ANYONE WHO HAS SEEN Kurosawa Akira’s movie Seven Samurai will remember an early sequence where a warrior confronts a burglar who has taken hostage a peasant’s baby.
The scene begins with the warrior, a passerby, readying himself to have his head shaven. Tonsure done by a priest, another passerby, the warrior borrows his robe and puts it on. By then the two rice balls he had asked to be made are brought to him. Carrying these rice balls but not his swords, he approaches the barn in which the robber is threatening the life of the frantically crying infant. The warrior announces he, a priest, merely wants to relieve the robber and the baby of their hunger. Then he throws the rice balls into the barn, one after the other. After throwing in the second rice ball, he dashes into the barn. Moments later, the robber totters out. Evidently mortally wounded, he slowly falls to the ground. The warrior goes on to become the leader of seven samurai who protect a village from marauding bandits.
In my earlier book from this imprint, The Sword and the Mind, I noted Kurosawa’s scene as based on one of the legendary stories involving the swordsman Kamiizumi Hidetsuna (ca. 1508-88). Now I must amend myself somewhat to say the Hidetsuna story may derive from the first of two stories about Minamoto no Yorinobu (968-1048), which is from Konjaku Monogatari Shu (vol. 25, sec. 11).
It goes without saying that during the days when burglars and thieves were “as innumerable as grains of sand on the beach” – attributed to the great robber Ishikawa Goemon (1558-94)-a cornered man taking a child hostage may have been a distressingly common occurrence. The stories recounting the rescue of such a child, therefore, must be legion. Here I will only note that the emphasis in each of the three accounts is somewhat different. In Kurosawa’s version it is on the ability to size up a situation and act swiftly, decisively; in the legend about Hidetsuna it’s on the calmness of the mind that enables an accomplished swordsman to face unarmed a man brandishing a sword; in Yorinobu’s story, it’s on the essential requirement for the warrior to live up to his calling.
Yorinobu was a distinguished warrior who held several governorships and became Commander of the Western Defense Headquarters.
In popular tales he tends to be outshone by one of his brothers, Raik
, perhaps because Raik has many entertaining stories
created around the four warriors who worked for him. Nevertheless, in the unusually realistic tale about a child rescue that
follows, Yorinobu comes out as an admirable man of unflappable common sense and compassion. If factual, the incident took
place in 999 or before.
When Governor of Kawachi Minamoto no Yorinobu was in Kzuke Province where he was then governor, there was a man called Fujiwara
no Chikataka, who was a Lieutenant of the Outer Palace Guards, Right Division, and also the son of Yorinobu’s nurse-maid.
He was as accomplished a warrior as Yorinobu.
Once while he was in the province of which Yorinobu was governor, Chikataka caught a burglar who came into his house and left him with a guard. Somehow, though, the burglar managed to remove his shackles and tried to escape. But there was no way he could get out of the house. So he took hostage Chikataka’s son, a lovely boy of four or five, who happened to be running about. The man then took the boy into an inner storage quarter, held him down with his leg, and threatened to take his life with a drawn sword placed against the boy’s belly.
At the time Chikataka was in the governor’s office. When a man came running and said, “The burglar’s taken your young son hostage,” Chikataka, alarmed and blubbering, ran back to his house. And indeed, he saw the burglar holding a sword against his son’s belly. Chikataka felt the world go dark. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to jump in and take the boy away, but there was that large glittering sword held against his son’s belly, and the burglar shouting, “Don’t come near me! If you come near me, I’ll stab this boy to death!” If I let him stab my boy to death as he says he would, Chikataka thought, it would be utterly useless to cut this bastard into a hundred, a thousand pieces later. So he told his soldier-servants not to go near the burglar but to watch him from some distance and, saying he would inform the governor, he dashed away.
The governor’s office was close by. The governor, alarmed to see his lieutenant run in in frantic agitation, immediately asked, “What’s the matter?”
“My boy, my only child, he’s been taken hostage by a burglar,” Chikataka blurted, crying.
“I understand how you feel,” the governor said with a laugh. “But why should you cry like that? One would think you ran into a demon or a god. Don’t you think it rather unseemly for you to cry like a crybaby? Let your little kid be stabbed to death, if need be. Only with that attitude could you call yourself a warrior. If you worried about yourself, worried about your wife or your child, you’d accomplish nothing. To be fearless means not to worry about yourself, not to worry about your wife or your child.
“Having said what I had to,” the governor continued, “let me come with you to see how things are.” He then picked up his sword and went to Chikataka’s house.
When the governor stood at the entrance to the inner storage quarter where the burglar was, the burglar saw that the governor himself had come. This time he didn’t bluster as he had to Chikataka; instead, he lowered his eyes and pressed the sword closer to the boy, apparently ready to pierce the boy with it if anyone came near. Meanwhile the boy was crying himself hoarse.
The governor spoke to the burglar: “Did you take that boy hostage because you wanted to keep yourself alive, or because you wanted to kill the boy? Tell me what you think in no uncertain terms, you burglar there!”
The burglar said in a voice one could hardly hear: “Why should I want to kill a boy like this, sir? I didn’t want to lose my life, I just wanted to live. That’s why I took him hostage, just in case.”
“I see,” said the governor. “If that’s the case, throw that sword away. I, Yorinobu, tell you to do that, so you have no choice but to throw it away. You don’t think I would let you kill the boy and let it go at that, do you? You must have heard about me, the way I am. Make sure to throw the sword away, you burglar there!”
The burglar thought awhile, and said, “Thank you, sir. I don’t think I can refuse to do what you tell me to. I will throw the sword away.” He then flung the sword into a far corner, made the boy stand up, and let him go. The boy ran out.
The governor stepped back, summoned his soldier-servants, and said, “Bring that man over here.” They grabbed the man by the collar, pulled him out into the courtyard, and made him sit down on the ground. Chikataka wanted to cut the burglar apart, but the governor said, “This man deserves praise for having let his hostage go. He’s so destitute that he came into your house as a burglar. Then, because he wanted to keep himself alive, he took your son hostage. There’s nothing hateful about him. Besides, when I told him to let your boy go, he followed my request and let him go. He understands how things are. Set this man free at once.”
The governor then said to the burglar, “Tell us what you need to have.” But the burglar merely cried and cried, unable to say anything.
The governor said, “Give him something to eat. He’s done something bad, and someone might end up killing him. Go to the stable, pick a sturdy horse for hay-making, put a cheap saddle on it, and bring it here.”
He also sent his men off to get a cheap bow and quiver. When everything was brought together, the governor made the burglar put the quiver on his back and mount the horse in the courtyard. He then put ten days’ worth of dried rice in a bag, wrapped the bag in a cloth bag, and tied it around the burglar’s waist. This done, he said to the burglar, “Now leave! Run away!” Following his word, the burglar galloped away.
Because he was awestruck by Yorinobu’s words, the burglar had let his hostage go. When you think of this you can fully understand Yorinobu’s reputation as a warrior.
The boy who was taken hostage entered the priesthood on Mt. Mitake when he grew up. In the end he attained the holy office
of acharya and assumed the name Myshu.
In 1046, two years before his death, Yorinobu filed a scroll of written prayers with the Hachiman Shrine at Iwashimizu in
which he spelled out the genealogical authenticity and military achievements of his family. In the previous year his son Yoriyoshi
had held the coming-of-age rite for his son Yoshiie at the shrine and given him the name, Hachiman Tar. Hachiman Tar Yoshiie
would go on to be admired by his contemporaries as the greatest warrior. Yorinobu’s written prayers made the Minamoto clan’s
worship of the Hachiman Shrine official. From then on Hachiman became their guardian deity.
Describing his own military exploits in the prayers, Yorinobu stated with what might be called a Chinese flourish:
In recent years, in the fourth year of Emperor Goichij’s Manju Era [1027], a greedy rat, Taira no Tadatsune, Kazusa Province,
with an ambition of the worst kind, sprawled himself across the eastern capital, shunted aside the Governor of Band, extended
his ferocious influence so as to trample upon the carriers of imperial tributes, and rebelled against the regulations of the
imperial court. He held government goods as his own and robbed products levied as taxes. He ignored official edicts and resisted
imperial messengers, so that the imperial house frequently dispatched its crack troops to destroy him. Nevertheless he managed
to escape capture by building impregnable forts and, standing at the outer fringe of the imperial castle, waited for the chance
to seize the imperial court, when I, your humble servant, finally had the good fortune of being selected by the court to commit
myself and sally forth to subjugate the East, appointed as I was Governor of Kai in the second year of the Chgen Era [1029].
Without rounding up the local populace for military duty, without expending allocated supplies, without beating the drums,
without waving the flags, without drawing bows, without shooting arrows, without hiding and without attacking, I captured
the invading bandit by making no move whatsoever.
As it happens, this account is largely factual. The news of the rebellion of Taira no Tadatsune in Kant (also called Band)
reached the court in the sixth month of 1028. The court held a session to select the head of a posse comitatus. Yorinobu was
highly recommended, but somehow two other men, one famous for his military prowess, were picked and dispatched. They could
not make any military progress against Tadatsune, and one of them was dismissed toward the end of 1029. In the spring of 1030
Tadatsune assaulted the governor’s headquarters of Awa, and the governor fled. The court appointed a successor to the governorship,
but the man selected was engaged in a vicious struggle of his own and had no inclination to accept the appointment.
The ravaging of the farmlands by both the rebels and the government soldiers continued. Finally, in the ninth month of 1030, the court recalled the remaining posse leader and appointed Yorinobu as his replacement. Yorinobu, appointed Governor of Kai in the previous year, was staying in Kyoto and, for some reason, was slow to leave for the East. Then, when he finally arrived at his post in the spring of 1031, a curious thing happened: The notorious rebel Tadatsune surrendered promptly. About a month later Tadatsune fell ill and while traveling to Kyoto to respond to the summons, he died, on the sixth of the sixth month.
Why did Tadatsune surrender so promptly? One reason may lie in his special relationship to Yorinobu, as described in the following tale from Konjaku Monogatari Shu (vol. 25, sec. 9), which, if factual, happened in 1012 or earlier.
When Yorinobu became Governor of Hitachi and was staying in that province, there was a warrior by the name of Taira no Tadatsune in the province of Shimofusa. His personal influence was extremely great, and he wandered about as he wished throughout Kazusa and Shimofusa, paying no taxes and otherwise doing nothing officially required. He even ignored the orders of the Governor of Hitachi at times. The governor was greatly incensed by this and was eager to go to Shimofusa and attack Tadatsune.
In the same province, however, there was a man by the name of Taira no Koremoto, an officer of the Outer Palace Guards, Left Division. When he heard about the governor’s intentions, he told the governor: “Tadatsune is influential. Furthermore, he lives in a place barely accessible to human beings. All this makes it impossible to attack him with a few men. If you wish to come across the border to this place, do so with a great number of soldiers.”
When he heard this, the governor said, “That may be so, but I can’t leave it like this.” He then set off as he was, and went over to the province of Shimofusa. Koremoto lined up 3,000 soldiers and came to meet him in front of the Kashima Shrine.
On the beach so white and wide and almost 2,000 yards long, because it was daybreak all the bows glistened in the morning sun. The governor had come along with the armed men of his manor and the warriors of his province, about 2,000 in all. As these soldiers stood along the edge of the beach west of Kashima County, they didn’t look like men: One saw only their bows glistening like clouds. Popular tales tell of such things, but such masses of armed men have never actually been seen, the amazed people said.
The estuary of the Kinu River was just like the ocean. Kashima was right across the waters in front of Katori, but you could barely make out the faces of the people on the other side. Tadatsune had his residential fort far inside the inlet. If you tried to get there for an attack by going along the edge of the inlet, it would take about seven days. If you went straight across the waters, you could attack him in a single day. Tadatsune, a man of great power, had taken away and hidden all the ferryboats.
With no way of crossing the waters, some of the soldiers standing around the beach were wondering if they ought to go around
the edge, when the governor summoned a man by the name of 
nakatomi no Narihira and put him on a small boat to send him to
Tadatsune. His word was: “If he isn’t going to fight, come back as quickly as you can. If his decision is to fight and you
can’t make it back, simply turn the boat downstream. When we see it, we’ll make the crossing.”
With these instructions Narihira rowed away in the small boat.
Meanwhile Koremoto dismounted and held the governor’s horse by the bit. Seeing this, several soldiers also dismounted, making soughing sounds like winds blowing through grasses. The dismounting sound was just like a blowing wind.
At the other end, Narihira turned the boat downstream. Tadatsune had said as his reply to the governor: “The Lord Governor is a great man. I’d be happy to surrender to him. But Koremoto is an enemy of my family. While that fellow is with him, how could I possibly come to kneel before him?” He had added, “Without a single boat for crossing, how could even one man come here?”
When he saw the boat turned downstream, the governor said to the several soldiers around him, “If we go around the edge of this sea for an attack, several days will pass. That’s why he isn’t running away. Also, the way he’s set it up he’s apparently inaccessible. If only we could attack him today, that bastard would be surprised out of his wits. But he has hidden all the boats. What do you think we should do?”
The soldiers said, “There’s no other way, sir. We should go around for an attack.”
“Well,” the governor said. “This is the first time I have seen Band. So I have no detailed knowledge about this region. But
my family has handed down a bit of information about this sea: ‘It has a shallow, banklike underwater road, running straight
to the other side; it’s about ten feet wide and as deep as the height of a horse’s stomach.’ I should think that road should
begin somewhere around here. There has to be someone among you soldiers who knows about it. He will go first. I will follow.”
This said, he kicked his horse and started to gallop into the water. At that moment, a man by the name of Makami no Takafumi called out: “Sir, I’ve crossed this water many times. Let me ride ahead of you, sir!”
Takafumi then had his attendant carry a bundle of reeds and, making him slap his horse’s rump with it every now and then, began to cross the inlet. Seeing this, other warriors and their men followed. There were two spots where they had to swim. When several hundred soldiers had gone into the water, the governor followed.
As it turned out, among all the many men there were three who knew about the underwater road. But none of the others had even heard about it.
The governor sees this region for the first time, they thought to themselves. Then how can he know about something even we don’t know? He’s got to be a warrior far superior to all the rest! The fear of the man increased among them.
While Yorinobu and his men were crossing, Tadatsune was calm, relaxed. He’s going to attack me by going around the sea, he thought. I’ve taken away and hidden the boats, so he won’t be able to cross it.
Besides, thought Tadatsune, he couldn’t possibly know about the road in the shallows. Only I know about it. In the several days he has to spend going around the sea, I’ll escape. Then there will be no way he can attack me.
Having these thoughts, he kept his men at rest.
It was then that a man who worked around the house dashed in, shouting, “The Lord of Hitachi found the shallow road in the sea and is already crossing it with some of his men! What shall we do, sir?!”
He said this in a flattened voice1 in great consternation. This, of course, was quite contrary to what Tadatsune had expected.
“So I’ve been attacked! This is it! This is it!” he said. “I’ll send him a note of surrender.”
At once he wrote down a family register. He stuck it to one end of a letter-holding stick and had an attendant carry it along with a letter of apology by small boat.2
When the boat approached him, the governor took the family register and said, “So he has sent me his family register accompanied by a letter of apology. There’s no need for us to attack and kill him now. We will immediately turn back.”
This said, he turned his horse around. So did his men.
It must be after this incident that people began to think of him as an indescribably superior warrior and to fear him more than ever before.