Biographies LXXX: Taira-no-Kiyomori, Part II

Taira-no-Motomori

¶In the first year of Yōwa (1181), Kiyomori heard that the forces of the Kantō were preparing to advance on the capital by way of the Nankaidō, and he dispatched troops to guard the key points along the coast (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). At that time Ogata-no-Koreyoshi, Kikuchi-no-Takanao, and others held the Saikaidō, and Kōno-no-Michinobu held the Nankaidō, and all of them lent their backing to the Minamoto. Koremori, Tomomori, and the others marched out toward the northeast, but some hesitated and did not advance, and others turned back on account of illness; Kiyomori was furiously angry. At this time Munemori had received an In-zen, a decree of the Retired Emperor, and was about to set out for the eastern provinces, but before he had left, Kiyomori fell ill. His body burned like fire, and he tried to cool himself by immersing himself in a stone trough filled with water, but his condition grew worse with each passing day. His wife Tokiko, later the Nii-no-Ama, the Nun of Second Rank, seeing that Kiyomori would never rise again, asked whether he had any last words. Kiyomori drew a great breath and said: "Since the Heiji disturbance I have moved the realm as I pleased; my office reached Dajō-daijin, Chancellor, and I have become the maternal grandfather of the sovereign. What more is there to seek? My only regret is that I shall end my life without having seen the head of Yoritomo. After I die, there is to be no building of halls and pagodas and no memorial offerings to the Buddha. Only cut off Yoritomo's head and hang it over my grave. Every one of my descendants must take this wish to heart and never be negligent in it." Kiyomori writhed in agony, and after seven days he died. He was sixty-four years old (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). His remains were cremated at Otagi (Note: following the Heike Monogatari; the Genpei Jōsuiki gives Rokuhara), and his bones were deposited at Kyō-no-shima (Note: according to the Azuma Kagami, in accordance with his dying command his bones were placed in the Yamada Hokke-dō in Harima; which is correct is not known). Just then thieves set fire to the palace (the Hōko, the "Jar of Penglai"), and in the capital the rumor flew that "a rebel has appeared," startling the people; those of the time took it as an ill omen (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). When Kiyomori's illness became grave, he had the monk Enjitsu memorialize the Retired Emperor: "After I die, may Your Majesty consult Munemori on every matter." The Retired Emperor hesitated and could not decide, but on hearing that Kiyomori had grown displeased, he finally granted it (Note: following the Gyokuyō). In all, the Taira clan numbered sixteen kugyō, court nobles of the upper ranks, and more than thirty tenjōbito, courtiers permitted into the Imperial presence; and more than sixty held posts as provincial governors, as officers of the Palace Guards, and in the various bureaus (Note: following the Heike Monogatari). Their estates stretched across the provinces and exceeded half of the realm. Their wealth rivaled that of the royal house, and their garments and caps were all of the utmost splendor. The people of the time admired this and called it "Rokuhara style." Taira-no-Tokitada, Dainagon, Great Counsellor, is said to have often declared, "One who is not of this clan is not a human being." Such was the greatness of the Taira clan's power. When Kiyomori was Governor of Aki, he received an edict and built the Great Pagoda on Mount Kōya. When the work was complete, Kiyomori was told in a dream by an aged monk: "The building of this great pagoda is truly magnificent, but Itsukushima in Aki and Kehi in Echizen correspond to the two realms, the Diamond and the Womb. Now Kehi flourishes while Itsukushima lies in ruins. If you repair it, you and your descendants will surely enjoy good fortune and prosperity." Kiyomori reported this to the court and at length restored the Itsukushima Shrine, making it magnificent beyond compare (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Kiyomori treated the naishi and miko, the shrine attendants and priestesses, of Itsukushima with great generosity (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki), and whenever any matter arose he always made his prayers there (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Furthermore, Wada-no-saki (Wada Cape) in Settsu was of rugged terrain, and maritime transport there was exceedingly difficult; ships on public and private business alike were constantly overturned and sunk. Kiyomori was troubled by this and wished to build an island to serve as a landing place, but wind and waves beat upon it without cease, and for a long time it could not be completed (Note: following the Sankaiki and the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari). He therefore had the whole Issaikyō, the complete Buddhist canon, copied onto stones, and had these sunk to fill in the island. He also petitioned the court to have the labor for the work levied upon Kawachi, Izumi, Settsu, and the provinces of the Sanyōdō and the Nankaidō (Note: following the Sankaiki). In time the work was completed, and travelers were spared this calamity. All the people found it convenient and named it Kyō-no-shima, "Sutra Island" (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari).

¶Kiyomori's sons were Shigemori, Motomori, Munemori, Tomomori, Shigehira, Koretoshi, Tomonori, Kiyofusa, Kiyosada, Tsunemitsu, Suemori, Kiyokuni, and Yoshihira (Note: Tsunemitsu and those after him follow the Heishi Keizu). Shigemori has a separate biography. Koretoshi became Tōgū-no-shōjō, Junior Secretary to the Crown Prince. Tomonori was granted Junior Fifth Rank Upper and appointed Governor of Mikawa (Note: following the Heishi Keizu). In the second year of Juei (1183), he led troops together with Koremori and others to attack Minamoto-no-Yoshinaka, and reaching Mount Tonami in Etchū he gave battle and was heavily defeated (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki, the Heike Monogatari, and the Hōreki Kanki). Tomonori's horse was struck by an arrow and fell. Okada-no-Chikayoshi bore down on him, but Tomonori struck off his helmet and at last cut him down. Chikayoshi's son Shigeyoshi came on regardless, and Tomonori's men tried to block and strike him; then Chikayoshi's mounted followers rushed up to help Shigeyoshi, and both sides fought with ever greater fury, killing and wounding one another. Tomonori, realizing that he could not break out, fell upon his own blade and died (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki. In one account in this book Tomonori fell in battle at Shinohara, but the Heike Monogatari places the battle of Shinohara after Tomonori's death, so that account is not adopted here). Kiyofusa (Note: the printed edition of the Heishi Keizu says that he was a son of Fujiwara-no-Kunitsuna, Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Great Counsellor, whom Kiyomori had adopted as his son, but this is an error) was granted Junior Fifth Rank Lower and appointed Governor of Awaji (Note: following the Heishi Keizu). In the fourth year of Jishō (1180), he led troops and burned Onjōji (Note: following the Hyakurenshō). In the second year of Juei, together with Koremori and others, he tried to hold off Minamoto-no-Yoshinaka and was heavily defeated (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). In the third year of Juei (1184), he fell in battle at Ichi-no-tani (Note: following the Heike Monogatari). Kiyosada was in fact a son of Nakahara-no-Morotoo, Dai-geki, Senior Secretary of the Council of State; Kiyomori adopted him as a son, and he became Shikibu-no-jō, Secretary of the Ministry of Ceremonial, and was granted Junior Fifth Rank Lower (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Nakahara Keizu). He was appointed Governor of Mikawa, Governor of Owari, and other posts (Note: following the Nakahara Keizu; Governor of Owari follows the Genpei Jōsuiki). In the third year of Juei, he fell in battle at Ichi-no-tani (Note: following the Heike Monogatari). Kiyokuni was a son of Fujiwara-no-Kunitsuna, Gon-Dainagon. Kunitsuna had long been on close terms with Kiyomori and had given his daughter in marriage to Shigehira, and Kiyomori in turn adopted Kiyokuni as his son. Kiyokuni became a Jijū, Chamberlain (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki), was appointed Governor of Tanba (Note: following the Gyokuyō), and was granted Junior Fourth Rank Lower (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Of Tsunemitsu, Suemori, and Yoshihira, no deeds have been handed down.

Taira-no-Munemori

¶Motomori's origins are not clear, but Kiyomori adopted him as a son (Note: following the Heishi Keizu). In the first year of Hōgen (1156), at the age of seventeen, he served as a Kebiishi, Police Commissioner, and led troops to guard Uji. On the way he came upon Uno-no-Chikaharu, and Motomori called out: "By Imperial command, soldiers are forbidden to enter the capital in armor. If you intend to obey the court, come with us. Otherwise I cannot let you pass." Chikaharu answered, "I am answering the summons of the Retired Emperor." When Motomori made to surround and attack him, Chikaharu drew his bow and shot at him, and Motomori's troops flinched and fell into disorder. Soon reinforcements gathered from all sides, and Motomori ordered his wavering soldiers, "The enemy no longer has any rear guard. Take every one of them alive." In the end he took Chikaharu and fifteen others prisoner and brought them to the palace. Motomori had been struck by arrows all over his body and was streaming with blood. The Emperor praised his valor and on that very day granted him Senior Fifth Rank Lower (Note: following the Hōgen Monogatari; Senior Fifth Rank Lower follows the two texts, the Kyōto-bon and the Kamakura-bon). Later he was advanced to Senior Fourth Rank Lower (Note: following the Heishi Keizu). As Governor of Yamato he left the capital, and while on his way back to the capital he tried to cross the Uji River and was drowned (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki. In this book some accounts of Motomori's career say he was Governor of Tōtōmi, and others that he was Saemon-no-suke, Assistant Captain of the Left Gate Guards; but since it is not known in what year each appointment came before or after the other, they are not recorded here).

¶Motomori had a son named Yukimori, who became Senior Fourth Rank Lower, Sama-no-kami, Head of the Left Imperial Stables (Note: following the Heishi Keizu). In the third year of Juei (1184), he built a fortress at Kojima in Bizen and held it with more than five hundred horsemen, but was defeated by Yoritomo's general Sasaki-no-Moritsuna (Note: this follows the Azuma Kagami and the Genpei Jōsuiki; the Heike Monogatari gives Sukemori and Arimori, which is an error). When the Emperor died, he shot and killed several of the enemy with arrows together with Arimori, Sakon'e-no-shōshō, Lesser Captain of the Left Palace Guards. When the enemy boarded the ships, he took up his sword and fought bravely, and was cut down in battle (Note: the Heike Monogatari says that he entered the sea with Arimori and died). Earlier, when his father Motomori died, Yukimori was still very young. When he grew up, because of a dream his mother had had, he recited the Daibadai chapter of the Lotus Sutra every day to pray for his father's repose, and no matter how hard his circumstances, he never neglected it. On this occasion too he recited it in the same way, and all who heard it were moved to pity (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Yukimori studied waka under Fujiwara-no-Sadaie, Gon-Chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor. When he went down to the western seas, he left behind a single volume of the poems he had collected over the years and said his farewell in a poem. Sadaie wept as he read it and said, "If the day ever comes when I compile a collection by Imperial command, I shall certainly include these poems." Sadaie's father Toshinari, when he compiled the Senzaishū, had included a poem by Satsuma-no-kami Tadanori (Tadasato) but concealed his surname and given name, and Sadaie had regretted this (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Several generations later, when he compiled the Shin-Chokusenshū, he included Yukimori's poem and stated his surname and name plainly (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Shin-Chokusenshū).

Taira-no-Tomomori

¶Taira-no-Munemori. In the reign of Emperor Nijō, Munemori served successively as Governor of Tōtōmi, Governor of Awaji, Governor of Mimasaka, and other posts, and became Sahyōe-no-suke, Assistant Captain of the Left Gate Guards, and Sama-no-kami, Head of the Left Imperial Stables. In the second year of Nin'an (1167) he was appointed Ukon'e-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Right Palace Guards, and soon became a Sangi, Consultant. In the following year he advanced to Senior Third Rank, was appointed Gon-Chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor, and concurrently served as Saemon-no-kami, Commander of the Left Gate Guards. In the first year of Jishō (1177) he concurrently became Ukon'e-no-taishō, Major Captain of the Right Palace Guards. In the following year he advanced to Senior Second Rank, was appointed Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Great Counsellor, and concurrently became Tōgū-no-daibu, Master of the Crown Prince's Household. In the third year of Jishō (1179) he resigned these offices (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). When Shigemori died, Kiyomori grew ever more overbearing. The Retired Emperor had long been displeased at the Taira monopolizing power, and since the affair of Fujiwara-no-Narichika, Kiyomori too had constantly nursed his anger and thought of confining the Retired Emperor. Munemori led troops and surrounded the Hōjūji-dono. The Retired Emperor, wiping away his tears, said, "Do you mean to banish me to some remote place?" Munemori memorialized: "Nothing of the kind, Your Majesty. Please move for a time to the Kita-dono, the north palace, at Toba." And so he moved the Retired Emperor to the Toba-dono (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). The Retired Emperor lamented: "At the time of Narichika's affair as well, I very nearly met with such a fate, but I was saved by Shigemori's strength and nothing came of it. Now that Shigemori too has left this world, it has at last come to this extremity. Munemori falls far short of his elder brother" (Note: following the Heike Monogatari). In the following year, before the Retired Emperor Takakura set out on his progress to Itsukushima, he first made a progress to Kiyomori's Nishi-Hachijō mansion, summoned Munemori, and said to him in secret: "I leave tomorrow, and I wish to stop at Toba on the way. But I cannot go without informing the Shōkoku (Kiyomori). What should I do?" Before he had finished speaking, tears flowed. Munemori answered, "I shall accompany you, so please do not be anxious." The Retired Emperor then went to the Toba-dono, and the two palaces, that of the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa and that of the Retired Emperor Takakura, shared joy and sorrow and wept facing one another (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Before long Munemori remonstrated with Kiyomori and moved the Retired Emperor to the Hachijō-Karasuma mansion. In this year Emperor Antoku ascended the throne, and Munemori, relying on the weight of his position as a maternal relative, wielded ever greater power (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari).

¶In the first month of the first year of Yōwa (1181), Munemori became overall commander of the Kinai and of Iga, Ise, Ōmi, Tanba, and other provinces (Note: following the Hyakurenshō). About this time Minamoto-no-Yoshinaka raised troops in Shinano, and those who responded to Minamoto-no-Yoritomo gradually increased. In this month Minamoto-no-Yukiie approached Owari with several thousand horsemen, and the mokudai, the governor's deputy, reported it to Rokuhara by express horse. The capital was thrown into uproar, and soldiers took advantage of the confusion to plunder goods and wealth (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari). Earlier, Tomomori had led troops toward the eastern provinces, but on reaching Sunomata he fell ill and turned back. The strength of Yoritomo and Yoshinaka grew daily, and Munemori was about to lead a great army to subdue them. The Retired Emperor issued an edict ordering: "All who hold military office, and all who are skilled in archery and horsemanship, are to join the campaign." But the provinces all knew that the court's commands and the Retired Emperor's decrees issued from the Taira, and one after another they submitted to the Minamoto. Just as Munemori was about to set out, Kiyomori died, and he gave up the expedition (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Munemori then said to the Retired Emperor: "There were things in my late father's conduct with which I myself could not agree. But being unworthy, I could not remonstrate with him and stop him. From now on I shall follow Your Majesty's wishes in all matters. I hear that the soldiers sent to subdue the east are nearly out of provisions. My late father meant to have army provisions carried from two routes, the Saikaidō and the Hokurikudō, but he died before he could carry it out. I beg Your Majesty's decision. Does Your Majesty intend to pardon the rebels, or to press on with their subjugation? I beg that the matter be decided once in court deliberation, and that we then proceed." The Retired Emperor assembled the kugyō and had them discuss it. The Retired Emperor wished to pardon Yoritomo and the others, but Munemori would not agree and sent Shigehira with troops to the eastern provinces (Note: following the Gyokuyō). In the third month, Shigehira and his men won a great victory over Yukiie at Sunomata and returned (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Earlier, Yoritomo had secretly memorialized the Retired Emperor: "I am not plotting rebellion; I seek only to remove the rebels. If the court still inclines its heart to the Taira, then let the two houses, Minamoto and Taira, stand side by side and serve the court as before. I beg you to put my loyalty to the test." The Retired Emperor showed that letter to Munemori. Munemori memorialized: "Peace would indeed be most welcome. But my late father's last words were, 'My descendants must surely lay Yoritomo's corpse before them.' Having received those words, it is a matter of duty that we cannot fail to strike him down" (Note: following the Gyokuyō).

¶In the first year of Juei (1182), Munemori again became Gon-Dainagon, and soon received the post of Naidaijin, Minister of the Center, and was granted one Banchō, guard sergeant, each from the Left and Right Palace Guards and four Konoe guardsmen each, to serve as his zuijin hyōjō, armed escorts (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). On the day of his Haga, the audience of thanks, his retinue was truly grand. Just at that time the Minamoto generals of the northeast were about to press upon the capital, but Munemori paid no heed to military affairs and gave himself wholly to displays of splendor, and the people of the time reviled him for it (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). In the second year of Juei (1183) he was granted Junior First Rank and resigned as Naidaijin (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Earlier, the court had decided to levy troops from the provinces, and soldiers gathered from the Kinai and from Kii, Iga, Ise, Owari, Mikawa, Harima, Mimasaka, Bizen, Bitchū, Bingo, Aki, Suō, Nagato, Buzen, Bungo, Chikuzen, Chikugo, Ōsumi, Satsuma, and other provinces (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). In the fourth month, he made Koremori, Michimori, Tadanori, Yukimori, Tsunemasa, Kiyofusa, Tomonori, and others Tsuitōshi, Commissioners for Pursuit and Subjugation, and had them lead more than a hundred thousand horsemen to strike Yoshinaka first. This army seized tribute and plundered the people's goods along the way. Advancing to Echizen, it took the Hiuchi castle, held by Yoshinaka's general Nishina-no-Morihiro and others (Note: on Nishina-no-Morihiro, following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Passing on through Echizen and Kaga it at last reached Etchū, and at Mount Tonami it fought Yoshinaka and suffered a great defeat. In the seventh month Yoshinaka approached Ōmi. Munemori sent a letter to the Enryakuji asking for reinforcements, offering as terms that the head temple (Enryakuji) would be made the Taira clan's family temple and the Hiyoshi Shrine its family shrine, but the monks would not listen (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Munemori sent Sukemori out from Uji and Tomomori and Shigehira out from Seta, dividing the roads to advance on Ōmi. Yoshinaka advanced to the Enryakuji and set up camp there, and Sukemori and the others withdrew their troops and turned back. At this time Minamoto-no-Yukiie entered Yamato, Minamoto-no-Yukitsuna held Settsu and Kawachi and responded to Yoritomo, and Ashikaga-no-Yoshikiyo pressed upon Tanba, all of them about to fall upon the capital. Munemori therefore recalled his generals (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki; the Heike Monogatari, the Kikki, and the Gyokuyō were consulted) and sought to flee to Chinzei, Kyūshū. Tomomori and the others judged this impossible, but Munemori would not listen and resolved on the flight to Chinzei. Earlier, Munemori had secretly planned to leave the capital taking the Retired Emperor with him, but someone who sensed this secretly informed the Retired Emperor, and the Retired Emperor slipped away from the palace in secret. Munemori, flustered and at a loss, set fire to his own residences himself and, bearing the Kenji, the Sacred Sword and Jewel, the Three Regalia, escorted the Emperor, Kenreimon-in, and the Emperor's younger brother Morisada westward, and the whole clan followed. On reaching Fukuhara, Munemori rallied his retainers and soldiers and said: "The realm is in turmoil, and the Son of Heaven has been driven from his capital. Can you protect the Regalia with all your strength, to the death?" They all answered: "Even birds and beasts know how to repay kindness, still more so men. The bond between lord and vassal does not change with rise and fall of fortune. We shall obey your command and nothing more." Munemori was pleased (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). He then visited Kiyomori's tomb and spent a whole night in music and the recitation of sutras (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). The next day he burned the palaces and the mansions of the nobles in the old capital and crossed the sea by ship toward Dazaifu (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Soon afterward the Retired Emperor issued an edict stripping more than two hundred members of the Taira clan of their offices and ranks (Note: following the Gyokuyō; the Ichidai Yōki gives 189, the Genpei Jōsuiki 180, and the Heike Monogatari 160). The fourth son of Emperor Takakura ascended the throne; he is the later Emperor Go-Toba. When Munemori and the others heard this, they said, "We regret that we did not bring the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince together with us." The Third Prince was Imperial Prince Koreakira, and the Fourth Prince was Emperor Go-Toba. At that time Fujiwara-no-Yorisuke, Gyōbu-kyō, Minister of Justice, was the kokushi, provincial governor, of Bungo, but he had sent his son Yoritsune to take charge of provincial affairs. When the Taira entered Dazaifu, he gave distant orders to Yoritsune to oppose them. Yoritsune took counsel with Ogata-no-Koreyoshi and, by decree of the Retired Emperor, mobilized the soldiers of the nine provinces and two islands, Kyūshū together with Iki and Tsushima, to attack the Taira (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Munemori sent Sukemori and others to persuade Koreyoshi, but Koreyoshi would not comply (Note: following the Heike Monogatari) and sent troops out from Hakata to attack. Munemori therefore sent Taira-no-Sadayoshi, Higo-no-kami, together with Kikuchi-no-Takanao and Harada-no-Tanenao, to oppose them, but they could not hold. Munemori and his party escorted the Emperor and fled to Hakozaki, and soon moved to the Yamaga castle of Fujiwara-no-Hidetō. Hearing that Koreyoshi was coming with a hundred thousand men, they crossed the sea by ship to avoid him. Reaching Yanagi-no-ura, they had the Shinto priests of Usa pray for their recovery. Ki-no-Mitsusue, the mokudai of Nagato, a province under Tomomori's charge, presented more than a hundred and thirty ships, and so at last they reached Sanuki and built a temporary palace at Yashima. Taguchi-no-Shigeyoshi came over from Awa and submitted, and the commanders and soldiers of Shikoku all answered his call (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki; the Heike Monogatari was consulted). Earlier, Munemori had sent a memorial to the Retired Emperor saying: "The removal of the Imperial progress to the west was only to escape a brief disaster and disorder for the moment. We never from the beginning had any intention of defying Your Majesty. From now on we shall submit in everything to Your Majesty's decision." But the Retired Emperor hesitated and gave no reply (Note: following the Gyokuyō). Before long Munemori's strength revived, and he gradually pacified the Sanyōdō (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). In the intercalary tenth month he sent Shigehira, Michimori, Noritsune, and others to fight Yoshinaka's generals Ashikaga-no-Yoshikiyo, Takanashi-no-Takanobu, and Unno-no-Yukihiro at Mizushima in Bitchū, and they utterly defeated them. They cut down three generals and took 1,200 heads (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki; the various texts of the Heike Monogatari differ in the names of the commanders, but here this book is followed).

¶In the eleventh month he sent Norimori, Noritsune, and Shigehira (Note: the Heike Monogatari gives Tomomori and Shigehira, but here the Jōsuiki is followed) with an army of ten thousand (Note: the various texts of the Heike Monogatari give twenty or thirty thousand, but here the Jōsuiki is followed) to fight Minamoto-no-Yukiie at Murōyama in Harima, and again they won a great victory over him (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). The commanders and soldiers of fourteen provinces of the Sanyōdō and the Nankaidō were gradually put to use as hands and feet of the Taira (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Genpei Jōsuiki). Earlier, a rift had gradually opened between Yoritomo and Yoshinaka. Because Yoshinaka had been defeated one after another at Mizushima and Murōyama and saw the Taira growing ever more powerful, he thought of joining with them to strike Yoritomo together, and secretly sent a letter to Yashima conveying his intention. Munemori was pleased and was ready to agree, but Tomomori strongly opposed it and stopped him (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). In the first month of the following year he built a fortress at Ichi-no-tani in Settsu. Its extent reached three ri; it enclosed the old capital of Fukuhara, bounded by mountains in the north and reaching the sea in the south, with Ichi-no-tani as its western gate and the Ikuta forest as its eastern gate. More than a hundred thousand soldiers (Note: the Azuma Kagami and the Gyokuyō say several tens of thousands, and the Rekidai Kōki says sixty thousand) filled it. In addition he prepared tens of thousands of ships to provide for fighting on the water (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari; the extent of three ri and the number of ships follow the Jōsuiki). He sent envoys to join with Yoshinaka (Note: following the Gyokuyō) and at last remained at the temporary palace at Fukuhara (Note: following the Gyokuyō, the Genpei Jōsuiki, and the Heike Monogatari). At this time more than two thousand government soldiers in Sanuki rebelled and were about to advance on the capital (Note: the Heike Monogatari says Awa and Sanuki). On the way they attacked Norimori's camp at Shimotsumichi in Bitchū (Note: the Heike Monogatari says Shimotsui). Norimori, Michimori, and Noritsune broke them, and the rebel soldiers fled to Awaji and joined Minamoto-no-Yoshitsugu and Yoshihisa. Michimori and Noritsune attacked and annihilated them, and went on to Iyo to attack Kōno-no-Michinobu. Michinobu, afraid, fled to Aki and joined forces with Numata-no-Jirō. Noritsune attacked and broke them and captured Numata-no-Jirō. Michinobu fled further, and also defeated Ama-no-Munemasu and Sonobe-no-Shigemochi at Fukui-no-ura. Michinobu, together with Ogata-no-Koreyoshi, Kaida-no-Munechika, Usuki-no-Koretaka, and others, held the Imaki castle (Note: the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari gives Munemichi for Munechika), and this too they attacked and broke. In this month Yoritomo ordered his younger brothers Noriyori and Yoshitsune to attack Ichi-no-tani, and a great army set out toward Settsu. Sukemori and the others had made camp west of Mount Mikusa, but Yoshitsune attacked at night, the camp was shaken, and the troops fell into confusion, mixing among themselves in disorder. Sukemori fled to Yashima. Noriyori led more than fifty thousand horsemen and attacked the eastern gate, while Yoshitsune had Tashiro-no-Nobutsuna, Doi-no-Sanehira, and others lead more than seven thousand horsemen to attack the western gate. Yoshitsune himself, with three thousand picked men, plunged down Hiyodorigoe in a single rush, set fire to the camp, and attacked from within and without at once. Men and horses were jumbled together inside the fortress, and Munemori, thrown into panic, escorted the Emperor and fled by ship to Yashima. The soldiers struggled to be first aboard the ships, and in the ships some cut off the arms and legs of others with swords, and shouts and cries rose in confusion. Three large ships capsized and sank, and many drowned (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Michimori, Tadanori, Tsunemasa, Atsumori, Tomoakira, Tsunetoshi, Narimori, Moritoshi, and others fell in battle, and Shigehira was taken prisoner (Note: following the Azuma Kagami, the Genpei Jōsuiki, and the Heike Monogatari). The Retired Emperor, troubled that the Three Regalia were outside the capital, took the capture of Shigehira as an opportunity to send a letter to Munemori, having him return the Regalia and promising in exchange to spare Shigehira's life. Munemori received the Retired Emperor's decree and Shigehira's letter, and replied with a memorial as follows: "Earlier we lost the defense of the capital, and we respectfully escorted the young sovereign to the western seas to take refuge. At that time we received a decree of the Retired Emperor saying, 'Return to the capital,' and, having heard that the capital had somewhat settled, we were about to return, when Yoshinaka, claiming to act on the Retired Emperor's decree, blocked us at Mizushima and offered battle. The imperial army won that victory, and at last we were able to return as far as Settsu. Recently we were told that an envoy from the Retired Emperor was coming to discuss peace, but the Minamoto suddenly attacked, and, not knowing where Your Majesty's wishes lay, we were flustered and mishandled our response, and for that reason we have not yet returned to the capital and have been delayed until today. Peace is the wish of both public and private parties, but since Your Majesty's intention is not yet clear, we respectfully await your instructions. I have long received the court's favor; how could I turn my back on righteousness? The punishment of Yoshitomo came from the affair of Nobuyori, and there was no private grudge between that house and ours. I beg that Your Majesty command the warriors to cease fighting. That would be no obstacle to our return to the capital" (Note: following the Azuma Kagami. The Genpei Jōsuiki records Munemori's reply as follows: "Recently rebels raised disorder, the defense of the capital was lost, and we, as maternal relatives, escorted the young sovereign and his mother the Empress and withdrew before the soldiers to the western seas. The Three Regalia, the great treasures handed down with the realm, cannot be parted from the sovereign's person even for a day. We beg that Your Majesty remain here for a while, wait for the disorder to be put down, and then escort them back to the capital. Otherwise we shall lead them together to Kōrai and Kudara. We grieve that the Regalia would in the end become the possession of a foreign land." Now, having heard the command, "If the Regalia are returned to the capital, Shigehira's death sentence will be pardoned," he is said to have replied that with so many of the clan having lost their lives at Ichi-no-tani, it could not be that Shigehira alone would cling to life and begrudge the Regalia, and so in the end he did not obey the decree. The entry for the twenty-first day of the second month in the Gyokuyō, following the account of Narihito, has Munemori's reply saying, "As to returning the Three Regalia, the Emperor, and the Empress Mother, we respectfully obey the command. Only I myself do not wish to enter the capital, and I beg to be permitted to remain in Sanuki," and says that his son Kiyomune was to follow the palanquin. But the entry for the first day of the third month says, following the account of Sadanaga, that "the fact that Munemori in his reply to the imperial envoy generally wished for peace agrees with the account in the Azuma Kagami." According to the Azuma Kagami, a man named Sadatsune served as the imperial envoy, and that account is probably the closer to fact). Munemori then once more pacified the Sanyōdō (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). In the twelfth month Yukimori, who was holding Kojima in Bizen, was defeated by Yoritomo's general Sasaki-no-Moritsuna (Note: following the Azuma Kagami).

¶In the first month of the first year of Genryaku (the fourth year of Juei, 1185), Tomomori stationed troops at Hikoshima in Nagato and guarded the Moji barrier against the troops of the eastern provinces (Note: following the Azuma Kagami and the Genpei Jōsuiki). In this month Yoshitsune reached Watanabe. In heavy rain and a violent storm, Yoshitsune led picked soldiers and struck suddenly through wind and waves. Munemori, on the advice of Taguchi-no-Shigeyoshi, escorted the Emperor out to sea in ships, leaving generals and soldiers behind to hold the stronghold. On the nineteenth day of the second month, Yoshitsune set fire to the houses of the people at Yashima; the flames reached the temporary palace, and the barracks were wholly reduced to ashes. Smoke covered the sea, and the Taira army could not hold and fled to the water. Arrows were then exchanged between sea and land. Munemori said to Noritsune: "I hear that only seven horsemen fought against Yoshitsune. Our army feared that more mounted men would follow behind them and hesitated, and so let him slip away. You must identify Yoshitsune's armor, go ashore, and shoot him down." Noritsune then led more than thirty picked soldiers, brought his ship in and landed, personally took the van, fought, and killed and wounded many. Yoshitsune withdrew his camp to Mure and Takamatsu, and Noritsune set up camp at Yashima. The next day Yoshitsune attacked again, but Noritsune avoided him by going out onto the sea. Yoshitsune's army grew ever stronger. Munemori escorted the Emperor in flight to Shido. Yoshitsune attacked there as well, and again they could not hold. They went by ship through Hikoshima toward Hakozaki (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). At this time Noriyori was in Bungo with a great army (Note: following the Azuma Kagami), and so the Taira could not advance; they turned their ships back and drifted to Dannoura. Yoshitsune's fleet of more than seven hundred ships bore down (Note: the Heike Monogatari says more than three thousand ships), and Munemori and the others met them with more than five hundred warships (Note: the Heike Monogatari says more than a thousand). They moved the Emperor into a warship and had soldiers man the Chinese-style ships, the karabune, reckoning that the Minamoto would surely aim at the karabune, and intending to catch them between front and rear. At this time Taguchi-no-Shigeyoshi, seeing that the loyalty of the Taira was fading day by day, gradually conceived thoughts of defection and secretly told Yoshitsune of the plan. Yoshitsune, knowing their scheme, attacked suddenly, and Shigeyoshi joined in from within. The Taira were utterly defeated. Tomomori came to the Emperor's ship and said, "Things have come to this, and there is nothing more to be said" (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). The ladies-in-waiting all wept in grief, and the Nii-no-Ama lamented: "Munemori was in truth not the Shōkoku's (Kiyomori's) son, nor a child I bore myself. It is no wonder that his heart is unlike that of the Komatsu Naidaijin (Shigemori). He will surely be unable to die, and will be taken prisoner and disgraced." In truth, after bearing Shigemori the Nii-no-Ama never bore another son, and Kiyomori was troubled by this. Later she conceived and prayed to the gods and buddhas for a boy, but a girl was born. She kept this secret and told no one, and, seeking out the child of an umbrella-maker's household living on the north slope of Kiyomizu-dera, secretly exchanged the infants. While Kiyomori lived she never told of it, but at this moment, in grief and rage, the Nii-no-Ama is said to have spoken of it for the first time (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). The Nii-no-Ama, together with the Azechi-no-Tsubone, clasped the Emperor, took the Kenji, the Sacred Sword and Jewel, between them, and threw herself into the sea and died (Note: the Azuma Kagami says that the Nii-no-Zenni, the Nun of Second Rank, carried the Treasured Sword and that the Azechi-no-Tsubone clasped the late Emperor, and that they sank together into the sea. Yoshitsune's report also says, "The Azechi-no-Tsubone clasped the late Emperor and entered the water, but did not yet die." The Genpei Jōsuiki says the Nii-no-Ama went into the sea, and then in a later passage says again that "Hachijō-dono also threw herself into the sea in turn," but Hachijō-dono is the Nii-no-Ama, and treating them as two different persons is an error. Now, on the basis of the Gukanshō, the Hyakurenshō, and the various texts of the Heike Monogatari, the earlier passage of the Jōsuiki is adopted). Norimori, Tomomori, Tsunemori, Sukemori, Arimori, Yukimori, and others also lost their lives one after another (Note: following the Azuma Kagami and the Heike Monogatari). Munemori and Kiyomune could not bring themselves to take their own lives and wandered about the ship, and the soldiers, ashamed of this, pretended to lose their hold and thrust the two into the sea. Father and son were good swimmers by nature and kept swimming this way and that. The soldiers of the eastern provinces hooked them with a kumade, a rake-like boat hook, caught them, and sent them to the capital. Father and son were placed in the same Hachiyō carriage, with the blinds raised at front and back, and were held at Yoshitsune's Horikawa mansion. In the fifth month they were sent to Kamakura. On the road the two prayed that their lives might be spared. Yoshitsune comforted them, saying, "I shall surely redeem your guilt with my own merit in the war." Munemori was glad and said, "If I can keep what remains of my life, even if I am exiled to a distant frontier, that alone will content me" (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari).

¶In the sixth month, on entering Kamakura, Yoritomo drew the two into a separate room hung with blinds and met them across the garden. Hiki-no-Yoshikazu conveyed his words and spoke consolation to them (Note: following the Azuma Kagami and the Genpei Jōsuiki). Munemori, trembling with fear, said, "If my life is spared, I wish to take the tonsure and serve the Buddha." Kiyomune stepped forward and said: "My house has for generations protected the court, and it is known to all that we had merit and no fault. But since matters have already come to this, there is nothing more to say. I ask only to be granted death quickly." Yoritomo could not bear it and wished Munemori to take his own life; he placed a fish on a cutting board and displayed a knife beside it. But Munemori did not perceive his intention (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari). Kiyomune understood the intention, but, unable to bear dying before his father, abandoned the idea (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Yoritomo addressed Munemori as Sanuki-no-gon-no-kami, Provisional Governor of Sanuki, and had his name changed to Suekuni (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari; Suekuni follows the Nagato-bon). He then sent the two back again to the capital, and they reached Shinohara in Ōmi. Yoshitsune kept Munemori and his son at separate places (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Munemori understood the intention and asked to call a monk and receive the precepts before he died. Yoshitsune permitted this and in the end had him beheaded at Shinohara (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). He was then thirty-nine years old (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin. The Genpei Jōsuiki says that when Munemori was captured, the people of the capital crowded to look at him, and two or three lepers among them said: "Has the retribution for accumulated evil at last come to this? We hear that this man once had a secret liaison with Kenreimon-in, and that the late Emperor was a child born of it." It is also said that when Kenreimon-in confessed old matters to the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, she told of having been falsely accused of a secret liaison with Munemori aboard a ship in the western seas. In general, such slanders of that time are not necessarily fact, so they are added here only as a note). Munemori's head was carried to the capital and exposed on the ōchi tree, the Japanese bead tree, at the prison gate (Note: following the Kikki, the Hyakurenshō, the Azuma Kagami, the Genpei Jōsuiki, and the Heike Monogatari).

¶Munemori had two sons, called Kiyomune and Yoshimune (Note: following the Heishi Keizu and the Genpei Jōsuiki). Kiyomune was granted Junior Fifth Rank Lower, had the ceremony of coming of age performed at the Retired Emperor's palace, was permitted to enter the Imperial presence and to wear the forbidden colors and miscellaneous robes, and soon became a Jijū, Chamberlain, concurrently Bizen-no-suke, Assistant Governor of Bizen; promoted step by step, he was granted Senior Third Rank and appointed Uemon-no-kami, Commander of the Right Gate Guards (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). When his father was put to death, Kiyomune was beheaded at Noji (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). He was then seventeen years old (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari; the Kugyō Bunin says fifteen). Yoshimune lost his mother when he was young, and she had been deeply concerned about this child at the hour of her death. Munemori took pity on him and cherished him with particular tenderness. He used to say: "Kiyomune is the heir of my house, so as great general he should manage the affairs of the east. This boy I shall have manage the affairs of the western provinces as deputy general," and people therefore called him "Fukushō," the Deputy General. When Munemori was captured, Yoshitsune beheaded Yoshimune at the Rokujō riverbank (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). He was then six years old (Note: following the Azuma Kagami; the Genpei Jōsuiki says eight).

Taira-no-Shigehira

¶Taira-no-Tomomori. In the first year of Heiji (1159), Tomomori was granted Junior Fifth Rank Lower, was promoted step by step, and was appointed Sakon'e-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards. During the Jishō era he was granted Junior Third Rank, appointed Sahyōe-no-kami, Commander of the Left Gate Guards, and became Bettō, Superintendent, of the Retired Emperor's stables (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). When Prince Mochihito raised an army, Tomomori was ordered, together with Shigehira and others, to meet him at Uji. The enemy had broken down the bridge and fought from behind it, and his own side hesitated to advance. Tomomori said, "If the two armies face one another on the bridge, our men, though many, cannot use their strength; we shall only be toyed with by a small force of the enemy," and he had his soldiers churn up the river and ford it directly, and in the end utterly defeated the enemy (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). When Yamamoto-no-Yoshitsune (a Minamoto general) raised troops in Ōmi, he led several thousand soldiers together with his nephew Sukemori and others and defeated him (Note: the Azuma Kagami, the Genpei Jōsuiki, and the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari were consulted; on Sukemori, following the Gyokuyō and the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari. The Jōsuiki makes Tomomori Seitō Taishōgun, Great General for Subduing the East, and the Heike Monogatari makes him Seii Taishōgun, Great General for Subduing the Barbarians, but the Gyokuyō gives Tōgoku Tsuitōshi, Commissioner for Pursuit and Subjugation of the Eastern Provinces. "Great General" was a title of the moment, and he was not formally appointed to any generalship such as Seii or Seitō, so it is not adopted here). He cut off more than two hundred heads and took more than forty alive (Note: following the Gyokuyō).

¶In the second month of the first year of Yōwa (1181), he moved troops and struck Minamoto-no-Yukiie at Itakura in Mino, setting fire to and burning his camp, and Yukiie fled in defeat (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). At this time the Taira army was worn out by repeated battles, and Tomomori too fell ill, and so he returned to the capital (Note: following the Gyokuyō; the Azuma Kagami and the Genpei Jōsuiki were consulted. The various texts of the Heike Monogatari place Tomomori's return on account of illness in the third month, but this is an error). Soon afterward he was appointed Sangi. In the first year of Juei (1182) he received the post of Gon-Chūnagon (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). About this time the strength of the Minamoto in the northeast grew greater day by day. In the second year of Juei, when Minamoto-no-Yoshinaka approached Ōmi, Tomomori led troops to oppose him. Yoshinaka advanced to the Enryakuji. Tomomori fell back to Awazu and fought Ōta-no-Kanesada and others but could not win, and withdrew his troops and returned to the capital. Munemori was greatly afraid and at last resolved on the flight west. They left the capital, but his uncle Yorimori stayed behind and did not follow, and not a few soldiers also deserted (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Munemori regretted this. Tomomori said angrily: "I had long urged you to hold the capital firmly, since what we may rely on where we are going is not necessarily certain, but you did not use my words. Now that it has come to this, there is nothing to be done." Soon they arrived at Yashima. When a rift opened between Minamoto-no-Yoritomo and Yoshinaka, Yoshinaka sent Munemori a letter seeking peace. Munemori was pleased and was about to accept, but Tomomori remonstrated: "He pressed us hard and made us come all the way here. If we make peace with him now, what will Yoritomo think of us? Moreover the Emperor is here with us. If he were to lay down his arms, withdraw his troops, and come to our gate begging for submission, it would be well to forgive him; but how could that be called a peace? You should answer him in this sense." Munemori followed this. Yoshinaka in the end did not come (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari).

¶In the third year of Juei (1184), Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune took the Ichi-no-tani castle. Tomomori had been guarding the castle's eastern gate but was defeated and fled. When pursuers pressed him, his son Tomoakira fought hard to hold them off and was killed. Tomomori escaped on a fine horse and, crossing the water, tried to board a ship, but the ship was small and could not take the horse, so he lashed it with his whip and sent it back to land. Taguchi-no-Shigeyoshi said, "You value a famous horse. It must not be left to fall into the enemy's hands," and asked that it be shot. Tomomori replied, "This horse saved me from this peril. Even if it falls into the enemy's hands, how could I bear to kill it?" (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). On meeting Munemori, Tomomori wept and said: "A son died saving his father, and the father bore it and slipped away alive. If others saw this they would spit in my face, and all the more since I did it myself. What will people say of me?" Munemori praised Tomoakira's valor and deeply regretted and mourned him (Note: following the Heike Monogatari). When Shigehira became a prisoner, the Retired Emperor sent an envoy to convey an edict: "If you send a letter to Munemori and have the Three Regalia surrendered, we shall release you." Shigehira then sent a letter to Munemori (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). The Nii-no-Ama begged Munemori in tears, "Surrender the Regalia and save Shigehira's life." All those about them grieved and could not lift their faces. Tomomori said: "Even if we surrender the Regalia, there is no chance whatever that Shigehira will come back alive. We must not be moved by groundless words," and all thought this right (Note: following the Heike Monogatari). The sons and younger kinsmen gathered at Yashima and spent their days gloomy and joyless. Munemori said: "When my late father moved the capital to Fukuhara, I had only just taken up the real management of the house, and I let Takakura-no-miya (Prince Mochihito) slip away and deeply regretted it. Now we have been away from the capital for three years already, and the grief of this ruin truly presses upon the heart. Thinking of it, even that earlier time was not so great a blow." Tomomori said, his face changed: "Those rebels of the northeast received our favor in the past, and in a moment forgot old kindness and all submitted to Yoritomo. Even Chinzei, Kyūshū, is the same. I had long wished to meet the enemy in the capital, to fight to the death until swords broke and arrows were spent. But I could not stay behind alone, and followed everyone here. How could this not be the height of shame?" (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). He then built a fortress at Hikoshima in Nagato, a province under his charge, and blocked the Moji barrier to guard against the Minamoto in the various provinces (Note: following the Azuma Kagami; the two characters for "province under his charge" follow the Heike Monogatari and the Genpei Jōsuiki).

¶In the second month of the second year of Genryaku (1185), Yashima fell. The whole clan fled by ship to the sea and drifted to Dannoura in Nagato. Yoshitsune pursued and fought a great battle at sea, and the fleets of both armies were mingled together. Tomomori stood alone at the prow of his ship and urged his generals and soldiers: "You must not retreat. We fight only today, this one day. Since ancient times even renowned brave generals and fierce warriors, those who became prisoners had always avoided death and clung to life. Even if you lose your lives in this one battle, leave your names to later ages, and never be laughed at by the rebels of the east. May you all be of one mind, and desire only to seize Yoshitsune and throw him into the sea." Fujiwara-no-Kagekiyo, Taira-no-Moritsuna, and the others were all roused and sought to capture Yoshitsune at all costs (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Tomomori went to Munemori and said, "In today's battle the spirits of the men are all high, but Taguchi-no-Shigeyoshi alone is not so. As I see it, he has a divided heart. I beg you to cut him down as an example to the army." Munemori would not listen. Tomomori pressed him again and again, and Munemori, having no choice, summoned Shigeyoshi and said, "Your look seems different from before; are you disheartened? Command the troops of Shikoku, fight with all your strength, and gain victory." Tomomori, standing by, put his hand to his sword to cut Shigeyoshi down, but Munemori in the end would not allow it. And sure enough Shigeyoshi turned traitor, and the onslaught of the eastern troops grew urgent. Tomomori went to the ship of Kenreimon-in and the Nii-no-Ama. The court ladies asked in tears how things stood. Tomomori laughed and said: "Things were bound to come to this. What is there to say now? Only the ladies of the palace will now see men of the east for the first time," and he had the ship swept clean himself and had all the odds and ends thrown overboard. Soon the Emperor died in the sea, and Munemori was taken prisoner (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Hearing of this, Tomomori wept and was deeply ashamed. At last he sat down side by side with his uncle Norimori and fell upon his own blade and died (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki. In one account in this book, in the Azuma Kagami, and in the Heike Monogatari he threw himself into the sea, but here, on the basis of the Daigo Zōjiki, the account in the main text of this book is followed). He was then thirty-four years old (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin).

¶Tomomori's son Tomoakira was Governor of Musashi. When the Ichi-no-tani castle fell, he fled following Tomomori. Several warriors of the Kodama band pursued him, and Kenmotsu-Tarō Yorikata shot one of them dead with an arrow. Two more pressed upon Tomomori, and Tomoakira advanced, grappled with them, and took one's head. In that interval Tomomori was able to escape. Tomoakira at last fell in battle. He was then sixteen years old (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari; one text of the Jōsuiki gives seventeen, but this is an error). Yorikata tried to carry Tomoakira's head back, but he was gravely wounded and died on the spot (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Tomoakira's younger brother Tomotada was still three years old when the Taira went off to Chinzei. The son of his wet nurse, Ki-no-Jirō-Dayū Tomokata (Note: the Yasaka-bon Heike Monogatari writes Tomokata as Tamekata, and the Nagato-bon gives Ki-no-Jirō-hyōe Tamenori), took Tomotada to Miyauchi in Bitchū, and they spent several years there. After that they moved to Iga and found shelter in a monastery in the mountains. Later they secretly returned to the capital and hid beside the Hōshōji. Taira-no-Moritsugu, Fujiwara-no-Tadamitsu, Fujiwara-no-Kagekiyo, and others gathered in secret, and the capital was thrown into uproar (Note: following the Nyohaku-bon Heike Monogatari). In the sixth month of the seventh year of Kenkyū (1196), they tried to attack the mansion of Fujiwara-no-Yoshiyasu, Yoritomo's brother-in-law (Note: following the Meigetsuki). Gotō-no-Motokiyo was in the capital, and Yoshiyasu ordered Motokiyo to surround and attack them. For a time arrows were exchanged, and more than twenty of his followers died. Tomotada, realizing that he could not escape, fell upon his own blade and died. He was then sixteen years old. Tomokata also killed himself, while Moritsugu and Kagekiyo escaped and sought revenge, but did not succeed and died (Note: following the various variant texts of the Heike Monogatari).

¶Taira-no-Shigehira. In the second year of Ōho (1162), Shigehira was granted Junior Fifth Rank Lower, soon afterward was appointed Governor of Owari, and was appointed Sama-no-kami, Head of the Left Imperial Stables. During the Kaō and Jōan eras he was promoted step by step and was granted Senior Fourth Rank Lower. In the third year of Jishō (1179) he was appointed Sakon'e-gon-no-chūjō, Provisional Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards, but soon resigned. In the fourth year of Jishō he was made Kurōdo-no-tō, Head Chamberlain (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the fifth month of this year, on account of Prince Mochihito's rising, he led more than twenty thousand troops together with Koremori and others and struck Minamoto-no-Yorimasa at the Uji River (Note: following the Gyokuyō, the Sankaiki, and the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari), put the army in order and returned to the capital. By the Emperor's command he entered the palace still in his military dress and was questioned in person about the state of the fighting. In the twelfth month he led several thousand horsemen to Nara (Note: following the Sankaiki and the Azuma Kagami) and attacked the monks of the two temples, Tōdaiji and Kōfukuji. The monks held the Hannya-ji road on the Nara slope, dug pitfalls, strewed shitsuri, thorny caltrops, and blocked the approaches with felled trees. Shigehira advanced and attacked and set fire to the houses of the people. Just then a fierce wind blew, and the fire reached both Tōdaiji and Kōfukuji, burning more than a hundred buildings; the Great Buddha too was reduced to ashes. The monks were utterly defeated (Note: following the Sankaiki; the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari were consulted). More than two hundred were cut down (Note: following the Hyakurenshō; the Genpei Jōsuiki says more than seven hundred, and the Heike Monogatari more than a thousand), more than thirty heads were exposed (Note: following the Gyokuyō; the Jōsuiki says more than four hundred heads), and those who burned to death numbered more than a hundred (Note: following the Azuma Kagami; the Heike Monogatari says 3,500, the Jōsuiki more than 2,400, and the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari more than 12,300).

¶In the third month of the first year of Yōwa, Koremori and others led more than seven thousand horsemen to attack Minamoto-no-Yukiie at Sunomata in Owari, and the two armies faced one another across the river (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari). Yukiie meant to make a night attack, but Shigehira's men, who were washing their horses on the shore, noticed it and ran back to report (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Azuma Kagami). Striking first, they broke Yukiie's army and cut down his general Kyō-no-kimi Gien (Note: following the Azuma Kagami and the Genpei Jōsuiki). Izumi-no-Shigemitsu secretly tried to cross the river on a raft, and Shigehira and the others noticed it, deliberately drew their troops back from the water's edge to set up camp, waited until the crossing was done, and attacked. They cut down Shigemitsu and killed, wounded, and captured many. Yukiie withdrew to Oguma, but Shigehira pursued him together with Koremori and the others. They divided the army into five divisions, and Fujiwara-no-Kageie, Fujiwara-no-Tadakiyo, Taira-no-Moritoshi, and Takahashi-no-Nagatsuna advanced in turn, but none could win and all withdrew. Shigehira and Koremori themselves led more than two thousand horsemen to meet them. Kageie and the others, more than four thousand horsemen, also joined, and they fought in turns again. Yukiie at last fled. Shigehira and the others pursued, pressing their advantage, and defeated him in successive engagements at Orito and Atsuta (Note: the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari writes Orito as Oritsu). Yukiie fled to Mikawa, gathered his scattered troops, and stood on the eastern bank of the Yahagi, sending men to spread the false word that a great army of the eastern provinces was coming. Shigehira and the others judged that they were outnumbered, and withdrew their troops and returned (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Shigehira was again appointed Sakon'e-gon-no-chūjō and was granted Junior Third Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin).

¶In the ninth month of the second year of Juei, the Taira escorted the Emperor to Yashima and sent their generals to pacify the two routes of the Sanyōdō and the Nankaidō (Note: the Nankaidō follows the Heike Monogatari). In the intercalary tenth month Minamoto-no-Yoshinaka sent his generals Takanashi-no-Takanobu, Ashikaga-no-Yoshikiyo, Unno-no-Yukihiro, and Nishina-no-Moriie to attack. Shigehira, together with Michimori and Norimori, led a fleet of two hundred ships and held them off at Mizushima in Bitchū. They cut down Takanobu, Yoshikiyo, and Yukihiro and took 1,200 heads (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). In the eleventh month he defeated Koresuke (Note: his family name is unknown) at Higashigawa in Bizen (Note: following the Kikki) and defeated Minamoto-no-Yukiie at Murōyama in Harima (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari).

¶In the second month of the third year of Juei (1184), Minamoto-no-Noriyori and Yoshitsune led troops and attacked Ichi-no-tani. Shigehira was guarding the Ikuta forest, but when the castle fell he fled. Shō-no-Ienaga and his son pressed hard after him (Note: the entry for the seventh day of the second month in the Azuma Kagami says, "Shigehira was captured at Akashi-no-ura by Kajiwara-no-Kagetoki's son Ieguni." The entry for the fifth day names, among the men of Noriyori and Yoshitsune who urged surrender, Kajiwara-no-Heizō Kagetoki, Kagetoki's son Genta Kagesue, his second son Heiji Kagetaka, and Shō-no-Tarō Ienaga, but the name Ieguni does not appear. One of Ieguni and Ienaga must be mistaken. The Heike Monogatari says that Shō-no-Shirō Takaie and Kajiwara Genta Kagesue overtook him but could not seize him, and that when Kagesue shot his horse and Shigehira could no longer flee, Takaie captured him. The Nanto-bon says Kagetoki and his two sons, three Kajiwara in all; the Nagato-bon says simply Kagetoki; the Itō-bon and the Yasaka-bon say Shō-no-Shirō Takaie. Which is correct is not known, but here the account of the Jōsuiki is followed). Shigehira galloped his horse as far as Suma-no-ura, but Ienaga could not catch up and shot an arrow and brought down his horse. Shigehira had a spare horse and had his close retainer Gotō-no-Morinaga ride it, and called loudly for help, but Morinaga did not even look back and fled. Shigehira tried to take his own life, but Ienaga hurried his horse alongside, offered his own horse, and took him away firmly bound to the saddle (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Soon Yoshitsune sent Shigehira to the capital and had him held at the mansion of Doi-no-Sanehira (Note: following the Gyokuyō). The Retired Emperor summoned Shigehira to the old Horikawa mansion of Fujiwara-no-Ienari and sent Fujiwara-no-Sadanaga, Uemon-gon-no-suke, Provisional Assistant Commander of the Right Gate Guards, to convey an edict: "If you persuade Munemori and have the Three Regalia surrendered, we shall order Yoritomo to spare you the death sentence and shall send you back to Yashima" (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki; the Azuma Kagami and the Heike Monogatari were consulted). Shigehira answered: "From our distant ancestor Sadamori onward, we have served the court as its claws and fangs through the generations and labored in the king's service. But in the time of his descendants we incurred guilt and have been wandering the western seas. Earlier, Michimori and others of the clan already suffered the grief of having their heads exposed. Even if I were able to return alive, the course of victory and defeat is not decided by the movements of one man. With what face could I meet my kinsmen again? The Three Regalia are to be with the person of the Son of Heaven, and there is no reason whatever to send them alone back to the capital. Nevertheless, knowing that the intent of the edict is weighty, I shall convey it to Munemori as my own thought" (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). He then sent a letter to Yashima. The Retired Emperor Takakura also sent a man called Mesutsugi Hanakata and, through the Saiin, the Consecrated Princess, had Tokitada and the others admonished (Note: the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari were consulted). Munemori inwardly wished for peace, but soon he was defeated in battle and the Regalia sank into the sea (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Azuma Kagami. The Heike Monogatari says that when the Nii-no-Ama received Shigehira's letter she wept in grief and said to Munemori, "The Middle Captain is now in such a state; please think once more for my sake," and Munemori answered, "As brothers, I too cannot bear it. But the Regalia are the great treasure of the realm. If we exchanged the Regalia for the life of Shigehira alone, we would surely earn Yoritomo's scorn. In the first place an emperor is an emperor because of the Regalia. Mother, can it be right that you, out of love for Shigehira alone, should fail to consider your other children?" and that in the end he did not obey the edict; this differs from the account in the main text of this book). Shigehira asked to be allowed to wear monk's robes, and Yoshitsune reported this to the throne, but the Retired Emperor refused, saying, "First inform Yoritomo, and then it will be discussed." He therefore invited the monk Genkū (Hōnen) and studied the Buddhist law and made confession. Genkū gave him a provisional tonsure and administered the precepts (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari).

¶In the third month, Yoritomo sent Kajiwara-no-Kagetoki to escort Shigehira to Kamakura (Note: following the Azuma Kagami, the Genpei Jōsuiki, and the Heike Monogatari). On reaching Izu, they happened to meet Yoritomo hunting at Hōjō, and he received him in audience and said: "Above, to answer the Retired Emperor's anger, and below, to wash away my late father's shame, I raised a righteous army at Ishibashi-yama, and in the end it has brought you to this. I shall also meet the Naidaijin of Yashima (Munemori) before long." Shigehira answered: "From ancient times the two houses of Minamoto and Taira have both protected the court. But for these twenty years my house alone has monopolized the power of the state, and more than eighty of the clan stood in the court ranks. The greatness of its power had no equal under heaven. Now my fate is spent, and at last I am a prisoner. This too is the common lot of the warrior house. What shame is there in it? I ask only that my head be cut off at once." His face did not change in the least, and he did not bow in the least. All who saw him marveled at his bearing. Yoritomo then ordered Kudō-no-Munashige to treat him generously (Note: following the Azuma Kagami; the Heike Monogatari was consulted. The Genpei Jōsuiki says that when Yoritomo received him in audience, he had Kagetoki convey the words: "Long ago I received great favor from the late Shōkoku (Kiyomori) and was able to become what I am today. That favor is higher than the mountains and deeper than the sea, and by rights I cannot forget old grievances. But because of the weight of the Retired Emperor's decree I could not consider private feeling, and at last it has brought you to this. This is by no means my own intention. But since matters have come to this, my meeting with the Minister of Yashima (Munemori) too will not be long delayed." When Kagetoki knelt and was about to convey this, Shigehira was angered that words were being relayed through another, and, raising his voice toward Yoritomo in the distance, said, "My fate has come to its end here. If you have not forgotten the late Shōkoku's favor, cut off my head at once"). On reaching Kamakura, Munashige looked after his bath. Shigehira thought that the hour of his death was near. Yoritomo had in advance sent a lady-in-waiting, Senju, to attend Shigehira and ask what he wished. Shigehira answered, "I have no other wish. I only want to shave my head and become a monk." Senju reported this, but Yoritomo did not permit it (Note: the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari were consulted). He further sent Senju together with Fujiwara-no-Kunimichi and Kudō-no-Suketsune, presenting wine and food to console Shigehira. Suketsune beat a hand drum and sang imayō, popular songs, Senju played the biwa, and Shigehira, carried along by the mood, played the flute. First he played Gojōraku and said himself, "This is Gosho-raku, music of the life to come." Next he played Ōjō no kyū, and said, "This is Ōjō-no-kyū, the quick hastening to rebirth." When night had deepened and the feast ended, Shigehira kept Senju back, urged wine on her, and chanted a line of Chinese verse, one which tells of the candlelight dimming over the tears of Lady Yu and of the night deep with the sound of Chu songs rising on all four sides. Kunimichi and the others returned and kept praising Shigehira's words and accomplishments. Yoritomo said, "I held back for fear of the talk around me and could not attend that gathering. It was truly a pity" (Note: following the Azuma Kagami. The Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari also carry this story, but with some differences, so it is not annotated in detail here).

¶In the sixth month of the following year, Yoritomo sent Shigehira to Nara. Earlier, the monks of the two temples Tōdaiji and Kōfukuji had borne a grudge against Shigehira and had petitioned to obtain his person and fulfill their desire. When Shigehira was now sent, the monks did not wish to kill him within their precincts and asked only for his head. He was therefore beheaded on the bank of the Kizu River (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari; one account in the Jōsuiki says he was beheaded on the Nara slope). He was then twenty-nine years old (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). The monks obtained his head and exposed it on the Nara slope (Note: the Gyokuyō, the Genpei Jōsuiki, and the Heike Monogatari were consulted).