Who Is Musashibō Benkei (Oniwaka)?
The mighty warrior monk who served Yoshitsune to the end
Musashibō Benkei of the Saitō (Western Pagoda) of Mount Hiei
Musashibō Benkei is the immensely strong warrior monk who served Minamoto no Yoshitsune until the very end, and the most famous of all Yoshitsune's followers. In the Gikeiki he is the son of the Steward of Kumano. He is said to have spent eighteen months in his mother's womb and to have been born with a full head of hair and a full set of teeth. His childhood name was Oniwaka ("young demon").
After leaving Mount Hiei, he gives himself the name Benkei, causes an uproar at Mount Shosha, and then sets out in Kyoto to collect a thousand swords. Going after his thousandth, he is beaten by a young flute player, Yoshitsune, and becomes his retainer. From then on he protects his lord with both wits and strength. At the Nyoi ferry crossing he even beats Yoshitsune with a fan to clear him of suspicion. In the battle of Koromogawa, his body full of arrows, he dies standing upright, leaning on his naginata (a long-bladed polearm). This is the famous "standing death of Benkei" (Benkei no tachi-ōjō).
The well-known story of their meeting on Gojō Bridge spread later through folktales and school songs. In the Gikeiki, the two fight at the Gojō Tenjin shrine and at Kiyomizu Temple.
Episodes featuring this character9
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 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 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