Quotation

Samurai Rising

the Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune
Bashō sat down and wept. Then he wrote this haiku: A dream of warriors, and after dreaming is done, the summer grasses. === His elder half brother was the leader of the Minamoto. It was his army, not Yoshitsune’s. Yoshitsune was the Minamoto’s star quarterback, so to speak, but Yoritomo owned the team. And the stadium. === The most famous tale about Yoshitsune’s fugitive days involved an attempt to pass through a government checkpoint. (DVD: 虎の尾を踏む男達, 1945/2010 - The men who tread on the tiger's tail) === In those days a midwife attended the mother-to-be. Others took care of spiritual needs: one holy man read religious texts while another purified the birthplace. Someone else twanged a bowstring to ward off evil spirits. === Yoshitsune, an unskilled teenager, had arrived in Hiraizumi wanting to be a warrior! It was like a boy who had never played Little League showing up for spring training with the Yankees.