Who Is Satō Tadanobu?
The warrior who took his lord's place at Yoshino
Satō Shirōbyōe Tadanobu
Satō Tadanobu is a loyal retainer of Yoshitsune, the younger of the two warrior brothers from Ōshū whom Fujiwara no Hidehira sent to serve him. He is known as a master archer.
When pursuers close in on Mount Yoshino, he puts on Yoshitsune's armor to pose as his lord, stays behind alone on the mountain to hold off the Yoshino warrior monks, and kills the fierce monk Yokawa no Kakuhan in single combat. Afterward he hides in the capital, but a former lover he turns to betrays his hiding place, and he dies surrounded by a large force at a house in Rokujō Horikawa. It is said that even Yoritomo, on seeing his head, regretted the loss of so brave a man.
He is also famous from the kabuki and bunraku play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees), in which a fox disguises itself as him, the "Fox Tadanobu."
Episodes featuring this character4
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 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