Following his last words, the men went from province to province as instructed. One of them, arriving in Koga in Shinousa province, rested and took the remains from around his neck and placed them on the ground. After a while he stood up and tried to take up the container with the intent of carrying on, however he could not lift it, which made him wonder and think that maybe he should bury the bones there. Thus, he talked to the local people and buried the bones somewhere near Koga village. The traveller himself lived in a house near to the place of burial, leading a stoic and simple life until he died. To this day, Yorimasazuka, or the grave of Yorimasa, can be found in this place, which is now within Koga Castle. The area of the grave is now called Yorimasa’s enclosure.
Article 3
According to an old samurai story, there is an auspicious small flag which has been used traditionally since Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu was young. It is a white cloth with a sutra written in black ink and it says:
Getting weary and parting from this filthy world; and truly wishing to go to heaven
The sutra was handwritten by a monk of the Jodo branch, whose name was Saint Osho Toyo of Daijuji temple of Mikawa province.
Article 4
According to an old samurai story, there were two strong samurai whose names were Kawada Yasuke and Narasaki Jubei, who served Kobayakawa Saemon-no-suke Takakage, who was the third son of Lord Mouri Uma-no-kami Motonari, the ruler of Chugoku.
At the time of the Siege of Odawara, Kawada, the first samurai – with a huge flag – and the other samurai, Narasaki, with an arrow-cape the size of 18 tan,2 were walking from town to town on their way to battle. Lord Taiko Hideyoshi, who was then staying in Numazu of Izu province, saw them passing by with their huge flag and cape. The lord said, ‘Look, what strong warriors they are! Go and ask them for their names.’ At which point his mounted samurai immediately went and said to them, from horseback, ‘Listen to this humbly, for this is from Lord Hideyoshi. The lord has said, “What a spectacular cape and flag you have! Go and ask them who they are.” Therefore, could I have your names?’ However, on hearing this they did not answer and the mounted messenger came back having failed. Hearing this from him, Lord Hideyoshi said, ‘Maybe you asked them without dismounting from your horse, is this so? As that is a very rude thing to do, as those carrying such a huge flag or cape cannot be mounted, as no horse could bear them, no matter what rank of warriors they are, remember that they have to be on foot when they carry such things. If it is the case, why should they give their names over if you have questioned them from horseback?’ He then ordered another man to ask them this time, not from horseback and because of this they replied.
Article 5
According to an old samurai story, Lord Akechi Hyuga-no-kami, when he was a low-ranking retainer, once happened to cross the Togo river of Echizen province and found a statue of Daikoku.3 He was delighted and thought to himself, ‘It is the god of good luck’, and brought it back to his quarters and placed it in the corner on a shelf and worshipped it every morning and night with respect.
Someone heard of this and said to him, ‘You have such a lucky god! This god is a ruler of 1,000 people. Keep your faith in him.’
With this, Akechi was very much surprised and said, ‘I did not know this god governed only 1,000 people. What a narrow-minded god Lord Daikoku is! You do not have to be a god of luck to command that many people, there are so many ordinary people who also govern 1,000 men. Therefore, he is not a god that samurai should worship,’ and so he threw it away.
Article 6
According to an old samurai story, it is always true that unfaithful samurai and thankless children are dishonourable, so much so that even those people of succeeding generations will hear their names and scorn them throughout time. Be careful, be careful. An old saying says:
Faithful retainers always come from those whose family are made up of thankful children
Also, other old poems say:
You should risk your life for your lord’s life no matter how many times it is and disloyalty should be a disgrace longer than anything else
Look up to your lord and think much of your parents, so that you should always keep to the morals of order, high or humble
Article 7
According to an old samurai story, there were twelve direct orderlies within Lord Takeda Shingen’s army. Each of them was supposed to carry a square flag of white cloth with a black centipede upon it. However, one of them, Hajikano Den’emon, was out with a white square flag without a centipede. Lord Shingen, seeing this, asked who was that of the twelve messengers that had only a white flag [and no insignia]. A reply said that it was Hajikano Den’emon. The lord became angry and asked him why he did not obey this rule. Den’emon said, ‘I would never break the rules. I have a three-centimetre centipede just next to a side loop of the flag.’ At which point he showed it to the lord. The lord asked him why it was thus. Den’emon said, ‘If I had a centipede as everyone else has, whatever I do will be hardly distinguishable among others on the battlefield.’ Lord Shingen laughed to hear this.
Article 8
According to an old samurai story, there was a brave samurai, whose name was Ogasawara Kento4 and Niwa Gorozaemon-no-jo Nagashige was his master, who was the lord of Komatsu Castle in Kaga domain. Kento was brisk and competent but clumsy and unsociable. For that reason his master Gorozaemon did not give him a very high stipend and Kento stayed in rather a low position.
There was a ronin, or mercenary samurai, whose name was Eguchi Saburozaemon. The master of the castle, Gorozaemon-no-jo, employed the former for quite a high stipend because he was well presented and conducted himself with honour. Hearing this, Kento the clumsy said to himself, ‘Well, well, there is no one in Japan who does not know of Kento from Gorozaemon’s clan, I am well known, but how could anyone think this newcomer’s bravery could be good enough to serve this clan? Good grief, the wonder of it!’ and waited impatiently for their meeting to come.
When the day came, Eguchi – the newly hired samurai – attended Komatsu Castle for the first time, and Kento was already there waiting for him. Once Eguchi appeared in the hall, Kento said to him, ‘Is that you, who is the ghost of Eguchi-no-Kimi?’ 5
Eguchi said, ‘Well, yes, I am. I wonder if it is you, that man I heard that has the head of dogs?6 However, it is said that this dog’s head7 is actually a brave warrior, but that he is low in ranking as he is unsociable and of few words. It is not rare that a samurai is well disciplined if born in a samurai family, and so if you would behave in an impressive way, then you would be able to distinguish yourself even more as samurai. Though I have far less experience than you, I have worked as a mercenary here and there since I was young, and now I am well known. Some lords appreciate that and are willing to employ me for a very high stipend. If you stay with one clan and are as good as Fan Kuai of ancient China, know that you could be of a much higher ranking if you know about the ways of other domains. What a waste it is that you stay in the same clan and know nothing of others.’ At this Kento was at a loss for words, and became very polite to Eguchi after that.
Article 9
According to an old samurai story, Mori Ranmaru,8 an attendant of Lord Oda Nobunaga, once attended his lord by carrying his sword when he went to the toilet. While waiting for him, he counted the number of notches which were upon his scabbard.
The Lord knew that he had counted them and afterwards gathered his pages together and said, ‘Try and guess how many notches there are on this scabbard. I will give this sword to the one who can guess right.’ So everyone put forward their guess, all but Ranmaru. At which point Lord Nobunaga said, ‘Ran, why do you not voice your guess?’ To which he replied, ‘Because I know the answer and have counted them.’
Lord Nobunaga was impressed with this answer and gave him the sword.
Article 10
According to an old samurai story, Honda Heihachiro Yasutoshi,9 who was a retainer to Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu, became angry when he saw his sons practis
e with spears and said, ‘Spear fighting on a battlefield is for rather low-ranking samurai. Those of a high rank should learn above all other things how to use the baton to command an army. When I was of low rank I fought with a spear, but later on I was promoted to this high rank, so I now do not need to fight with a spear and thus always think of how to command my army. You should be prepared, by learning how to deal with the baton and command our forces, to get ready for the time you need to take over from me. Therefore, do not learn the ways of low-ranking samurai.’
In my opinion:10 In the Chu dynasty of ancient China, there was a master swordsman and a fellow retainer recommended him to King Xiang. However, the king said swordsmanship is only about fighting against one enemy, therefore he would rather learn how to kill millions of people and thus he never learned the art of the sword.
Indeed, it seems inappropriate for the general to fight with a spear himself. Also it would be improper on a battlefield if the general does not know how to use the baton of command.
According to Genpei Seisuiki, at the Battle of Kotsubo, Wada Yoshimori tried to give the order for his army to withdraw, but they mistook it to mean attack the enemy and so they fought against Hatakeyama Shigetada. Yoshimori intended to convey to his retainers the following and this is what he said, ‘Do not let my brother Yoshimochi be killed and with this I waved to them with an open hand at first, which my men mistook, so I wanted to call them back with something large and more distinct’. Then he had his men open forty or fifty umbrellas and waved them towards the troop, which again they mistook and so thought that they were being told to advance further and risked their lives fighting.
As a result they fought when they should not have fought because the general did not have the correct knowledge on how to use the baton of command.
Yet it seems unlikely that such a good general as Yoshimori did such a thing, so I wonder if it was not the author’s mistake? This is still not clear to me.
Article 11
According to an old samurai story, there was a master bowman who used the strongest of bows, his name was Ibano Todayu and he was a retainer of Ikeda Musashi-no-kami Terunao. When hunting in the mountains of Bizen domain, an injured boar was dashing toward him and so he fixed a forked arrow to his bow and shot at the beast with enormous power. Obviously, [because of his skill] the arrow pierced the boar from the nose through to the tail and then hit a pine tree – of 5 sun in circumference – where it fell.
On another occasion, he bent the iron bow of Minister Yuriwaka, which was kept in the Sakaori shrine of Bicchu, he did this so strongly that it broke at the upper notch. Later he had it fixed and had words inlaid on the Hitaigi wooden plate which is on the upper part of a bow, it said, ‘Ibano Todayu bent and broke this’.
Article 12
According to an old samurai story, Lord Ouchi Yoshitaka of the Suo province was called Sir Kamewaka-maru and when he was a child he once saw common children playing with money and said, ‘I want to play with it too.’ His attendant, Sugi Hoki-no-kami replied, ‘Sir, that is too filthy and indecent a thing to be exposed to your view,’ and then put a gold hairpin through the money and threw it away together with the hairpin in to the toilet, this was done to teach him.
Article 13
According to an old samurai story, the lord of Takatori Castle of the Washu province, Matsukura Ukon-no-dayu said, ‘Warriors who are firmly determined will not be disgraced throughout their lifetime and will remain highly admired even long after death because of their resolution. On the other hand, weak and irresolute warriors tend to make mistakes more often than not, because of their lack of determination. A warrior, whose name was Yamamoto Matasuke, when walking on a path in the mountain, saw a yamakagashi11 snake crawl out in front of him. He made such a fuss of it and jumped 3 shaku [90cm] to his side, where unfortunately he stepped on a venomous mamushi snake. At which point, he was bitten, being surprised and acting without thought he jumped back to where he was before to be bitten by the Yamakagashi snake too. He suffered long after that and became crippled in the end. This all happened because this man was not prepared and was so easily surprised or flustered.
A poem says:
Though the trinkets to scare the birds are clattering, moving because of the wind of the wings of the sparrows, the flock of sparrows themselves are thrown into confusion
A warrior should never be unprepared or surprised with such a thing, and consequently meet with disaster, this is completely shameful.
Article 14
According to an old samurai story, during the Summer Siege of Osaka Castle, Sanada Saemon-no-suke was killed by Nishio Nizaemon. This Nishio was a retainer of Lord Echizen Shosho Tadanao. Also, Mishuku Echizen-no-kami was killed by Nomoto Ukon, and this is the story of what happened.
Echizen-no-kami’s original name was Mishuku Kanbei and he used to be a retainer of the original lord of Echizen [who was from the eastern forces], but for some reason he – Mishuku Kanbei – left Echizen and ended up staying in Osaka Castle.
He came to serve Lord Toyotomi Hideyori – who was in opposition – and requested to be given his home province of Echizen – so that he could control it – that is if the lord Toyotomi Hideyori won the war and conquered the country. So because of this he had named himself Echizen-no-kami – [which implies he was the lord of Echizen] making him a usurper. With this deal in place, he joined the troop of Sir Shosho. However, Mishuku Kanbei – the pretender – was attacked and almost defeated at the position where he was stationed, so Sanada Saemon-no-suke was sent to aid him, however the Echizen-troop, who were stationed at Osaka at the time, took advantage of the chance, attacked and killed them both.12
Article 15
According to an old samurai story, Hojo Saemon-dayu, who was a retainer of Lord Hojo Ujiyasu of Odawara in Soshu province, had a flag of tawny silk with just two ideograms written in ink upon it: . It meant, ‘I am a direct follower of Hachiman Daibosatsu.’ Therefore, it was called the flag of Jiki Hachiman.13
At the time of the assault on Fukasawa Castle of Soshu, this flag fell into the hands of Lord Takeda Shingen. He gave it to Sanada Genjiro Nobutada, who later succeeded the Katsuno family and changed his name to Katsuno Ichiemon. He was the youngest child of Sanada Ittokusai. I hear this said flag is still kept within the family.
6 shaku 9 sun [207cm] long.
3 shaku 6 sun [108cm] wide.
3 pieces of cloth wide.
It has six loops on the top, the side has a slot and there are details to be orally transmitted. (Fig 14)
Article 16
According to an old samurai story, there was a wandering samurai who was a very distinguished warrior in his military achievements and his name was Izutsu On’na-no-suke.14 His outfits were like a female’s and his hair was long and done in the style of Karawa, and he always wore a Hirabari needle in his hair, this was so people could not grab his topknot.
Article 17
According to an old samurai story, there was a samurai whose name was Tsukuda Mataemon.15 He always used to relate the following story:
If a lord says an unreasonable thing to his retainers, you should strictly refrain from countering it. The reason is when I was serving Gamo Ujisato of Aizu, at the time of a battle in the Oshu district, Ujisato went out to inspect the huts within the camp discreetly every night. One night we were subject to a night attack but we were able to fight back and defend ourselves successfully. On the next morning, we were called to review the previous night’s battle. Ujisato said, ‘As Tsukuda is always well-prepared, he was first to fight as expected. However, it seems he lost his head a little, you may not know but he thrust with his spear but without taking off the sheath.’ To this, Tsukuda said, ‘What you say is quite right, my Lord. It was a little cloudy in the evening, so I left with a rain cover on my spear. Since the night attack was so severe, I could not pull it off until the fighting had finished.’ Ujisato was so impressed with his reply and said, ‘Tsukuda is a very honest man. An ordinary man would
not admit that he put a rain cover on his spear! He is a true Bushi.’ And thus gave me a reward.
Even if it is cloudy, it would never be the case that I would take this spear out with a rain cover still on it, but I always want to agree with my lord and thus I spoke as I did.
Supplement: after Ujisato was transferred to a far and distant province, Tsukuda was employed by Fukushima Saemon-dayu, but ended up being burnt at the stake due to his belief in Christianity.
Article 18
According to an old samurai story, Ota Dokan Nyudo had a son who died before him and thus made these poems at the first anniversary of his death:
It is so regrettable and nostalgic at the same time while looking back to the old days, thinking of the farewell on the same day of one year ago
On the same day of last year, the time of our sad separation, I still can find no way to forget, I will bring it to mind again
Article 19
Samurai War Stories Page 7