The Samurai: Swords, Shoguns and Seppuku by Hubbard Ben;

Author:Hubbard, Ben;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2014-04-24T04:00:00+00:00

And now the whole sea was red with the banners and insignia that they tore off and cut away, so that it looked like the waters of the Tatsuta-gawa when it is flecked with the maple leaves that the wind brings down in autumn, while the white breakers that rolled up on the beach were dyed a scarlet colour. The deserted empty ships rocked mournfully on the waves, driven aimlessly hither and thither by the wind and tide.16

For centuries the waters around Dannoura were avoided by sailors and fishermen, who feared the souls of the suicidal samurai would suck them beneath the waves. The faces of the dead are said to be etched onto the shells of the Heike crabs which are still found in the area today.

It would be reasonable to predict an epilogue to the Genpei War in which the victorious Yoshitsune was given a hero’s welcome in Kyoto and Kamakura, and awarded a prestigious title and large parcel of land. Instead, Yoritomo, spurred by jealousy and Kagetoki’s damning ‘wild-boar’ report, issued a warrant for his cousin’s arrest. Yoshitsune was thereafter forced to live as a wanted fugitive and outlaw, until finally meeting his end in 1189.

Yoritomo was given the post of shōgun, or ‘Barbarian-subduing commander-in-chief’, by the new teenage emperor Go-Toba. This would usher in a new feudal age where Japan was controlled exclusively by the samurai. For the next 750 years, Japan’s emperors would only have theoretical authority and, instead, play puppet to the real ruler, the shōgun. In the end, Yoritomo, unlike his relatives who won the Genpei War on his behalf, suffered a less than heroic end: he fell off his horse in 1199 and died from his injuries. Popular folklore had it that the ghost of Yoshitsune had spooked Yoritomo’s horse, making it rear back and unseat its master.

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