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

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Noritsune’s skill as a tactician was legendary, as was his ability in personal combat. He had never lost a battle in which he commanded troops. He was a master archer and an expert with the naginata. In the earlier encounter with the Minamoto, Noritsune had boldly charged, by himself, right up to the enemy lines when he spotted his archrival Yoshitsune in an exposed position. Yoshitsune’s retainers saw Noritsune coming. Quickly, they insinuated themselves between him and their leader. In spite of this human shield, Noritsune, wielding his famous Shigeto bow, fired arrows fletched with hawk feathers at his enemy, dropping eight of the Minamoto samurai surrounding Yoshitsune. One of his targets was pierced from the left shoulder to the right side.

In the final sea battle at Dan-o-ura, Noritsune was a demon. He boarded a Minamoto boat and laid waste to several of the enemy with his long-handled naginata. On the rocking, pitching boats, hand-to-hand combat was breaking out. In the confusion, it was some time before Noritsune caught sight of Yoshitsune. As soon as he did, he charged. But Yoshitsune, who had learned his own martial skills, legend had it, from mountain goblins called tengu, employed a method of jumping in armor that allowed him to leap successfully to another boat. Within the time it took the oarsmen to pull half a dozen strokes, Yoshitsune had once again escaped.