Who Is Minamoto no Yoshitsune (Ushiwakamaru)?
The brilliant, tragic general hunted by his own brother
Minamoto no Kurō Yoshitsune
Minamoto no Yoshitsune is the Minamoto clan general who destroyed the Taira (Heike) clan at the end of Japan's Heian period, and the hero of the Gikeiki. He was the youngest son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo. As a child he was called Ushiwaka, and at Kurama Temple he was known as Shanaō.
After his father is killed in the Heiji Rebellion, he studies hard at Kurama Temple, but when he learns he is a son of the Minamoto, he trains in the martial arts every night in the Sōjō Valley. At sixteen he leaves the temple for Ōshū in the far north and comes of age on the way. In Kyoto he reads Ki'ichi Hōgen's book of military strategy and wins Benkei as his retainer. He defeats the Taira under his brother Yoritomo, but falls under suspicion and is hunted. Fleeing through Yoshino and the northern provinces to Ōshū, he finally takes his own life at his residence at Koromogawa.
He is also called Kurō Hōgan, after his court title. The Japanese phrase hōgan-biiki, meaning sympathy for the underdog, is said to come from people's sympathy for Yoshitsune.
Episodes featuring this character13
NEWEpisode 1
Why the Temple Boy Sneaks Out at NightUshiwakamaru at Mount Kurama
The Legend of Yoshitsune, Episode 1. At a mountain temple, a boy named Shanaō is loved by everyone. One night a traveling monk visits him and reveals the truth: Shanaō is the son of the great Genji general Minamoto no Yoshitomo, who was murdered by a retainer hungry for a Heike reward. The monk hands him his father's sword. From that day on, Shanaō lives a double life: a model student by day, and by night a lone swordsman training in Sōjōgatani, the valley of the tengu.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 2
The Bandits Picked the Wrong GuestYoshitsune's Coming of Age at Kagami Inn
When Shanaō hears that a great lord in the far north is waiting to welcome a young Minamoto prince, he slips away from Mount Kurama in the spring of his sixteenth year without telling a soul. At the Kagami Inn he single-handedly drives off a bandit raid. Then, gazing at his own acolyte's reflection in the inn's old mirror, he travels on to Atsuta Shrine. With no grown-up there to give him a name, he holds his own coming-of-age ceremony and names himself Minamoto no Kurō Yoshitsune.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 3
He Came for the Book, Not for MeKiichi Hogen and the Tiger Scroll
A young man who lost his father to war plants himself at the estate of the diviner Ki'ichi Hōgen, hoping to read a secret book of war from across the sea. Hōgen's daughter falls for him and decides on her own to smuggle the forbidden book out. Armed with its lessons and her protective charm, he turns an ambush against Tankai and his men. As they part, he gives his true name for the first time, Yoshitsune, and she stays behind, holding that name close.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 4
The Baby Born With a Full Set of TeethThe Birth of Benkei and Mount Shosha
Episode 4 (19 pages). Born with a full set of teeth, a boy feared as a "demon child" is driven off Mount Hiei and names himself Musashibō Benkei. When he is mocked on Mount Shosha, his fury ends in a great fire. With nowhere left to belong, he vows to take a thousand swords from the warriors who pass through the capital.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 5
The Flute Boy His Blade Couldn't TouchBenkei's Thousand Swords: Meeting Ushiwakamaru
Benkei, a hot-tempered monk who has stolen 999 swords, sets out one night to claim his thousandth—only to find he can't land a single blow on a flute-playing boy. The next night he tries again at the temple on the cliff. What will he find in defeat?
20 pages
NEWEpisode 6
Each Win Pushed His Brother Further AwayThe Reunion at Kisegawa and the Koshigoe Letter
When Yoshitsune hears his brother Yoritomo has risen against the Heike, he rushes to join him, and the two brothers, meeting for the first time, weep together. But after winning battle after battle and wiping out the Heike, Yoshitsune finds the road to his brother barred.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 7
Assassins Came. The Hero Slept.The Night Raid at Horikawa (Shizuka Gozen)
Yoritomo sends the assassin Tosabō to kill his brother, and Yoshitsune accepts Tosabō's false oath because he wants so badly to trust his brother. That night, it is Lady Shizuka, the famous dancer, who senses danger first. She wakes him, straps him into his armor, holds up the lights in the dark, and finally sets the mansion ablaze to call Benkei and the others to the rescue.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 8
He Abandoned the Capital to Save ItThe Storm at Daimotsu Bay (Yoshitsune's Flight)
Hunted by his own brother, Yoshitsune refuses to turn the capital into a battlefield and flees west, setting sail from Daimotsu Bay. But a violent storm scatters his fleet, and only a handful are washed back to shore. Having lost everything, the survivors set out for Mount Yoshino.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 9
The Yoshitsune They Faced Wasn't HimMount Yoshino (Shizuka's Parting and Sato Tadanobu)
On snowbound Mount Yoshino, Yoshitsune decides to send Shizuka back to the capital to save her from the warrior monks hunting him. But the escorts she trusted abandon her in the snow, while on the same mountain Satō Tadanobu dons his lord's armor and name, and makes a lone stand among the cedars.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 10
The Woman He Trusted Sold Him OutSato Tadanobu: The Siege at Horikawa
On snowy Yoshino, Tadanobu posed as his lord to cover his escape and survived. In Kyoto he turns to a woman he once loved, but she betrays him and a huge force surrounds him. Holed up in his lord's old Horikawa mansion, Tadanobu chooses to die the way his brother Tsuginobu did at Yashima.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 11
She Sang of Him to the Men Hunting HimLady Shizuka's Dance at Tsurugaoka
Shizuka parted from Yoshitsune on a snowy mountain as he fled his brother Yoritomo. Now she is captured and sent to Kamakura. She refuses to say where Yoshitsune is, and the baby she gives birth to is taken from her. With only her dance and her pride left, she is ordered to dance at the shrine for Yoritomo and Masako. There, in the heart of enemy territory, she boldly sings of her longing for the man she loves.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 12
Strike Your Master, or Lose HimThe Nyoi Crossing (Benkei Strikes Yoshitsune)
Hunted by his own brother, Yoshitsune and his band disguise themselves as mountain monks and head north. At the Nyoi Crossing, his lord is about to be exposed, so Benkei does the unthinkable and beats him with a fan in front of everyone. Later, in the snowy mountains, a newborn baby grips the very hand that struck him.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 13
No One Passes Until My Lord Is DoneBenkei's Standing Death at Koromogawa
the series finale. In Hiraizumi, Yoshitsune finally finds peace. But after Hidehira dies, Yasuhira's huge army attacks the manor on the Koromo River. Until his lord finishes reading his sutra, Benkei stands alone at the gate and does not move.
19 pages