on if he retreats, and he will surely be taken. If I can repay my grudge and wipe away my shame, then even if I lose my life on Sanehira's account, I shall have what I wished." Kiyohira and Iehira were overjoyed and raised troops and attacked. Sanehira heard of it and turned back from midway, and Kiyohira and his brother, judging that they could not hold their own, withdrew their troops.

¶In the third year of Eihō (1083) Minamoto-no-Yoshiie became Governor of Mutsu; Sanehira left part of his force behind to guard his base and himself went out to attack Hidetake. Kiyohira broke with Iehira, attached himself to Yoshiie, and attacked Iehira and his uncle Takehira in Dewa and destroyed them (Note: following the Gosannen Gunki). Kiyohira took the lands of the six districts of Isawa, Kaga, Esashi, Hienuki, Shiwa, and Iwate (Note: following the entry for the fifth year of Bunji in the Azuma Kagami) and became Mutsu Ōryōshi, Provincial Constable of Mutsu (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). The people of the province called him Mitachi, "the Mansion" (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Genpei Jōsuiki). Kiyohira moved from Toyoda in Esashi district to Hiraizumi in Iwai district, and died there (Note: following the Azuma Kagami).

¶His son Motohira became Mutsu-Dewa Ōryōshi, Provincial Constable of Mutsu and Dewa. The lands of Ōshū and Dewa lay far from the capital, and the court still regarded them as Emishi country, but in reality the land was broad and the people many (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). Motohira's power had been great through the generations; officials and people vied to follow him, and his strength rivaled that of the kokuga (Note: the provincial governor's office). When Fujiwara-no-Morotsuna became Governor of Mutsu and sought to survey and record the public fields, Motohira hid in Shinobu district and, through the terms of several governors, refused to accept inspection by officials. When Morotsuna's messenger went bearing an imperial edict, Motohira conspired with Sueharu, the estate steward of that district, and resisted, and in the scuffle the messenger was wounded.

¶Presently Motohira grew afraid and consulted Sueharu: "The present governor is pursuing the matter without regard to precedent, and Morotsuna will no doubt record what happened and report it to the court. The crime of defying an imperial order is hard to escape; what shall we do?" Sueharu said: "I was prepared for this from the first. But it was hard to defy my lord's command, and I merely shot a few arrows. You should feign ignorance, place the blame on us, and I shall offer my head and apologize to the governor. What is there to worry about?" So Sueharu was seized and sent to the governor. Motohira, regretting the loss of his bravery, secretly sent his wife with ten thousand ryō of gold and other goods to beg for Sueharu's life, but Morotsuna would not allow it, and in the end Sueharu was beheaded (Note: following the Kokon Chomonjū and the Jikkinshō).

¶Motohira's son Hidehira was calm and large-minded. In the second year of Kaō (1170) he was appointed Chinjufu-shōgun. When Minamoto-no-Yoritomo raised troops, the Taira armies were repeatedly defeated. Taira-no-Munemori thought to borrow Hidehira's troops and horses to attack him, and to have Hidehira appointed Governor of Mutsu in order to set his forces in motion. The court considered: "There is no need now to confer a new office; Hidehira in fact already holds his entire domain. It would be best to confer it anyway." In the first year of Yōwa (1181) Hidehira took up the post of Governor of Mutsu. But although Hidehira received the jisho (Note: the letter of appointment to office), he made his attitude unclear and deliberately sent out no troops (Note: following the Gyokuyō).

¶After the Taira were destroyed, Hidehira continued to hold one region as a stronghold and did not communicate with Yoritomo. Yoritomo sent letters to open friendly relations, and Hidehira too had tribute carried to the capital on his behalf. Yoritomo's younger brother Yoshitsune had earlier sought shelter with Hidehira, and the two had planned together to attack the Taira. He stayed there for some years, and when he heard that Yoritomo had raised troops he sought to hurry to join him, but Hidehira firmly detained him and would not let him go. Yoshitsune secretly slipped out of Mutsu and returned to Yoritomo, and in the end destroyed the Taira. But afterwards he fell out with Yoritomo and they came into conflict; wandering in hardship, he fled back [to Mutsu] by side roads.

¶By that time Yoritomo had won great achievements and his prestige resounded in all directions. Hidehira was already old and feared that his descendants would not be able to keep up the family enterprise, so he was glad that Yoshitsune had come, and meant to raise the troops of the two provinces of Ōshū (Mutsu and Dewa) and let Yoshitsune use them as he pleased. Yoritomo could do nothing against this. Yoshitsune built a residence at Koromogawa, and Hidehira treated him with the greatest courtesy. Yoritomo complained that Hidehira was harboring a rebel and inciting disorder, and had him rebuked by an order from the Retired Emperor; Hidehira protested that he had no disloyal intent, yet did not change his attitude of upholding Yoshitsune. In the third year of Bunji (1187) Hidehira died. On his deathbed he left word with his sons to raise Yoshitsune as great general and to obey his orders with the whole province (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). His sons were Kunihira, Yasuhira, Tadahira, Takahira, Michihira, and Yorihira.

Fujiwara-no-Motohira

¶Fujiwara-no-Yasuhira became Mutsu Ōryōshi soon after Hidehira's death, and also governed Dewa. When Yoritomo heard of Hidehira's death, he repeatedly sought edicts of the Retired Emperor in order to have Yasuhira secretly kill Yoshitsune. Yasuhira was terrified. In the fifth year of Bunji (1189) he attacked Yoshitsune at Koromogawa and killed him, and sent his head to Kamakura. But afterwards Yoritomo, wishing to bring the two provinces of Mutsu and Dewa into his own hands, took as his pretext that Yasuhira had put off the killing of Yoshitsune and not done it promptly, and reported to the court that "Yasuhira obstructed the king's command and sheltered a rebel," and sought to raise troops and attack him; but the court council did not permit it. In the autumn of that year he finally divided his forces into three and attacked. Chiba-no-Tsunetane and Hatta-no-Tomoie passed through Iwaki and Iwasaki and joined at Kumagawa. Hiki-no-Yoshikazu and Usami-no-Sanemasa passed through the Nenju barrier and attacked Dewa separately. Yoritomo himself led a great army and entered the Shirakawa barrier from Shimotsuke.

¶Yasuhira, hearing of this, built a fortress at Atsukashiyama and made his half-brother Kunihira the general to command the forces. (Note: according to the Gukanshō, Kunihira was called Chichi Tarō, "the father's Tarō," and Yasuhira Haha Tarō, "the mother's Tarō." Probably because Kunihira's mother was of low rank and Yasuhira's mother of high rank, the people of the province called them so.) He placed under him twenty thousand picked horsemen under Kongō-bettō Hidetsuna and others, built a fortress in Katta district, and drew in the two rivers Natori and Hirose to form a line of water barriers. The strongholds at Kurihara, Sannohasama, Ichino and elsewhere were all garrisoned with heavy forces. He sent Tagawa-no-Yukifumi and Akita-no-Munefumi to guard Dewa. Yasuhira himself took up position at Kokubungahara Muchidate. Yoritomo ordered his vanguard Hatakeyama-no-Shigetada to make a sudden attack on Atsukashiyama, with Kudō-no-Yukimitsu and Oyama-no-Tomomasa following. When the great army arrived behind them, Hidetsuna fled. Shinobu-no-shōji Satō-no-Motoharu drew his bows and crossbows and blocked the way at Ishinasaka, but Hitachi-no-kaja Tamemune, with his younger brothers Tameshige, Suketsuna, and Tameie, put on armor in secret and struck him in the flank from Sawahara in Date district. Eighteen commanders, Motoharu among them, were killed in battle, and Yasuhira's army lost heart. Yoritomo pressed his advantage, crossed Atsukashiyama, and attacked Ōkido. Kunihira was bold and skilled in defense, and his officers fought with desperate strength, their voices echoing through mountains and valleys. Tomomitsu and others [of Shigetada's men] crossed the steep roads of Tsuchiyu and Toritori, came out on the mountain behind Ōkido, and shouting and loosing arrows threw the fortress into confusion. Kunihira, with no base left, fled toward Ōzekiyama, and was killed on the way.

¶Yasuhira's commander Kon-jūrō Kōtōhachi and others built a stockade at Nenashi-fuji and held it, relying on difficult terrain, but this too was broken. The Dewa garrison commanders Tagawa-no-Yukifumi and Akita-no-Munefumi also fought Hiki-no-Yoshikazu and Usami-no-Sanemasa and were defeated and killed. Yasuhira withdrew to Monomigaoka and relied on the Takahawa castle, but passing through Hiraizumi on the way he could not enter it, and set it on fire and burned it. Towers and halls turned to ashes in a single moment. Yoritomo advanced and besieged the Takahawa castle; Yasuhira, fearing his strength, fled, and being hard pressed did not know what to do. Yasuhira sent a man to deliver a letter to Yoritomo's camp, and warned the messenger to flee quickly. The sense of the letter was as follows: "That Yoshū [Yoshitsune] took shelter in this province was in my father Hidehira's lifetime, and was none of Yasuhira's doing. After my father died, I heard your command and killed him. I have merit and no fault; why then do you raise a war to punish me? Now I have abandoned my castles and towns and wander in the mountains and forests. As the two provinces of Mutsu and Dewa have already submitted to your majesty, I beg a pardon for my one life and to be placed in the ranks of your gokenin. If that cannot be, I ask to be sentenced to distant exile. If either of these two requests may be granted, I ask that a single reply be left in Hinai district." The words were earnest and pitiable. Yet Yoritomo would not listen, and divided his troops to search Hinai district.

¶Yasuhira meant to flee to Ezo island and reached the Nie stockade, but his commander Kawada Jirō turned traitor, attacked Yasuhira and killed him. He was thirty-five years old. Kawada Jirō put Yasuhira's head in a box and delivered it to Yoritomo's camp. Yoritomo had him seized and reproached him: "Yasuhira was already in my palm. Why was there any need to borrow another man's strength? You betrayed the favor of lord and vassal through the generations; it is the gravest treason and without the Way. To serve as a warning for the future I will punish you severely." And in the end he had him beheaded and exposed his head by the roadside together with Yasuhira's head (Note: following the Azuma Kagami).

¶His half-brother Kunihira was brave and skilled in fighting, and because he lived outside the west gate of the castle he was called Nishikido Tarō. After losing the battle of Ōkido, as he fled toward Ōzekiyama he met Wada-no-Yoshimori, turned his horse's head and tried to shoot, but Yoshimori shot first and pierced his shoulder. Ōkushi-no-Shigechika, a follower of Hatakeyama-no-Shigetada, pursued and killed him. Kunihira was very stout and had a fine horse called Takatate-guro, on which he is said to have climbed up and down the high hill of Hiraizumi three times in a day without the horse breaking a sweat. But this time the horse sank into deep mud and would not go forward however he whipped it, and in the end he was cut down by Shigechika. After Kunihira's death the army lacked command, and Yasuhira was finally defeated.

¶His younger brother Tadahira was called Izumi Saburō and was the most faithful in keeping his father's last wish and serving Yoshitsune. When Yasuhira conceived the intention of rebellion, he alone did not join it, and so Yasuhira killed him. Takahira was called Motoyoshi-no-kaja. After Yasuhira was defeated and fled, his uncle Toshihira was called Hizume Tarō, and Toshihira's younger brother Suehira was called Hizume Gorō. Toshihira's son Morohira was called Ōta-no-kaja, and Kanehira was called Jirō. Tadahira was called Kawai-no-kaja. Suehira's son Tsunehira was called Nitta-no-kaja. Toshihira lived in Shiwa district, and when he heard that Yoritomo was coming he burned his castle and fled. Yoritomo sent Miura-no-Yoshizumi and others to pursue him. Toshihira came out and surrendered with his three sons and with Suehira and his son.

¶Before this, Yasuhira's maternal grandfather, the former Minbu-no-shōyū, Junior Assistant Minister of Popular Affairs, Fujiwara-no-Motonari, had been living in the Koromogawa residence, and Yoritomo sent Chiba-no-Tanemori to call on him and persuade him; Motonari came with the messenger and surrendered. In a little over forty days from the raising of troops the two provinces of Mutsu and Dewa were pacified. From the time Kiyohira took possession of the six districts until the conquest of the two provinces, the house fell in the end after four generations and ninety-nine years. Yoritomo divided districts and towns among the officers and men who had served in the campaign and comforted the local people. His rule for the most part followed Hidehira's old methods, and he stationed troops to keep and guard the land.

¶When Yasuhira was defeated, one of his commanders named Yuri-no-Koreihira was captured by Usami-no-Sanemasa. Yoritomo asked him: "Your lord Yasuhira held the two provinces of Mutsu and Dewa through the generations, kept one hundred and seventy thousand soldiers, and his prestige resounded through his domain. I had no small trouble in the campaign against him. Yet when a great army attacked only once he could not hold out in even one part in a hundred, his house was destroyed with all its kin, and he was killed by his own man. Does this not mean that the soldiers he kept were of no use?" Koreihira replied: "The strong men were divided among the strongholds to defend them, and the old had no means to escape and took their own lives. Only unworthy men like me were taken alive, and so could not die together with their lord. Long ago, Sama-no-kami-dono [Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo] governed fifteen provinces of the Tōkaidō and led tens of thousands of troops. Yet in the Heiji disturbance he was defeated in an instant and had his head taken by Osada-no-shōji. Which is better, and which worse, the old days or now? Moreover, what my lord governed was only the troops of two provinces, yet he defended for tens of days and still gave trouble to your lordship. I beg that your lordship not blame us deeply." Yoritomo fell silent, but admired his courage, pardoned him and made him a retainer (Note: following the Azuma Kagami).