| Yoshitsune descends on a horse |
Yoshitsune Minamoto (1159-1189) was
undefeated in wars, but he was killed by the army sent by his brother Yoritomo
Minamoto. He was the greatest military commander in his time. The war between the
Taira family and Minamoto family began when Yoritomo Minamoto decided to fight
against Kiyomori Taira. Convinced of the military genius of Yoshitsune,
Yoritomo appointed Yoshitsune the military commander.
Surprise attack characterizes Yoshitune’s
strategy. In the battle in Kobe, a city in the Kansai district, the Taira army
took up a position facing the Seto Inland Sea with mountains behind. Because
the mountains in this area have rather steep slope, it was hardly possible to
attach the Taira army from the mountainside. The Taira family never dreamt of
being attached from the mountainside. When the two armies were in the middle of
the war, the unit led by Yoshitsune, soldiers and horses alike, descended at
full speed the slope and attacked the Taira army from the mountainside. Before
he ordered his soldiers to ascend the slope ahorse, he asked a local hunter if
a deer could descend the slope. Responding to the farmer’s affirmative reply,
he and his soldiers went down the slope at full speed and destroyed the Taira
army.
Yoshitsune achieved an overwhelming victory
over the Taira family, but he failed to recover one of the three sacred
imperial treasures that symbolize the sovereignty of the emperor. Yoritomo
wished to use the three treasures as the bargaining chip in the negotiations
with the emperor because he tried to establish a samurai government for the
sake of samurais. Presumably, Yoritomo strongly ordered Yoshitsune to bring
them back to him, but Yoshitsune failed to execute the order not knowing how
important it was. Yoritomo naturally got angry with Yoshitsune, but Yoshitsune
was not able to understand why his brother was so angry. It was his tragedy
that he had no competent subordinate with the ability to understand political
affairs.
Ultimately, Yoshitsune was killed by the
army sent by Yoritomo. Ironically enough, however, the tragic death made
Yoshitsune even more popular among people. It was believed that Yoshitsune went
to Mongolia and became Genghis Khan (1162-1227). This plot shows how popular Yoshitsune
is among Japanese, though it is totally absurd and nonsense.
A legendary hero: Yoshitsune Minamoto
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