Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/155

WEAPONS AND OPERATIONS the Emperor Shirakawa (1073-1086), by laying it beside his pillow, obtained respite from tormenting dreams. The Minamoto clan, of which Yoshiiye was the first great representative, gave Japan her most skilled archers. Tametomo, uncle of the founder of Kamakura, drew a bow so strong that in the Hogen conflict (1156), when two brothers advanced to attack him, he shot an arrow which passed through the body of the elder and afterward wounded the younger severely. Concerning the skill of this renowned archer a story has been handed down which may be called the parallel of the William Tell legend. Fighting under his father's banner, and finding himself opposed to his elder brother, Yoshitomo, he announced his intention of shooting a shaft which, without injuring Yoshitomo, would recall him to his father's cause. A comrade urged him to desist, lest he should err in his aim and wound his brother, but he ridiculed such an accident as impossible. Yoshitomo was standing near the gate of a beleaguered stronghold. The arrow pierced the crest of his helmet and buried itself in the portal of the gate. Tametomo being afterwards taken prisoner, his captors, thinking to end his exploits with the bow, extracted one of the sinews of his right arm and exiled him to the island O-Shima. But the cruel act, though it impaired his strength, enabled him ultimately to shoot a longer arrow, and it is related that in his last fight he sunk a boat with a single shaft. 129