[Essay] Kyoto 5 - Rokuharamitsuji Temple and the Grave of Taira no Kiyomori - 'Ken Satake's YouTube Struggle Diary (112)'

I entered Rokuharamitsuji Temple.

The temple was surprisingly compact, and from beyond the main hall, I could hear the voices of monks and believers chanting the Heart Sutra and the Kannon Sutra.

While listening to the chanting and thinking about offering a prayer, my eyes were drawn to a stone monument in front of the gate.

The monument read,

It said.

(Ah, that's right. That's how it is.)

As I wrote before, the Taira clan had their residence in Rokuhara. After the fall of the Taira, Minamoto no Yoritomo confiscated it, and it became the Minamoto clan's base in Kyoto. And after the extinction of the Minamoto shoguns, the Rokuhara Tandai was established in this area.

The Rokuhara Tandai was a local agency of the Kamakura Shogunate established after Retired Emperor Go-Toba instigated the Jokyu War. It was placed there to monitor the Imperial Court in Kyoto so they would not show any signs of unrest. Since this kind of thing is asked on tests and entrance exams, it wouldn't hurt for middle and high school students to remember it.

If you ask whether it was actually effective, it was. This is because the Shogunate's consultation became necessary even regarding imperial succession. The Kamakura Shogunate itself was a terrifying organization that would kill annoying vassals, kill shoguns, and send back the regents or imperial family members they had invited as shoguns once they stopped listening, so dealing with them must have been quite troublesome.

Perhaps it showed its true worth when Emperor Go-Daigo decided twice to 'destroy the Kamakura Shogunate!!' and tried to raise an army. They mobilized and suppressed him the first time, and the second time, when his plan to overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate was fully exposed, they firmly exiled him to Iki. However, Emperor Go-Daigo, a man of indomitable spirit, never gave up. He escaped from Iki, and upon landing, he won over the samurai and rose in revolt. This triggered uprisings by 'akuto' (rebels) like Kusunoki Masashige and samurai who had been living in obscurity under the Kamakura Shogunate's regime, such as Nitta Yoshisada.

The Rokuhara Tandai was still functioning at this time, but it collapsed and perished due to the betrayal of Ashikaga Takauji, a powerful gokenin of the Kamakura Shogunate.

After that, it became the direct rule of Emperor Go-Daigo, but because his favoritism toward the nobility and those he was indebted to was conspicuous, it bought the resentment of the samurai and collapsed in just three years.

After seeing the Rokuhara Tandai monument, I put a five-yen coin into the offering box in front of the hall and pressed my hands together in prayer.

Kiyomori's grave was in a corner of the temple. It was so quiet that you wouldn't think it belonged to a person who had conquered the world.

(Even if you stand at the top once, it is empty to return to the soil...)

'The mighty also perish in the end, just like dust before the wind.'

This reminds me of the final part of the famous preface to 'The Tale of the Heike.' Kiyomori rose from a samurai to a court noble and then to Daijo-daijin (Grand Minister of State). After that, he purged opposing forces as his power dictated, and became the maternal relative of the Emperor. However, the relocation of the capital failed, and with Prince Mochihito's rebellion as a trigger, the Minamoto clan and anti-Taira forces in various regions raised armies... In the midst of all this, he caught a fever and died in agony.

On his deathbed, Kiyomori called his family members and, while gasping for breath, delivered his final words. Those words were,

"I have served the Imperial Court and fought for it since long ago. Thanks to that, I have built up high official ranks and immense wealth in just one generation. I have no regrets in life. However, there is one thing that weighs on my mind... It is about Yoritomo, the third son of Yoshitomo. Offer his head at my grave. I do not need any funeral or memorial services for me. Bringing me his head is the greatest..."

That was it. Although he was satisfied with his life, the young Minamoto boy he had spared back then had started a rebellion. The fact that he felt regret over that one single failure makes him seem all the more human, or perhaps deeply burdened by karma. And so, Kiyomori passed away at the age of 64 while suffering from a high fever.

Regarding the reason Kiyomori died while suffering from a high fever, it is said that it was divine punishment for burning the Great Buddha at Todai-ji Temple while his son, Shigehira, was fighting against the monks of Kofuku-ji Temple in Nara. To support this, "The Tale of the Heike" recounts a story where his wife, Tokiko, had a dream the day before in which Ox-Head and Horse-Face, messengers of King Enma, came personally to welcome Kiyomori. It is said that the character for "Nothingness" (Mu) was written on the carriage that came to fetch him, which refers to the Avici Hell.

As for the realistic cause of death, there are various theories, including influenza and malaria.

Personally, I believe that Kiyomori died from a severe infection, such as pneumonia. Since he passed away in the intercalary first month, which I infer to be around February of today, it is a time when one must be careful of infectious diseases. It is likely that he caught a cold or influenza during that time, which worsened until it developed into pneumonia, leading to his death.

As an aside, the way Kiyomori's suffering from the fever is described in "The Tale of the Heike" is beyond normal. The description itself depicts a level of high fever that a human should not be able to produce.

Perhaps the description is exaggerated to make the heat of Kiyomori's body easy to understand. However, even just the part about "even when holy water brought from Mount Hiei was poured on him" is more than enough to convey how hot it was. The fact that even water—and holy water at that, brought from the sacred Mount Hiei, the headquarters of the Tendai sect—could not lower his temperature further highlights his abnormally high fever. In the Middle Ages, when faith was thousands or tens of thousands of times stronger than it is today, the fact that holy water from the sacred Mount Hiei was ineffective must have been perceived as something quite dire. Thinking about it that way, I feel I can understand why it is called divine punishment for burning the Great Buddha at Todai-ji Temple.

After that, the scene shifts to Kiyomori, who, realizing his end was near, calls his family members and, with his dying breath, speaks the last will and testament mentioned earlier.

Classical literature from Japan and China often uses hyperbolic expressions, so the "water evaporating" and "black smoke" at the moment of Kiyomori's death can be considered standard tropes. However, what can be said is that Kiyomori died with an incredibly high fever caused by a febrile illness.

I quietly pressed my hands together in prayer at a small memorial tower for Kiyomori.

Since I couldn't think of what to say, I just told him in my heart where I came from, my name, and asked for his favor.

After visiting Rokuharamitsu-ji Temple, I decided to go to a nearby temple called Rokudo Chinno-ji.

There is a legend about Rokudo Chinno-ji.

In the early Heian period, there was a nobleman named Ono no Takamura. This Takamura was a very talented nobleman and was deeply trusted by the Emperor.

Takamura was active as a capable official. However, there was a rumor about him.

"During the day, he serves the Emperor, and at night, he serves King Enma in Hell."

It is said that the well at Rokudo Chinno-ji was what he used to travel between the living world and Hell at that time.

(But this one is also nice, isn't it?)

When I was looking at the map, the three characters for 'Kiyomizu-dera Temple' to the east of Rokuhara also caught my eye.

(The autumn leaves must be beautiful this time of year, so maybe I should go there instead...)

If I miss this opportunity, I don't think I'll ever see the autumn leaves at Kiyomizu-dera in my life, so I'll go see them. Also, I want to promote the short historical novel 'Monogusa Taro' that I've been writing recently.

I decided to give up on going to Rokudo Chinno-ji Temple and go to Kiyomizu-dera Temple instead.

From the town of Gion, which lies on the other side of the road that retains the townscape of good old Japanese architecture, you can see the Yasaka Pagoda.

(To be continued)

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