The Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike Read online

  That day Kiso was arrayed in a hitatare of red brocade and a suit of armour laced with Chinese silk; by his side hung a magnificent sword mounted in silver and gold, and his helmet was surmounted by long golden horns. Of his twenty-four eagle-feathered arrows, most had been shot away in the previous fighting, and only a few were left, drawn out high from the quiver, and he grasped his rattan-bound bow by the middle as he sat his famous grey charger, fierce as a devil, on a saddle mounted in gold. Rising high in his stirrups he cried with a loud voice: "Kiso-no-Kwanja you have often heard of; now you see him before your eyes! Lord of Iyo and Captain of the Guard, Bright Sun General, Minamoto Yoshinaka am I! Come! Kai-no-Ichijō Jirō! Take my head and show it to Hyōye-no-suke Yoritomo!"

  "Hear, men!" shouted Ichijō-no-Jirō in response; "On to the attack! This is their great Captain! See that he does not escape you now!" And the whole force charged against Kiso to take him. Then Kiso and his three hundred fell upon their six thousand opponents in the death fury, cutting and slashing and swinging their blades in every direction until at last they broke through on the farther side, but with their little band depleted to only fifty horsemen, when Doi-no-Jirō Sanehira came up to support their foes with another force of two thousand. Flinging themselves on these they burst through them also, after which they successively penetrated several other smaller bands of a hundred or two who were following in reserve.

  But now they were reduced to but five survivors, and among these Tomoe still held her place. Calling her to him Kiso said: "As you are a woman, it were better that you now make your escape. I have made up my mind to die, either by the hand of the enemy or by mine own, and how would Yoshinaka be shamed if in his last fight he died with a woman?" Even at these strong words, however, Tomoe would not forsake him, but still feeling full of fight, she replied: "Ah, for some bold warrior to match with, that Kiso might see how fine a death I can die." And she drew aside her horse and waited. Presently Onda-no-Hachirō Moroshige of Musashi, a strong and valiant samurai, came riding up with thirty followers, and Tomoe, immediately dashing into them, flung herself upon Onda and grappling with him dragged him from his horse, pressed him calmly against the pommel of her saddle and cut off his head. Then stripping off her armour she fled away to the Eastern Provinces.

  Tezuka-no-Tarō was killed and Tezuka-no-Bettō took to flight, leaving Kiso alone with Imai-no-Shirō. "Ah," exclaimed Yoshinaka, "my armour that I am never wont to feel at all seems heavy on me to-day." "But you are not yet tired, my lord, and your horse is still fresh, so why should your armour feel heavy? If it is because you are discouraged at having none of your retainers left, remember that I, Kanehira, am equal to a thousand horsemen, and I have yet seven or eight arrows left in my quiver; so let me hold back the foe while my lord escapes to that pinewood of Awazu that we see yonder, that there under the trees he may put an end to his life in peace."

  "Was it for this that I turned my back on my enemies in Rokujō-kawara and did not die then?" returned Yoshinaka; "by no means will we part now, but meet our fate together." And he reined his horse up beside that of Imai towards the foe, when Kanehira, alighting from his horse, seized his master's bridle and burst into tears: "However great renown a warrior may have gained," he pleaded, "an unworthy death is a lasting shame. My lord is weary and his charger also, and if, as may be, he meet his death at the hands of some low retainer, how disgraceful that it should be said that Kiso Dono, known through all Nippon as the 'Demon Warrior' had been slain by some nameless fellow, so listen to reason, I pray you, and get away to the pines over there."

  So Kiso, thus persuaded, rode off toward the pine-wood of Awazu. Then Imai-no-Shirō, turning back, charged into a party of fifty horsemen, shouting: "I am Imai Shirō Kanehira, foster-brother of Kiso Dono, aged thirty-three. Even Yoritomo at Kamakura knows my name; so take my head and show it to him, anyone who can!" And he quickly fitted the eight shafts he had left to his bow and sent them whirring into the enemy, bringing down eight of them from their horses, either dead or wounded. Then, drawing his sword, he set on at the rest, but none would face him in combat hand-to-hand: "Shoot him down! Shoot him down!" they cried as they let fly a hail of arrows at him, but so good was his armour that none could pierce it, and once more he escaped unwounded.

  Meanwhile Yoshinaka rode off alone toward Awazu, and it was the twenty-third day of the first month. It was now nearly dark and all the land was coated with thin ice, so that none could distinguish the deep rice-fields, and he had not gone far before his horse plunged heavily into the muddy ooze beneath. Right up to the neck it floundered, and though Kiso plied whip and spur with might and main, it was all to no purpose, for he could not stir it. Even in this plight he still thought of his retainer, and was turning to see how it fared with Imai, when Miura-no-Ishida Jirō Tamehisa of Sagami rode up and shot an arrow that struck him in the face under his helmet. Then as the stricken warrior fell forward in his saddle so that his crest bowed over his horse's head, two of Ishida's retainers fell upon him and struck off his head.

  Holding it high on the point of a sword Ishida shouted loudly: "Kiso Yoshinaka, known through the length and breadth of Nippon as the 'Demon Warrior,' has been killed by Miura-no-Ishida Jirō Tamehisa." Imai was still fighting when these words fell on his ears, but when he saw that his master was indeed slain he cried out: "Alas, for whom now have I to fight? See, you fellows of the East Country, I will show you how the mightiest champion in Nippon can end his life!" And he thrust the point of his sword in his mouth and flung himself headlong from his horse, so that he was pierced through and died.

  Now the Heike had departed from the coast of Yashima in Sanuki the winter of the year before, and crossed over to the bay of Naniwa in Settsu and took up a position between Ichi-no-tani on the west, where they built a strong fortification, and the wood of Ikuta on the east, where the entrance to the fort was made. Between these points, at Fukuhara, Hyogo, Itayado and Suma were encamped all the forces of the eight provinces of the Sanyōdō and the six provinces of the Nankaidō, a total of a hundred thousand men in all.

  The position at Ichi-no-tani had a narrow entrance with cliffs on the north and the sea on the south, while within it was very spacious. The cliffs rose high and steep, perpendicular as a standing screen, and from them to the shallows of the beach a strong breastwork was erected of wood and stone, well protected by palisades, while beyond it, in the deep water rode their great galleys like a floating shield. In the towers of the breastwork were stationed the stout soldiery of Shikoku and Kyūshū in full armour with bows and arrows in their hands, dense as the evening mists, while in front of the towers, ten or twelve deep, stood their horses, fully accoutred with saddle and trappings. Ceaseless was the roll of their war-drums; the might of their bows was like the crescent moon, and the gleam of their blades was as the shimmer of the hoarfrost in autumn, while their myriad red banners that flew aloft in the spring breezes rose to heaven like the flames of a conflagration.

  About dusk on the fifth day the Genji started from Koyano and pressed on to attack the wood at Ikuta, and as the Heike looked out over Suzume-no-matsu-bara, Mikage-no-matsu and Koyano, they could see them pitching their camps everywhere, while the glow of their thousand watch-fires reddened the sky like the moon rising over the mountains. The fires that the Heike kindled also showed up the dark outline of the wood of Ikuta, and twinkled as they flared up like stars in the brightening sky; they reminded them of the glimmering fire-flies on the river-bank, so often the subject of their verse in the happy days gone by. So, as they beheld the Genji thus deliberately pitching their camps here and there, and feeding and resting their horses, they watched and wondered when they would be attacked, their hearts filled with disquiet.

  At dawn on the sixth day Rurō Onzōshi Yoshitsune, dividing his ten thousand men into two companies, ordered Doi-no-Jirō Sanehira to make an attack on the western outlet of Ichi-no-tani with seven thousand, while he himself with the remaining three thousand horsemen went round by the Tango
road to descend the pass of Hiyodorigoe to take them in the rear.

  At this his men began to murmur to each other: "Every one knows the dangers of that place; if we must die, it were better to die facing the foe than to fall over a cliff and be killed. Does anyone know the way among these mountains?" "I know these mountains very well;" exclaimed Hirayama-no-Mushadokoro of Musashi, in answer to these mutterings. "But you were brought up in the Eastern Provinces, and this is the first time you have seen the mountains of the West," objected Yoshitsune, "so how can you guide us?" "That may be even as your Excellency says," replied Hirayama, "but just as a poet knows the cherry-blossoms of Yoshino and Hatsuse without seeing them, so does a proper warrior know the way to the rear of an enemy's castle!"

  After this most audacious speech, a young samurai of eighteen years old named Beppu-no-Kotarō Kiyoshige of Musashi spoke up and said: "I have often been told by my father Yoshishige that whether you are hunting on the mountains or fighting an enemy, if you lose your way you must take an old horse, tie the reins and throw them on his neck, and then drive him on in front, and he will always find a path." "Well spoken," said Yoshitsune, "they say an old horse will find the road even when it is buried in snow!" So they took an old grey horse, trapped him with a silver-plated saddle and a well-polished bit, and tying the reins and throwing them on his neck, drove him on in front of them, and so plunged into the unknown mountains.

  As it was the beginning of the second month, the snow had melted here and there on the peaks and at times they thought they saw flowers, while at times they heard the notes of the bush-warbler of the valleys, and were hidden from sight in the mist. As they ascended, the snow-clad peaks towered white and glistening on either side of them, and as they descended again into the valleys, the cliffs rose green on either hand. The pines hung down under their load of snow, and scarcely could they trace the narrow and mossy path. When a sudden gust blew down a cloud of snow-flakes, they almost took them for the falling plum-blossom. Whipping up their steeds to their best pace they rode on some distance, until the falling dusk compelled them to bivouac for the night in the depth of the mountains.

  As they were thus halted, Musashi-bō Benkei suddenly appeared with an old man he had intercepted. In answer to the questions of Yoshitsune he declared that he was a hunter who lived in these mountains, and that he knew all that country very well. "Then," said Yoshitsune, "what do you think of my plan of riding down into Ichi-no-tani, the stronghold of the Heike?" "Ah," replied the old man, "that can hardly be done. The valley is a hundred yards deep, and of that about half is steep cliff where no one can go. Besides, the Heike will have dug pitfalls and spread caltrops inside the stronghold to make it impossible for your horses."

  "Indeed?" returned Yoshitsune, "but is it possible for a stag to pass there?" "That stags pass there is certain," replied the hunter, "for in the warm days of spring they come from Harima to seek the thick pasture of Tamba, and when the winter grows cold they go back towards Inamino in Harima where the snow lies lighter." "Forsooth!" ejaculated Yoshitsune, "then a horse can do it, for where a stag may pass, there a horse can go also. Will you then be our guide?" "I am an old man now; how can I go so far?" replied the hunter. "But you have a son?" "I have." And Kumaō Maru, a youth of eighteen soon appeared before the Genji leader.

  Then Yoshitsune performed the ceremony of Gempuku for the young man, giving him the name of Washio Saburō Yoshihisa, the name of his father being Washio Shōji Takehisa, and he accompanied them, going on in front to guide them down into Ichi-no-tani. And after the Heike had been overthrown and the Genji obtained the supremacy, and his lord Yoshitsune fell into disfavour with his brother and fled to Mutsu and fell there, Washio Saburō Yoshihisa was one of those who followed him to the death.

  THE DESCENT OF THE HILL

  Thereafter the battle became general and the various clans of the Gen and Hei surged over each other in mixed and furious combat. The men of the Miura, Kamakura, Chichibu, Ashikaga, Noiyo, Yokoyama, Inomata, Kodama, Nishi Tsuzuki and Kisaichi clans charged against each other with a roar like thunder, while the hills re-echoed to the sound of their war-cries, and the shafts they shot at each other fell like rain. Some were wounded slightly and fought on, some grappled and stabbed each other to death, while others bore down their adversaries and cut off their heads: everywhere the fight rolled forward and backward, so that none could tell who were victors or vanquished.

  Thus it did not appear that the main body of the Genji had been successful in their attack, when at dawn on the seventh day Kurō Onzōshi Yoshitsune with his force of three thousand horsemen, having climbed to the top of the Hiyodorigoe, was resting his horses before the descent. Just then, startled by the movements of his men, two stags and a doe rushed out and fled over the cliff straight into the camp of the Heike.

  "That is strange," exclaimed the Heike men-at-arms, "for the deer of this part ought to be frightened at our noise and run away to the mountains. Aha! it must be the enemy who is preparing to drop on us from above!" And they began to run about in confusion, when forth strode Takechi-no-Mushadokoro of the province of Iyo, and drawing his bow transfixed the two stags, though letting the doe escape. "Thus," he cried, "will we deal with any who try that road, and none are likely to pass it alive!" "What useless shooting of stags is this?" said Etchū Zenji Moritoshi when he saw it; "one of those arrows might have stopped ten of the enemy, so why waste them in that fashion?"

  Then Yoshitsune, looking down on the Heike position from the top of the cliff, ordered some horses to be driven down the declivity, and of these, though some missed their footing half-way, and breaking their legs, fell to the bottom and were killed, three saddled horses scrambled down safely and stood, trembling in every limb, before the residence of Etchū Zenji. "If they have riders to guide them," said Yoshitsune, "the horses will get down without damage, so let us descend, and I will show you the way;" and he rode over the cliff at the head of his thirty retainers, seeing which the whole force of three thousand followed on after him.

  For more than a hundred yards the slope was sandy with small pebbles, so that they slid straight down it and landed on a level place, from which they could survey the rest of the descent. From thence downwards it was all great mossy boulders, but steep as a well, and some fifty yards to the bottom. It seemed impossible to go on any farther, neither could they now retrace their steps, and the soldiers were recoiling in horror, thinking that their end had come, when Miura-no-Sahara Jūrō Yoshitsura sprang forward and shouted: "In my part we ride down places like this any day to catch a bird; the Miura would make a racecourse of this;" and down he went, followed by all the rest.

  So steep was the descent that the stirrups of the hinder man struck against the helmet or armour of the one in front of him, and so dangerous did it look that they averted their eyes as they went down. "Ei! Ei!" they ejaculated under their breath as they steadied their horses, and their daring seemed rather that of demons than of men. So they reached the bottom, and as soon as they found themselves safely down they burst forth with a mighty shout, which echoed along the cliffs so that it sounded rather like the battle-cry of ten thousand men than of three.

  Then Murakami-no-Hangwan-dai Yasukuni seized a torch and fired the houses and huts of the Heike so that they went up in smoke in a few moments, and when their men saw the clouds of black smoke rising they at once made a rush toward the sea, if haply they might find a way of escape. There was no lack of ships drawn up by the beach, but in their panic four or five hundred men in full armour and even a thousand all crowded into one ship, so that when they had rowed out not more than fifty or sixty yards from the shore, three large ships turned over and sank before their eyes.

  Moreover those in the ships would only take on board those warriors who were of high rank, and thrust away the common soldiers, slashing at them with their swords and halberds, but even though they saw this, rather than stay and be cut down by the enemy, they clung to the ships and strove to drag themselves on board, s
o that their hands and arms were cut off and they fell back into the sea, which quickly reddened with their blood.

  Thus, both on the main front and on the sea-shore did the young warriors of Musashi and Sagami strain every nerve in the fight, caring nothing for their lives as they rushed desperately to the attack. What must have been the feelings of Noto-no-kami Noritsune, who in all his many battles had never been vanquished until now? Mounting his charger Usuzumi, he galloped away toward the west, and taking ship from Takasago in Harima, crossed over to Yashima in Sanuki.

  THE DEATH OF TADANORI

  Satsuma-no-kami Tadanori, the Commander of the western army, clad in a dark-blue hitatare and a suit of armour with black silk lacing, and mounted on a great black horse with a saddle enriched with lacquer of powdered gold, was calmly withdrawing with his following of a hundred horsemen, when Okabe-no-Rokuyata Tadazumi of Musashi espied him and pursued at full gallop, eager to bring down so noble a prize.

  "This must be some great leader!" he cried. "Shameful! to turn your back to the foe!" Tadanori turned in the saddle; "We are friends! We are friends!" he replied, as he continued on his way. As he had turned, however, Tadazumi had caught a glimpse of his face and noticed that his teeth were blackened. "There are none of our side who have blackened teeth," he said, "this must be one of the Heike Cburtiers." And overtaking him, he ranged up to him to grapple. When his hundred followers saw this, since they were hired retainers drawn from various provinces, they scattered and fled in all directions, leaving their leader to his fate.

  But Satsuma-no-kami, who had been brought up at Kumano, was famous for his strength, and was extremely active and agile besides, so clutching Tadazumi he pulled him from his horse, dealing him two stabs with his dirk while he was yet in the saddle, and following them with another as he was falling. The first two blows fell on his armour and failed to pierce it, while the third wounded him in the face but was not mortal, and as Tadanori sprang down upon him to cut off his head, Tadazumi's page, who had been riding behind him, slipped from his horse and with a blow of his sword cut off Tadanori's arm above the elbow.