In 1177, a secret discussion took place at night in the eastern hills of the Japanese capital of Heian-kyo. It has come to be known as the Shishigatani Conspiracy.
The topic of discussion was the overthrowal of the powerful Heike clan. Unfortunately for the conspirators, news of the plan quickly reached the Heike Lord Kiyomori.
One of the attendants, Yukitsuna, was actually an informant. Kiyomori’s first order is to have the ringleader, the monk Saiko, arrested and brought to him in chains.
And so Saiko is dragged into the courtyard at the Heike stronghold of Rokuhara, where Kiyomori addresses the crowd of onlookers.
“Now see what happens to anyone who would overthrow me!”
Kiyomori orders Saiko to be brought to the edge of the verandah.
“Oh yes,” says the Heike Lord. “I’ve seen the retired emperor appoint the likes of you to positions you do not deserve, and yet you are still ungrateful. And so you plot rebellion to destroy my house!”
Kiyomori steps down and places his foot on Saiko’s face, then stamps down hard and breaks Saiko’s teeth.
Saiko, a man of immense courage, glares back, and despite his broken teeth and battered face, and in front of all of Kiyomori’s attendants, dares to goad the Heike warlord.
“You have it backward, Kiyomori,” he says. “It is you, Lord Kiyomori, who talks bigger than you are. If it were not for your father Tadamori, you would be nothing. Do you know what the youth of the city nicknamed you? “Stuck up Heike” You thought you were so important, but do you know what? You were nothing – and you still are.
Saiko’s speech is so bold that for a moment Kiyomori is too angry to speak. At last he says,
“I’ve heard from my sources that you told your fellow traitors that there’s nothing like taking heads. Well, in that at least, we are in agreement.”
He addresses the guards who are holding Saiko’s chains.
“Men, do not just behead this man. First you will break his arms. Then you will break his legs. Then grab his jaws and rip his mouth open. Finally, you will behead him.”
There is silence in the courtyard. The Heike guards look to each other in astonishment and then back at Kiyomori. No member of the clergy has ever been treated in that way.
“Uh, My lord…?”
“And before he is executed,” Kiyomori continues, “he will tell you everything that he knows of his fellow conspirators.”
The onlookers are shocked, but Kiyomori is not joking. Saiko spits blood at him, but the men carry out his orders. Before Saiko dies, he has given them a list of everyone involved at Shishigatani. Kiyomori swiftly orders that all of the suspects be tracked down and either executed or exiled.
At the end of the afternoon, as the men clear away the broken remains of Saiko’s body, Kiyomori walks across the courtyard and declares to his astonished viewers.
“See, the monk has proved useful to us after all. He will be an example to anyone who would stand against the Heike.”
More than 200 miles to the east, far from the capital. Yoritomo of the Genji is now in the 17th year of his exile.
After fleeing from Ito Sukechika, Yoritomo fled to the northeast coast of the Izu peninsula, where he sought the sanctuary of a local government official named Tokimasa Hojo. Although descended from a branch of the Taira family, Tokimasa has long been suspicious of the ambitions of his kinsman Kiyomori, and so he has agreed, reluctantly, to offer shelter to this refugee.
Tokimasa has several sons, but his eldest child is a girl, named Masako, who will eventually become one of the most powerful women in Japan’s history. As a young girl, Masako grows up with her brothers, and joins them in horseback riding, hunting, and fishing, preferring to eat with her brothers than with the women of her household. And over the years, she becomes especially close to the exile Yoritomo, and they eventually fall in love.
One night, her father Tokimasa is called away on an errand. He is suspicious, though, that - in defiance of his wishes - Yoritomo and Masako are planning something. So while he is away, he locks Masako in his mansion to prevent her from seeing him. Masako though manages to escape from her room, runs out of the mansion, and braving heavy rain, makes her way to the shrine before mount Izu. There she has arranged to meet Yoritomo, and there, protected by the warrior monks of the mountain, they are married in secret.
For the next few days the two lovers remain in hiding on Izusan. They are soon joined by four of Yoritomo’s retainers.
One morning, one of the retainers, Kuro Morinaga, hurries to Yoritomo to report that he has had a dream.
“Tell me,” asks Yoritomo, “what did you see?”
“I saw that you were seated on Yagura Peak with your left foot on Oshu and your right foot on Kikaigashima. From your right and left sleeves, the sun and the moon shone.
“I then saw Sadatsuna present you with a golden sake cup, Moritsuna gave you a gold jug accompanied by abalone, and Kageyoshi gave you a sake bottle. You drank from it three times.”
The retainer Oba Kageyoshi comes forward eagerly.
“This is an auspicious dream! It means you, my lord, will pacify the land as ruling shogun. The sun signifies the emperor and the moon the retired emperor – the fact they are shining at your side means they both will support you, as the great commander, the sei-i-tai-shogun. Your authority will reach from Osho province in the East to the distant island of Kikaigashima in the west – the furthest extremities of the realm.
“But why Yagura Peak?” asks Masako.
“The fact you are sitting there in Sagami means you will make the eastern provinces your home, not the capital. The jar – the Heiji - represents the Heike clan, which you will subdue. Abalone is a sea creature meaning your rule will extend even to the surrounding islands”
“And the sake?” asks Sadatsuna
“The sake signifies that you are temporarily adrift – because of your exile - but you will become clear-sighted. You took three sips. That means in as few as three months but no more than three years, the sake’s effect will lift and your heart will become clear.”
“The dream is auspicious,” says Masako. “But first we need people.”
“Yes,” agrees Yoritomo. “There are just a few of us. Kiyomori, if he chooses, can command an army of more than 100,000.”
“Give it time,” says Masako. “You will gain support. And Kiyomori’s years are numbered. Then the dream will become true – you will become Shogun and rule over the realm.”
“Mm, from Osho to Kikaigashima. If you’re correct, I can reward each of you with a province each!”
As Yoritomo dreams of his destiny on Mount Izu, about 800 miles to the southwest, three men are waiting for a miracle on the volcanic island of Kikaigashima, the furthest extreme of Japan.
The three castaways have been living alone there for months, banished to this barren rock on the order of Lord Kiyomori for their role in the Shishinotani conspiracy. Ships seldom come by here, and they are the only inhabitants. There are no fields to grow rice, and at the center of the island smolders a volcano with everlasting fire. The stench of sulfur fills the air.
The exiles by now are emaciated, having scoured the island for anything that resembles food. Their clothing is in tatters, and they have almost given up hope of ever returning to the mainland.
Every day, one of the castaways, Yasuyori, writes a different poem on a piece of wood and throws it out to sea, hoping it will reach a distant shore:
Here, alas, am I,
Marooned on a tiny isle
Far off Satsuma;
Take the news to my father,
Winds that blow across the sea!
Then one morning: a miracle. While Yasuyori and another castaway Naritsune are visiting a nearby waterfall, praying for salvation, the third exile – the priest Shunkan – is walking along the beach gazing out to sea, when suddenly he spots a ship approaching the shore.
“I must be so desperate that I’m dreaming,” he says to himself. “This can’t be real!”
Then he a hears a voice from the boat:
“Exiles from the capital! Naritsune, Shunkan, and Yasuyori – are you here?”
Half running, half falling, Shunkan races into the water, waving frantically to the men in the boat “Yes, I am Shunkan, exile from the capital!”
The boat nears the beach and one of the men extracts a document from a purse around his neck, and hands it to Shunkan.
“Exile has redeemed your great crime,” Shunkan reads out the words excitedly. “Hasten now to return to the capital. In connection with the solemn prayers for the coming delivery of the empress Kenreimon-in’s child, a special amnesty is proclaimed. Naritsune and Yasuyori are therefore pardoned.”
Shunkan’s ecstasy changes to puzzlement as he reads and rereads the letter over and over again.
‘Well, where is my name?” he asks. “”Ah it must be on the wrapper.” He examines the document’s wrapper, but there is nothing.
‘But,” he looks at the men, “what is the meaning of this? There must be some mistake, maybe a slip of the ink brush?”
“Sorry,” the envoy says. “Our orders are only to bring back Naritsune and Yasuyori. Lord Kiyomori is not willing to grant amnesty to you.”
By this time, Shunkan’s fellow castaways have arrived at the beach and are looking at each other with astonishment. Shunkan turns to them in desperation.
“But, Naritsune, Yasuyori… All three of us share guilt for the crime – and we have shared our punishment together. Do you really mean to leave me here?!”
He grabs Naritsune’s arm, “Nemember it was your father Narichika who raised the idea for this futile rebellion. You cannot disown me!”
Naritsune pulls Shunkan’s hand from his tattered robe, “Shunkan, I’d like nothing better than to take you with us, but the envoy from the capital says it’s impossible. Don’t worry, I’ll go ahead, talk things over, gauge lord Kiyomori’s mood, and then send someone back for you.”
“What…? No, you’ll just forget about me!”
The ship’s crew are already preparing for departure, so Naritsune and Yasuyori collect their few belongings, and get into the boat. Shunkan tries to clamber in too, but the boatmen push him away.
Shunkan follows them into the water, waist-deep, then to his armpits, till he can barely stand, shouting.
‘Don’t leave me, you b….!”
The wind and the waves drown out the rest of his words, as his fellow castaways head for the mainland, leaving Shunkan to his fate.
The main reason for Kiyomori’s change of heart was the health of his daughter, the Empress Kenreimon’in. In the early summer of 1178, it was announced that she was pregnant with Emperor Takakura’s child, but her condition deteriorated and there were fears for her life.
Physicians tried every remedy, all kinds of sacred rites were performed, and envoys set off with offerings to the great shrines, but to no avail. Month after month, her condition became worse.
Finally it was announced that the empress must be suffering from a curse, caused by the spirits of those who were vengeful toward the Heike, both living and dead: among them, the exiled former Emperor Sutoku, who had been banished after the Hogen rebellion; the spirit of the executed monk Saiko; and the living spirits of the men banished to Kikaigashima.
There was little to mollify the angry spirits of the dead, but it was still possible to pardon the castaways. And so Shigemori implored his father Kiyomori to issue an amnesty for the exiles.
“Very well,” Kiyomori finally agreed. ‘I’ll recall Yasuyori and Naristune – but not Shunkan. Despite all I did for him, he turned his villa into a fort for conspirators. Let him rot on that island.”
So two of the marooned exiles were returned to the capital, and their return did coincide with a slight improvement in the Empress’s condition. But as the delivery approached there were still concerns for her life.
In the eleventh month on the 12th day, in the small hours, Her Majesty’s labour began. Outside Rokuhara, crowds gathered in great excitement. All the leading nobles of the capital arrived, as did the retired emperor Go-Shirakawa. Ever since receiving news of the Shishinotani conspiracy, Kiyomori had been suspicious of this scheming former emperor, but cautious counselling from his son Shigemori had stopped Kiyomori from taking any action. Instead, Kiyomori and Go-Shirakawa - the two most powerful figures in the land - maintained a careful truce.
Incense and smoke from ritual fires filled the hallway of Rokuhara where Kenreimon-in had been brought, as bells rang to appease the gods. Nevertheless, her labor went on and on, with no sign of imminent birth. Kiyomori sat powerless and confused, his hands pressed to his chest. To anyone who suggested a cure, he muttered, ‘Yes, anything, whatever might work.”
Four of the greatest healers came forward and each in turn flung out his own appeal to the deities. Surely one would prevail. But still the Empress suffered.
Then the retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa strode toward Kenreimon’in’s bed, rubbed together the beads of his rosary, and in a commanding voice, began to recite the Sutra of the Thousand-Armed Kannon. Then he addressed the spirits directly:
“Spirits, raging phantoms, whoever you may be,” he thundered. “As long as this old monk is here, you will never get anywhere near. How dare you obstruct what must be! Be gone, this instant, be gone!”
As his exorcism ended, there was an easing of the Empress’s pain, and finally the birth went forward. And to Lord Kiyomori’s delight, the child was a boy.
Kiyomori had now reached an unprecedented position for a samurai lord, but his ambition was still not sated. Until now, his more extremes impulses had been moderated by his eldest son Shigemori – but in 1179, Shigemori became ill and died. With no one now to caution him, Kiyomori took matters into his own hands.
First he exiled the Regent Motofusa, then he placed the retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, who he still didn’t trust, under surveillance at the Seinan palace. Then he forced the reigning Emperor Takakura to abdicate. And so now the throne passed directly to Kiyomori’s infant grandson, who became known as the Emperor Antoku.
Now Kiyomori was at the height of his power: grandfather to a reigning emperor, the infant Antoku, and father to an empress, his daughter Kenreimon-in; he has also exiled or executed all of his opponents (the castaway Shunkan died alone on Kikaigashima), and he has the retired Emperor under his thumb.
He may not yet have the whole country under his control, but in the capital at least the Heike lord’s position appears unassailable.
In 1178, the same year that the Emperor Antoku was born, there is another birth far to the east, in Izu province. Yoritomo and his wife Masako now have a child – a daughter, Ohime. It is several years now since their secret marriage at Izu shrine, and at first Masako’s father was furious – but as she predicted, they were eventually able to obtain his approval – and they have lived together at the Hojo residence ever since. Tokimasa has now grown attached to his son-in-law and has begun to think that perhaps this marriage could one day be an opportunity for him…
Yoritomo is now in his early 30s and has been in exile for nearly two decades. But he is still no closer to making Morinaga’s daring prophesy a reality.
Until one day, two years later, some surprising news arrives from the capital.
It is a letter addressed to Yoritomo, and within it is a proclamation signed by Prince Mochihito, the eldest son of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa.
Tokimasa hurries to inform Yoritomo, who looks anxiously at his wife, Masako. What could it be?
“Father, read it to us,” she says
Tokimasa takes out the proclamation.
“It reads: Ordered: That the Genji and bands of troops in the various provinces proceed forthwith against Taira Kiyomori, his partisans and rebels.”
Yoritomo leans forward, astonished. “This is really from the prince?”
Tokimasa nods. “The foregoing is decreed. The pronouncement of His Excellency the prince declares that Kiyomori and others, using the prestige of their office and influence, have incited rebellion and have overthrown the nation. They have caused the people to suffer, and have inflicted death, banishment, and imprisonment, stolen property and incriminated the innocent.
“In consequence, I, the second son of the ex-sovereign, proclaim war against those who would usurp the throne. Let the Minamoto – the brave Genji now living in the provinces – add their efforts to this cause.”
Those who perform well, I shall without fail, following my enthronement, bestow rewards according to their wishes.
Proclaim this message in all the provinces and carry out the terms of this pronouncement.”
Masako turns to her husband: “It is a call to arms, Yoritomo. He is asking you to lead the rebellion.”
Tokimasa hands him the pronouncement. “Lord Yoritomo, what is your answer?”
In the next episode, we see how Yoritomo responds to the call to arms, and Kiyomori faces the first real challenge to his authority