Stories of the Japanese 01076 [Mid-Nanboku-cho Period] The Battle of Kannan: The Loyalty of Kawamura Yorihide
Still, the Taiheiki is incredibly long, isn't it? I miss the days when they were trying to overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate.
The Yamana forces were in retreat, but the soldiers under Yamana Moroyoshi were fierce warriors who had been prepared to die from the moment they raised their army. 263 members of the clan and their retainers turned back time and again to fight the pursuers, sacrificing themselves to help their commander escape.
Moroyoshi himself fought the pursuers, but he was struck by an arrow from his left eye to the base of his ear. Suffering a severe wound that blinded him and sapped his strength, he tried to stand up by planting his sword upside down, but a rain of arrows from the enemy fell upon him. These arrows pierced his horse's belly and chest, rendering the animal useless.
Realizing it was the end, Moroyoshi drew his sword to commit suicide, but his retainer, Kawamura Yorihide (?-1355), desperately stopped him and put Moroyoshi on his own horse. Having lost his horse, Kawamura was left on foot and died in battle, trading blows with the pursuing enemy.
Although blood flowing into his eyes prevented Moroyoshi from seeing anything, he was somehow able to understand that Kawamura had been killed in action.
"Is there anyone around the horse? Turn the head of this horse toward the enemy. I will charge in there and die upon Kawamura's corpse."
When he shouted this, his retainer, Fukuma Saburo, said,
"The enemy is in this direction,"
and turned the horse in the opposite direction of the enemy, urging it forward. Thanks to the loyalty of these two retainers, Moroyoshi was able to return alive.
Thus, the Battle of Kannan ended in a reversal of fortune for the Yamana forces, who had initially held the advantage.
Upon returning to Yodo, Yamana Moroyoshi sent the names of those who had died in the battle back to his home province of Inaba to have prayers offered for their souls. In particular, because Kawamura Yorihide was a loyal man who had died in his place, Moroyoshi requested his head from the enemy army and received it.
"I have long thought of you as a son, and you have thought of me as a father. When we faced the battlefield, we promised that if you lived, I would live, and if you died, I would die. Though you have departed like dew on the treetops and I remain like a drop at the root, we shall surely meet again in the high halls of the Pure Land."
It is said that he wept as he stroked the hair on the head, lamenting his loss. Now, the Battle of Kannan had ended, but we must next touch upon the Sixth Battle of Kyoto, which occurred in parallel.