Yoritomo

“ Here he sent a guard to receive the prisoners, but on the ground that Yoshitsune was guilty of treachery, Yoritomo refused him admittance into Kamakura. In vain did Yoshitsune protest against the unjust accusation; in vain did he write a touching letter avowing his unaltered love and devotion to Yoritomo; in vain did he recount all the hardships endured on the campaigns which the young and chivalrous general had undertaken at the command of his brother. He was not believed, and ingratitude was the only reward he received for devotion to his brother's cause. ”

“ Yoritomo (1147—1199) , son of Minamoto Yoshitomo, became the first Shōgun and the founder of Japanese feudalism. When his father's force was finally overcome in 1159, the boy was captured and condemned to death. Kiyomori spared him at the intercession of his stepmother, and Yoritomo was placed in the care of two officers who were responsible for him. He grew up shrewd, ambitious, and unscrupulous. In 1180 he rose against Kiyomori's tyranny, and with the help of his half-brother Yoshitsune and his cousin Yoshinaka finally shattered the Taira power and exterminated the clan, root and branch. ”

“ We have told how Yoritomo, once a poor exile, became the lord of the empire. After conquering all his enemies he visited Kioto, where he astonished the court of the mikado by the splendor of his retinue and the magnificence of his military shows, athletic games, and ceremonial banquets. The two rulers exchanged the costliest presents, the emperor conferred all authority upon the general, and when Yoritomo returned to his capital city he held in his [Pg 60] control the ruling power of the realm. ”

“ Only once I caught her gaze and read in her agonized eyes the grief and despair which etiquette compelled her to conceal.
Soon Yoritomo entered, gravely serene, yet radiant with the solemn joy of self-sacrifice. His final testament was in the hands of his father. All was now in readiness for him to undergo the ultimate test of sincerity. When he seated himself beside me Kohana prostrated herself at his feet. He regarded her with the tender compassion of a saint for a suffering child.
“Kohana is of samurai blood,” he said. “She knows that death is a small matter.” ”

“ Used as I was to the sight of Yoritomo’s garments, there was much to surprise and interest me in the appearance of the daimio’s retainers. Though as short as our women, they were of a more stalwart build than I had expected, and the samurais, or two-sword men, carried themselves with a proud assurance that went far towards offsetting their lack of height. Among the loose ranks of these gentlemanly men-at-arms marched lesser retainers,—grooms with grotesquely accoutred led-horses and porters with rattan baskets and lacquered chests. ”

“ Although he bequeathed his power and the prestige of his name to his descendants, thus securing for the latter the possession of the Shôgunate, the office became a purely nominal affair. Like the illustrious dead Yoritomo, who had wrested all real authority from the imperial throne, leaving it only the bare show and pomp of power, so now the Hōjō stepped in, and in their hands the Minamoto Shôguns were but puppets moving at the will of their so-called guardians. ”

“ Yoritomo, the third son of Yoshitomo, [Pg 45] was twelve years of age at the date of his father's defeat and death. During the retreat the boy was separated from his companions, and fell into the hands of an officer of the opposite party, who took him as prisoner to Kioto, the capital. Here the regent sentenced him to death, and the day for his execution was fixed. Only the tender heart of a woman saved the life of one who was destined to become the avenger of his father and friends. ”

“ To give way to grief in the presence of a superior is a most serious breach of Japanese etiquette. The graver the grief or pain, the more pronounced the smile of the sufferer. Yoritomo uttered a soft laugh, and immediately turned the conversation to a less painful subject.
“My lord,” he said, “I have told how Woroto Sama received me aboard the black ship, and how he proved himself the generous friend and brother of the stranger. We believe the saying that the spirits of our ancestors are ever about us. ”

“ Now it happened that the head of the house of Hôjô heard that a descendant of Yoritomo was living as a peasant in the land, so he summoned him and said:—
"It is a hard thing to see the son of an illustrious house live and die a peasant. I will promote you to the rank of Samurai."
Then the peasant answered, "My lord, if I become a Samurai, and the retainer of some noble, I shall not be so happy as when I was my own master. If I may not remain a husbandman, let me be a chief over men, however humble they may be." ”

“ Yoritomo, having been defeated in a battle against Oba Kage-chika, was forced to retreat with six of his followers. They ran with all speed through a forest, and, finding a large hollow tree, crept inside for shelter.
In the meantime Oba Kage-chika said to his cousin, Oba Kagetoki: "Go and search for Yoritomo, for I have good reason to believe that he lies hidden in this forest. I will so arrange my men that the flight of our enemy will be impossible." ”

“ With this we were ushered after the Daimio into a waiting-room and served with tea and rice cakes,—an extreme of ceremonial hospitality for which I felt more impatience than gratitude. We had good reason to believe that those who so politely entertained us were our enemies,—that we were going before a prejudiced court. I wondered how Yoritomo could preserve his tranquil bearing. For myself I found much difficulty in imitating the austere solemnity of Satsuma, whose deportment I had resolved to copy. ”

“ Yoritomo, the founder of feudalism at the close of the 12th century, was too great a statesman to underestimate the value of roads and 191 posts. The highway between his stronghold, Kamakura, and the imperial city, Kiōto, began in his time to develop features which ultimately entitled it to be called one of the finest roads in the world. But after Yoritomo’s death the land became once more an armed camp, in which the rival barons discouraged travel beyond the limits of their own domains. ”

“ Yoritomo made the mistake of estimating his own personality more highly than the interests of the great clan he represented. He killed all the Minamoto leaders that seemed capable of disputing his sway, and he thus left the clan fatally weakened at the time of his death. Kamakura was then divided between two parties, the literary and the military. With the former were associated Masa, Yoritomo's widow, and her family, the Hōjō. A struggle ensued. Masa intrigued to preserve the succession for her own son in preference to her step-son, who had the right of primogeniture. ”

“ The family life of the Japanese nobility is extremely private, even as regards relatives. Yoritomo found time to pay me only one brief visit. He was dressed in white, the Japanese mourning, and was greatly worn by his labor in preparing his memorial to the Shogun during the nights and his daytime duties as chief mourner for his brother.
Japanese etiquette does not permit the official mourning of parents for children. Upon Yoritomo had fallen the sorrowful task of receiving the family friends at the bier of his brother and of attending to all the Buddhistic and Shinto funeral rites. ”

“ Yoritomo whispered that the box-like palanquin,77 or norimon, of the daimio had long since been carried past by its bearers. Yet this rear end of the procession marched slowly along with a demeanor that could not have been exceeded in solemnity and stateliness had the daimio been present in its midst. The hush was almost oppressive. No man among them called out or spoke or even whispered. The only sounds were the scuffle of sandals in the dusty road and the muffled thud of straw-shod horse hoofs. ”

“ Under such surveillance were these royal parties kept that it was only under the guise of paying a visit to the great temple of Miajima, on the beautiful island Itsuku jima, in the inland sea, in the province of Aki, then belonging to Kio mori, that the conspirators were able to get the letters dispatched. Yoritomo, with Hojio, collected what men he could, and raised the flag at Ishi bashi yama. When he first started only seven men joined him, and he fought his first battle with only three hundred under him, against ten times their number. ”

“ They did not have long to wait for Yoritomo’s answer. He smiled up into the faces of those who were about to condemn him, and replied without a trace of hesitancy:
“Regarding the first and second charges, no proof can be brought forward by the august court, yet I speak freely the truth. Many years have passed since word came from Nagasaki how the hairy tojins had humbled the pride of the arrogant Chinese and forced them with cannonballs to open their ports to tojin trade. That is well known to all men of samurai blood.” ”

“ Kamakura certainly has topographical advantages. It is surrounded by mountains except on one face, which is washed by the sea. But this feature does not seem to have counted so much in Yoritomo's eyes as the fact that his father, Yoshitomo, had chosen Kamakura as a place of residence when he exercised military sway in the Kwanto, and Yoritomo wished to preserve the tradition of Minamoto power. He wished, also, to select a site so far from Kyoto that the debilitating and demoralizing influence of the Imperial metropolitan society might be powerless to reach the military capital. ”

“ A youth of such honor, virtue, courage, and martial fire Japan had rarely known.
In the war that soon arose between Yoritomo and the Taira the youthful Bayard served his brother well. Kiyomori, in sparing the sons of the Minamoto chief, had left alive the two ablest of all who bore that name. So great were the skill and valor of the young warrior that his brother, on the rebellion of Yoshinaka, made Yoshitsuné commander of the army of the west, and sent him against the rebellious general, who was quickly defeated and slain. ”

“ He waved aside the old samurai with a courteous gesture, and crossed to me. “Come, brother, we must be on our way. The sun is low, and we have no lanterns.”
The samurai again hastened around before him and bent low. “Fearing that Yoritomo Sama might be unable to linger for a call, my lord took the liberty to send norimons for the conveyance of the son of Owari dono and his companion.”
153 “The gracious offer of Shimadzu, the Daimio of Satsuma, is accepted with grateful thanks,” responded Yoritomo. ”

“ He cried to an attendant to bring another horse; but the man fled. Shigéhira was then captured by Iyénaga, and eventually given up to Yoritomo, head of the Minamoto clan, who caused him to be sent in a cage to Kamakura. There, after sundry humiliations, he was treated for a time with consideration,—having been able, by a Chinese poem, to touch even the cruel heart of Yoritomo. But in the following year he was executed by request of the Buddhist priests of Nanto, against whom he had formerly waged war by order of Kiyomori. ”

“ By the foundation of the Shogunate, however, Yoritomo became a very powerful military chief, sanctioned by the Emperor with the conferment of the title of "generalissimo to chastise the Ainu", and at need he was able to mobilise a large number of soldiers, by giving orders to djito through the shugo of the provinces. None was able to compete with him in military strength, and the business of the civil government had necessarily to fall into the hands of him who was the strongest in material force. ”

“ The Mito men walk with faces over their shoulders, looking to the past, and with ears closed against all reports of the disasters brought upon the Chinese by a like frog-in-the-well policy. The true cause of the Mikado owes much to your service and the service of this noble tojin sama.”
“I have broken the law; I have brought danger upon the House of Owari,” said Yoritomo. “I alone should receive punishment, and not my family. Shall it be hara-kiri, or shall I strip off the Tokugawa crest, and as a ronin seek to accomplish my mission, aided only by my tojin brother?” ”

“ These military protectors were provided with troops, for the pay of whom Yoritomo got permission from the emperor to levy a tax. Being active men, and having troops under their command, they gradually absorbed the entire authority, and probably in most cases displaced the [pg 278] kokushū, who only represented the powerless government at Kyōto. Under the disturbed times which followed the fall of the house of Yoritomo these shiugo became the hereditary military governors of the provinces, and usurped not only the functions but the name of kokushū. ”

“ As the acknowledged peer of the Prince of Owari and the Daimio of Satsuma—”
“Hairy barbarian!” he flung at me.
“Your Highness has read the memorial of Yoritomo Sama,” I replied. “My people are319 as vastly above your people in some respects as your people are above mine in others. Another matter—who may say whence our souls come and whither they go? My friend Yoritomo contends that the august lady and I must have loved one another in a previous incarnation. ”

“ Personal bravery is not found in the same soul that harbors a disregard for laws human and divine. The thief cornered in the dark will fight, but simply with the desperation of a rat at bay.
It was to this natural law that Grant owed his life. Yoritomo, the captain of the junk, was a scoundrel at heart, but he had a wholesome regard for justice as meted out in Japan. A number of years spent on the penal farms had taught him discrimination.
While there he had witnessed—and even assisted at—several executions for murder, and the terror of the scene remained with him. ”

“ Yoritomo sent Yoshitsune against their cousin, and the young Shōgun's glory sank, as quickly as it had risen, in defeat and death. He was thirty-one years old.
Yoshitsune (born in 1159) , called the Bayard of Japan, was a half-brother of Yoritomo, his mother being a concubine. She sacrificed herself to the demands of Kiyomori in order to save her son's life. The child was sent to a monastery to become a Buddhist monk, but he escaped and found shelter in the north. When Yoritomo rose against the Taira power, Yoshitsune joined him and became his greatest general. ”