Sunday 10 May 2015

What a Friend We Have in Jizōs 9

Yoshitune was kind and honourable, but he was also short-tempered, tactless, blunt, and naive. His jiriki, the personal strength and resolve that guided him in battle, was well depicted in The Tale. One of his comrades, Kagtoki advised fitting their boats with reverse oars before Dan-no-ura.

    ‘Men usually retreat when the tide turns against them, even if  
     they have resolved not to yield an inch. What good can come of 
     anticipating flight all along? This is inauspicious talk for the 
     start of an attack. The rest of you can fit out your boats with a 
     hundred or a thousand 'reverse oars' or 'retreat oars' if you want 
     to. I will be content with the usual equipment.’

Kagetoki was persistent.

    ‘A good Commander-in-Chief gallops forward when he ought to 
     and draws back when he ought to. Saving himself to destroy the 
     enemy is the mark of an able leader. A rigid man is called a 'wild 
     boar warrior'; people do not think much of him.’

As was Yoshitune.

     ‘I don't know anything about boars and deer. In battle, what I 
      like is to attack flat out and win.’



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