Who Is Nasu no Yoichi (Nasu Yoichi)?
The archer who hit the fan target
Nasu no Yoichi Munetaka
Nasu no Yoichi was a warrior from Nasu in Shimotsuke Province (today's Tochigi Prefecture) and a master archer who, at the Battle of Yashima, hit a fan raised on a Heike boat with a single arrow.
In the chapter "The Fan Target," a court lady appears at dusk on a small Heike boat and points to a red fan set atop a pole, daring the Minamoto to shoot it. Gotō Sanemoto recommends Yoichi, a young man of about twenty, saying he is small but highly skilled, and Yoshitsune orders him to shoot. Yoichi first declines but accepts when pressed. Praying "Namu Hachiman Daibosatsu" to the god of war, and ready to take his own life if he misses, he lets the arrow fly. It strikes the fan, which flutters down into the sea. Both armies roar, and when an old Heike warrior begins dancing on his boat in delight, Yoichi is ordered by Yoshitsune to shoot him too.
The tale records both cries of "Well shot!" and cries of "How heartless!" at this final moment, showing the cruelty of war.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 12
One Arrow, Two Armies, No Second ChanceNasu no Yoichi and the Fan Target / The Battle of Yashima
The Battle of Yashima. Satō no Tsuginobu dies taking an arrow meant for his lord, Minamoto no Yoshitsune. That evening, a Heike boat rows out with a crimson fan and a challenge. An unknown young archer, Nasu no Yoichi, swears to take his own life if he misses, and looses a single arrow while both armies watch. Then the cheering turns cruel. We learn why Yoshitsune risked his life for a dropped bow, and we follow the young archer into a long, lonely night.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 14
He Doomed Her ClanThen Came to Visit — The Imperial Visit to Ōhara (Kenreimon-in)
the series finale. Kenreimon-in was the only one of her clan pulled alive from the sea at Dan-no-Ura. Now she spends her days in prayer at a mountain hermitage in Ōhara. One early summer, Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, the man who ordered the war that destroyed her family, comes to see her in secret. She tells him to his face how much she has resented him. Then she begins to tell her life story as a journey through six realms.
19 pages