However, there is also wisdom among the Taira - just before Yoshitsune charges into their camp, the
Tale of the Heike pauses to admire the intelligence of a Taira watchman, who frowns in suspicion at
the sudden sight of foxes and rabbits fleeing down the steep cliff. He muses that for the small
animals to be making such a risky descent, they must be fleeing something even larger a realization
that strikes him mere moments before the Minamoto ambush.
Only a tiny fraction of the Taira samurai would have suspected that the Minamoto were such
a small force, all but parachuting into their midst. For the bulk of the Taira camp at Ichinotani, the
sound of conflict in the centre of the camp was a sure sign that their outer defences had fallen.
Hence, understandably, they commenced an unruly retreat, sprinting for their ships, hoping to run
for open water to join their comrades at Yashima.
It is here, as the Taira flee for their lives, that the Tale of the Heike interjects one of the most
famous stories of the conflict, fated to form the basis of many kabuki, Nō and puppet plays in the
centuries that followed. As the Minamoto flood into the Taira camp, the samurai Kumagai Naozane
sees a figure in high—ranking armour sloshing out into the sea. Instinctively, he calls out to him,
taunting him that it is bad form for a commander to turn his back on his foe. The samurai stops,
turns and fights, but is no match for the experienced Kumagai. Kumagai knocks of his helmet, and
raises his sword to deliver the deathblow, only to look into the eyes of a terrified teenage boy, the
sight of whom reminds him of his own son. Kumagai hesitates and asks for the boy’s name. The boy
refuses to give it, and simply says that his head will be recognizable enough when presented to
Kumagai’s superiors. Wavering, Kumagai hears the approach of his own allies. Tearfully, he beheads
the boy, who is later revealed as the nobleman Taira Atsumori. It is only when rifling through his
possessions in search of something to wrap the head in that Kumagai finds a small bag containing a
flute. He realizes that he has just killed the musician whose music he heard the night before, and
muses that none of the uncultured Minamoto have a flute with them. The thought reinforces his
own regret and adds, once again, to the sense that court life has rendered the Taira unsuitable for
the samurai life. But this is not presented as a snide attack on effete courtiers rather, it is the
Minamoto who are losing out. Traumatized by what he has become, Kumagai eventually drifts away
from the samurai life, and ends his days as a Buddhist monk?
Conspicuously, in the aftermath of Ichinotani, it was Yoshitsune who was rewarded with an
honorary court position in recognition of his achievements. His supposed superior, Yoritomo,
received no such honour further signs of a widening rift between the two brothers. Nevertheless, it
was Yoshitsune who continued to bring the fight to the Taira, a year later, when he headed out at
the head of a naval force towards the Taira’s base at Yashima. In doing so, he was leaving behind the
land, where the Mina- moto were widely known to have the upper hand, for marine combat, at
which the Taira had so far been the undisputed masters.
Yashima is a towering, imposing crag on the Shikoku shoreline. We can assume, as did the
Minamoto, that the Taira’s first action on arrival would be to post watchmen on the heights, who
would be able to see almost all the way to Ichinotani. This time, there would be no surprise attack:
the forces were sure to approach each other with ample foreknowledge of who was where.
One of Yoshitsune’s own men, the adviser Kajiwara Kagetoki, appointed by Yoritomo and
hence speaking with the weight of the distant ‘leader’, suggests that the Minamoto boats have
“reverse oars’ in order to allow them to flee. The cryptic comment, presumably referring to the
possibility of fixing a rudder at either bow or stern, is met with scorn from Yoshitsune. Kajiwara,
clearly taking umbrage at such treatment, comments that Yoshitsune only knows how to attack, like
a ‘wild boar’, and that he will be remiss in his duties as a leader if he does not also consider
the possibility of withdrawing to fight another day.
Although an apparently minor incident, the argument between Yoshitsune and Kajiwara is a
critical moment. Losing face by almost coming to blows with his leader, Kajiwara files a deeply
negative report with Yoritomo of Yoshitsune’s behaviour. Whereas Yoritomo might have previously
regarded Yoshitsune’s rise as the result of luck or even meddling by the court, he was now presented
with the suggestion that Yoshitsune was disrespectful and foolhardy.