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GEMPEI SEISUIKI 137 “Tomomori [a Hei general] stood forward on the bow of his ship and spoke as follows :— ““Let us think this day our last, and let us all banish the thought of retreat. In ancient and modern times there have been examples of even famous generals and brave soldiers, when their armies were beaten and their good fortune exhausted, being captured by a traveller or taken prisoner by a wayfarer. All these arose from the endeavour to avoid a death which was inevitable. Let us each one at this time abandon our lives to destruction, and think of nothing else but to leave a name to after ages. Let us show no weakness before these fellows from the east country. What have we done that we should be grudging even of our lives? Let us unite in the resolve to seize Yoshitsune and fling him into the sea. This should be the chief object of to-day’s battle.’” The first onset was favourable to the Hei faction, upon which :— “Yoshitsune, observing that his troops showed signs of yielding, rinsed his mouth in the salt tide, and with closed eyes and folded palms preyed to Hachiman Daibosatsu! to grant him his protection. Hereupon a pair of white doves [the pigeon is sacred to Hachi- man] flew thither and alit on Yoshitsune’s flag. While Gen and’ Hei were saying, “Look there, look there,” a mass of black clouds came floating from the east and hung over the scene of: battle. From amidst this cloud a white flag descended, while Yoshitsune’s flag, its top 1 This deity has a curious history. Originally the Mikado Ojin, he was credited with having conquered Corea while an unborn infant. Then he became the Shinto god of war, and finally was annexed by the Buddhists, who added to his name the Buddhist title of ‘‘ Daibosatsu,” 138 JAPANESE LITERATURE waving to and fro, passed away along with the clouds. The Gen joined their hands together in prayer, while _ the Hei’s hair stood on end, and their hearts felt smali within them. “The Gen soldiers, encouraged by such favourable omens, shouted aloud in their ardour. Some embarked in boats and rowed on-and on, fighting as they went. Others, marching along the dry land, and fitting arrows to their bows one after another in‘ quick succession, engaged in a battle of archery.” This is described in a style which recalls the com- bats of the //ad, the doings and sayings of individual heroes being related in great detail. “The Gen were many, and encouraged by success, pressed forward to the attack; the Hei were fewer, but acquitted themselves as if that day were their last. Can the battle of Indra with the Asuras have been more terrible than this? “The Hei ships were drawn up two or three deep. The ship of Chinese build was furnished with troops in a manner which showed that the general was on board. On the [ordinary] fighting-ships the Daijin and other fit officers of lower rank were embarked. It was the plan of the Hei, whilst the Gen were attacking the Chinese ship, that their fighting-ships should fetch a circuit round the enemy’s vessels, and enclosing them, smite the Gen to a man. “Thereupon Shigeyoshi, hitherto so faithful to the Hei cause, suddenly changed his heart, and with three hundred ships or more, manned with troops from Shikoku, rowed away, and remained a passive spectator of the battle, prepared, if the Hei proved the stronger, to shoot his arrows at the Gen; if the Gen seemed HEIKE MONOGATARI 139 likely to gain the victory, to aim them at the Hei. How true is it that heaven may be reckoned upon, earth may be reckoned upon; the only thing which we cannot reckon on is the heart of man.” Ultimately Shigeyoshi betrays to Yoshitsune the Hei plan of battle, with the result that the latter faction are completely overthrown. The authorship and precise date of the Hezke Mono- gatart are unknown. It was probably composed soon after the Gempet Setsuzki, of which it is little more than an adaptation, page after page being simply copied from the latter work. But as if its model and source had not already departed sufficiently from true history, the Hecke Monogatari, which covers the same ground and relates the same events, adds a number of inventions of its own, under the inspiration of patriotic or pious motives, or for the sake of poetical or dramatic effect. It is said that a main object of the author was to produce a narrative which could be chanted to the accompaniment of the diwa, a kind of four-stringed lute. That it was so chanted by men with shaven heads called Jdzwa-dbdzu (biwa- bonzes) is a fact frequently referred to by later writers. In this form it became immensely popular, and even at the present day it is far better known than the Gempez Sezsuzkt, a work much superior to it in merit. Motoori, reasoning from the premiss that everything which can be sung is poetry, classes the HYezke accordingly. He says that even though the actual count of syllables will not come right, they can be slurred over in singing so as to make metre. The reader might expect from this to find that the Hezke is an example of poetical prose some- what in the style of Ossian. But there is really hardly 140 JAPANESE LITERATURE anything to justify Motodri’s opinion. Its style, though occasionally more or less ornate, is not really more poetical than that of many books for which no such pretension is advanced. To this, however, an excep- tion must be noticed. In a very few passages, forming altogether an utterly insignificant part of the book, there is something of that alternation of phrases of five and seven syllables which in Japan constitutes metre, and the diction and thought bear traces of an attempt to treat the subject in a poetical manner. The following is a Specimen :— A local official named Morotsune, having had a dispute with the monks of a certain temple, burnt it. The latter assembled the monks of the parent monastery, to the number of over two thousand men, and approached his official residence :— “And now the sun went down. Resolved to engage battle on the morrow, That night they drew near and contained themselves. The breath of the dew-laden wind of autumn Fluttered the left sleeves of their armour. The lightning which illumined the clouds above Made the stars of thetr helmets to blaze. Morotsune, feeling that resistance was in vain, fled up by night to Kioto. The next day they advanced at the hour of the Hare [sunrise] And abruptly raised the battle-cry ; But within the castle not a sound was heard. A man was sent to examine, But reported that they had all decamped.” Even in this short passage the regularity of metre and the poetical diction are not well sustained. It would not be necessary to dwell on this feature of the Hetke Monogatarz but for the circumstance that we have here the beginning of a kind of composition which HEIKE MONOGATARI ds Th subsequently became very popular in Japan. The 7av- hetkt carried this “dropping into poetry” somewhat further, and the modern dramatists and novelists have bestowed on us much tediousness of this particular description. _ After the battle of Dannoiira (see p. 135), the Mikado . Antoku’s nurse, seeing that all was over, took him into her arms (he was then a boy of eight years of age) and plunged into the sea with him. Both were drowned. The following is the Hezke Monogatari’s account of this incident :— “ Niidono was long ago prepared for this [the defeat of the Hei or Taira party]. Throwing over her head her double garment of sombre hue, and tucking up high the side of her trousers of straw-coloured silk, she placed under her arm the Sacred Seal, and girt on her loins the Sacred Sword. Then taking the sovereign to her bosom, she said, ‘Although a woman, I will not allow the enemy to lay hands on me. I will accompany my sovereign, All ye who have regard for his intention make haste and follow.’ So saying, she calmly placed her foot on the ship’s side. The sovereign had this year reached the age of eight, but looked much older. His august coun- tenance was so beautiful that it cast a lustre round about. His black locks hung loosely down below his back. With an astonished expression he inquired, ‘Now, whither do you propose to take me, Amaze ?’! Niidono turned her face to her child-lord, and with tears that fell dara-dara, ‘Do you not know, my lord,’ said she, ‘that although, by virtue of your keeping the Ten Commandments in a previous state of existence, you have been born into this world as the ruler of ten thousand chariots, 1 A respectful title for women who have taken Buddhist vows. 142 JAPANESE LITERATURE yet having become involved in an evil destiny, your good fortune is now at an end? Be pleased to turn first to the east, and bid adieu to the shrine of the Great God of Ise. Then turn to the west, and call upon the name of Buddha, solemnly committing your- self to the charge of those who will come to meet you from the Paradise of the Western Land. This world is the region of sorrow, a remote spot small as a grain of millet. But beneath the waves there is a fair city called the Pure Land of Perfect Happiness. Thither it is that I am taking you.’ With such words she soothed him. The child then tied his top-knot to the Imperial robe of the colour of a mountain-dove, and tearfully joined together his lovely little hands. First he turned to the east, and bade adieu to the shrine of the Great God of Ise and the shrine of Hachiman. Next he turned to the west, and called upon the name of Buddha. When he had done so, Niidono made bold to t:ke him in her arms, and soothing him with the words, ‘There is a city away below the waves,’ sank down to the bottom one thousand fathoms deep. Alas, the pity of it !—the changeful winds of spring swiftly scattered the flowery august form. Alas, the pain of it!