Stories of the Japanese 00488 [Late Heian Period] The Arrival of Minamoto no Yoshitsune

It is finally time to introduce the greatest hero of the Genpei War, Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159–1189).
As mentioned previously, Yoshitsune was born in the first year of Heiji (1159) as the third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and his beloved concubine, Tokiwa. His childhood name was 'Ushiwaka.' At the end of the year he was born, his father, Yoshitomo, was defeated in the Heiji Rebellion and was soon killed.
Tokiwa became a concubine of Kiyomori, and her three children were spared on the condition that they enter the priesthood. At this time, six-year-old Imawaka was taken to Daigo-ji Temple and four-year-old Otowaka to Onjo-ji Temple, but because zero-year-old Ushiwaka was too young, he was allowed to remain with Tokiwa. Ushiwaka ended up being raised by his mother until he was eleven. In historical novels, it is often depicted that 'Ushiwaka mistook his father's enemy, Kiyomori, for his real father,' but that is surely a work of fiction.
During this time, since Tokiwa was considered Kiyomori's concubine, it is thought that young Ushiwaka had opportunities to see Kiyomori from time to time. One cannot help but be curious about what he was thinking as he watched his father's enemy come and go from his mother's quarters, but no thoughts or words from Ushiwaka at this age remain.
When he turned eleven, Ushiwaka was finally entrusted to Kurama-dera Temple. From this time on, he called himself Shanao, and although he devoted himself to Buddhist training, it is said that he did not easily become a monk. Since it was the height of the Taira clan's power, perhaps they never dreamed that this boy would one day become a threat to them, and the surveillance by the Taira side may not have been thorough.
There is a legend that at Kurama-dera, Shanao learned swordsmanship from a tengu. Also, according to the 'Gikeiki,' which was written in the early Muromachi period, it is said that he learned military strategy and swordsmanship from a legendary strategist named Kiichi Hogen. Kiichi Hogen is known as a god-like figure who mastered sorcery, and in the Taiga drama 'Yoshitsune,' Akihiro Miwa's eccentric performance was well-received.
It is likely that these childhood episodes were born from the various fantasies that spread following Yoshitsune's later great success as a god of war.
In the fourth year of Joan (1174), at the age of 15, Shanao refused to become a monk and fled Kurama-dera. According to one theory, he had no choice but to leave the capital because his life was being targeted by the Taira clan. The person he relied on was Fujiwara no Hidehira, the powerful man of Oshu Hiraizumi and the Chinju-fu Shogun (Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North).
During his escape to Hiraizumi, in Owari Province where his father Yoshitomo had died, Shanao performed his coming-of-age ceremony (genpuku) without an eboshi-oya (sponsor). Originally, a coming-of-age ceremony is performed by receiving an eboshi cap from an eboshi-oya, and if he was going to take refuge with Hidehira, it would have been logical to have Hidehira serve as his eboshi-oya. However, perhaps he felt he could not ask someone he had never met to take on such an important role when he did not know how trustworthy Hidehira was. Thus, Shanao chose the name 'Yoshitsune' for himself and began calling himself Minamoto no Yoshitsune.