Who Is Taira no Tomomori (Shin-Chūnagon Tomomori)?
The able general who led the Heike at Dan-no-Ura
Taira no Tomomori was the fourth son of Taira no Kiyomori and the general who commanded the Heike forces at the Battle of Dan-no-Ura. He is portrayed as one of the finest leaders of the clan.
In The Tale of the Heike, he rallies the whole army from the deck of his ship before the battle. He sees through the coming betrayal of Awa no Mimbu Shigeyoshi and urges his brother Munemori to punish him, but is ignored. When defeat is certain, he boards the emperor's ship, has anything unsightly thrown into the sea, and tells the court ladies, "You will soon see some rare men from the east." After watching his clan meet its end, he says, "I have seen all that I needed to see." As promised, he and his foster brother Iga no Heinaizaemon Ienaga put on two suits of armor each, take each other's hands, and sink into the sea.
Tomomori later became a famous stage figure: the vengeful ghost in the Noh play Funa Benkei, and "Anchor Tomomori" in the kabuki play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 13
An Emperor, Age 8, Carried Into the SeaThe Battle of Dan-no-ura / The Death of Tomomori
To the sound of a biwa, the Heike's final day begins. Taira no Tomomori is the first of his clan to realize the battle is lost. He watches a betrayal, the young Emperor and his grandmother sinking into the sea, and Noritsune's last fight. Then, saying "I have seen all that I needed to see," he takes the hand of Ienaga, the retainer who grew up beside him like a brother, and leaps into the waves.
20 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