Читать книгу Traditions. Essays on the Japanese Martial Arts and Ways онлайн

53 страница из 62

Death of a Warrior

When Noritsune

Drowned himself

Three trails of bubbles rose.

This has always been among my favorite senryu, one of the pithy verses of Japanese poetry, rather like the more familiar haiku, which are often keen observations on the human condition. This brief senryu, in three short lines, has much to say about the fighting spirit of the warrior.

Noritsune Noto no kami was a general of the great clan of the Taira, a warrior family bent on the control of the entire country of Japan. In the spring of 1185, the Taira were at the long end of a century-old war with Japan’s other most prominent samurai clan, the Minamoto. Led by Minamoto Yoritomo and his brother Yoshitsune, the Minamoto had dogged the forces of the Taira clan all over southern Japan. They followed the Taira finally into the latter’s stronghold, on the southern island of Shikoku. In a daring attack at dawn, Yoshitsune led a flotilla of boats into the harbor of the town where the Taira were gathered, wreaking havoc, putting most of the town to the torch. The Taira fled to their own ships; a fierce and climactic battle in the struggle between the two clans erupted in the straits of the sea at Dan-o-ura. It would decide for all time which clan would emerge as the most powerful.