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This is the website of MORINORI, which holds small Heikyoku (a recitation of the Tale of the Heike accompanied by Heike biwa) concerts and lectures. On this page, we introduce a modern translation of the summary of the Tale of the Heike, Volume 11, “Notodonosaigo”. It’s not very good, but please take a look if you like. We also introduce a small Heikyoku concert, “The Sea of the Last Moment, Dannoura.
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A simple summary of the Tale of the Heike, Volume 11, “The Final Days of Notodonosaigo
The empress realized her fate and threw herself into the sea, taking her inkstone and a piece of heated stone with her. Watanabe no Gengo Umanojou Mutsuru saw this and pulled the empress out of the water and transferred her to a boat from the imperial palace. The Grand Councilor of State and Lady-in-waiting also tried to throw herself into the sea with the Naishidokoro(Divine Mirror) in her arms, but was shot in the hem of her hakama and seized by the soldiers. Load Hei dainagon Tokitada admonished the soldiers, saying “Ordinary people should not look at the Naishidokoro(Divine Mirror)”, and later returned the Naishidokoro(Divine Mirror) to its place.
The brothers, Noritsune and Shuri no taifu Tsunemori, held hands and sank into the sea, each carrying an anchor on their armor. Komatsu no shinzanmi no chujo Sukemori, Shoushou Arimori, and their cousin Samanokami Yukimori also entered the sea, holding hands. However, the Minister and his son were not on the boat with them, and so they were pushed into the sea by the Heike samurai. Ise Saburou Yoshimori pulled the Minister and his son out of the water, and when Hida no saburouzaemon Kagetsune, who had seen what happened, fought back, he was killed.
Notodono fought with great bravery, but when his arrows eventually ran out, he took up a large sword and a large halberd and cut down his enemies. Despite the efforts of the new Lord Tomomori to stop him, Notodono leapt at what he thought was Hougan(Yoshitsune), but Hougan(Yoshitsune) managed to escape by a hair’s breadth. Realizing that this was the end, Notodono threw away his weapons and called out for one last battle. Aki Taro Sanemitsu and his younger brother Jiro, as well as their retainers, challenged Notodono, but he overpowered them and carried them down to the sea with him.
The Tale of the Heike, Volume 11, “The Final Days of Notodono” – Full modern translation
*This is a modern translation of the text taken from the Heikyoku score “Notodonosaigo”.
After that, the empress saw the situation for herself and, thinking that there was no longer any hope, threw herself into the sea with the inkstone and the heated stone in her left and right sleeves. Watanabe no Gengo Umanojou Mutsuru quickly rowed a small boat over to her and pulled her out, using a rake to catch her hair, but her ladies-in-waiting said, “That’s the Empress, you mustn’t make a mistake,” so he hurriedly transferred her to the imperial boat.
The Grand Councilor of State, Naishidokoro(Divine Mirror), was about to throw himself into the sea with the Naishidokoro’s chest in his arms, but his hakama (Japanese trousers) were pierced by an arrow and he fell into the water, where he was seized by the warriors. Then, when he tried to twist open the lock of the Naishidokoro(Divine Mirror)’s chest and open the lid, he suddenly felt dizzy and his nose started bleeding. Load Hei dainagon Tokitada was being held captive, but when he said, “That is the Naishidokoro(Divine Mirror). It is not something that ordinary people should see,” the soldiers all rolled their tongues and were filled with fear. After that, Tokitada made an agreement with Hougan(Yoshitsune) and put the Naishidokoro back in its original state.
After that, the brothers Kadowaki no Hiranaka no Norimori and Shuri no taifu Tsunemori held hands and sank into the sea, each carrying an anchor on their armor. Komatsu no shinzanmi no chujo Sukemori, Shoushou Arimori and his cousin Samanokami Yukimori also entered the sea together, holding hands. While the people were throwing themselves into the sea in this way, the Minister and his son did not do the same, but stood at the edge of the boat and looked around in all directions, but they did not seem particularly troubled. Then the Heike samurai ran past them, pushed the Emon no Toshi into the sea first, and then pushed the Minister into the sea as well.
The people sank because they had heavy things on their backs or in their arms, but this father and son did not do this, and rather, because they were skilled at swimming, the Minister said, “If Emonnojou sinks, I will sink too,” and Emonnojou said, “If my father is saved, I will be saved too,” and they continued to swim here and there, firmly looking each other in the eyes. Then Ise no saburou Yoshimori hurriedly rowed a small boat over and first pulled up Uemon-doku with a rake, then pulled up the Minister-dono, who had not sunk, together.
Hida no Saburouzaemon Kagetsune, who was a foster son of the lord, saw what was happening and, saying “Who dares to capture my lord?”, he boarded Yoshimori’s ship and drew his sword to attack. Yoshimori’s son intervened to prevent his lord from being killed and attacked Saburouzaemon. However, the child of Yoshimori was struck in the center of his helmet by Saburouzaemon’s sword, and his head was cut off with the next blow. Yoshimori also appeared to be in danger, but Hori no yatarou Chikatsune pulled back twelve bundles of arrows from the neighboring ship and fired them at once, and one of the arrows hit Saburouzaemon’s armor. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, he boarded Yoshimori’s ship and overpowered Saburouzaemon, and then the retainers of Hori followed him onto the ship, drew Saburouzaemon’s sword from his waist, pulled up the skirt of his armor, and stabbed him three times through the handle and fist, taking his head. The Minister-sama saw this happen before his eyes, and what did he think.
There was no one who dared to stand up to Notodono. On that day, Notodono was dressed in a red brocade kariginu with a purple-trimmed suit of armor, and he wore a helmet with a horned crest, a large gold sword at his side, and a quiver of 24 arrows on his back. He took his heavy bamboo bow and arrow and fired arrow after arrow, mercilessly piercing his enemies. Many were wounded and killed. When the arrows eventually ran out, Notodono took a large sword and a long sword in each hand and swung them from the stern to the bow of the ship, cutting down the enemy.
Lord Tomomori, sent a messenger to Notodono, saying, “Notodono, you are a sinner. Is he a good warrior?” Notodono replied, “Then I’ll fight the general,” and holding his sword’s handle short, he advanced, fiercely cutting down the enemy from the stern to the bow of the ship. However, he did not know who the general was, and when he saw a warrior with good equipment, he thought it was Hougan(Yoshitsune) and jumped at him. For some reason, Notodono boarded Hougan’s(Yoshitsune) ship and leapt at him. Hougan(Yoshitsune) thought he was no match for him, so he tucked his long sword under his left arm and lightly jumped onto the ship, which had retreated about 20 feet. Notodono was unable to follow suit, as he was outmatched by his quick movements.
Notodono, who had seemed to have reached the end of the line, threw away his large sword and long sword into the sea, and then also took off his helmet. He then threw away the sleeves of his armor and the quiver that held his arrows, and stood there with only his torso covered, his arms outstretched like a giant. His appearance was so fearsome that no one dared to approach him. Notodono raised his voice and shouted, “Those of you who think you are the one, come and overpower Noritsune and take him alive. I want to go down to Kamakura and meet Hyouenosuke(Yoritomo) and say a few words. Come on, come on,” but no one came near him.
There was a man called Aki Taro Sanemitsu, the son of Aki Oryo Sanetada, a resident of Tosa Province who governed the Aki region. He was a very strong warrior, with the strength of 30 men, and he was accompanied by a retainer who was no less powerful than he was. His younger brother Jiro was also an exceptional warrior. When the three of them saw Notodono, they said, “Even if you are fierce of heart, how much can you do? Even if it was a demon ten-stories tall, if the three of us were to fight it, how could we not be able to subdue it? Let’s fight!” They got into a small boat and pushed their way into Notodono’s boat, and with their swords drawn, they attacked all at once.
There was a man called Aki no Taro Sanemitsu, the son of Aki no tairyo Saneyasu, a resident of Tosa Province who governed the Aki region. He was a very strong samurai, with the strength of 30 men, and he was accompanied by a retainer who was no less powerful than he was. His younger brother Jiro was also an exceptional soldier. When the three of them saw Notodono, they said, “Even if your heart is fierce, how much can you do? Even if it was a demon ten-stories tall, if the three of us were to fight it, how could we not be able to subdue it? Let’s fight!” They got into a small boat and pushed their way into Notodono’s boat, and with their swords drawn, they attacked all at once.
Notodono grabbed the hem of the robe of one of Akitaro’s retainers who had rushed forward first and kicked him into the sea with great force. He then grabbed Aki Taro, who had attacked him next, under his left arm, and held his younger brother Jiro under his right arm, and, tightening his grip, said, “Now, you two, accompany me to the Mountain of Death,” and threw himself into the sea at the young age of 26.
The final sea, Dannoura. Click here for the concert feature page
https://morinorijapan.com/heike-tale-final-sea-dannoura
Thank you for reading this far.
I hope to see you somewhere someday.
