Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/215

 was made for the man on the plea that his father had done great deeds, Kenshin agreed to commute the sentence to suicide.

Innumerable instances present themselves of men who laid down their lives to save those of their feudal chiefs. Indeed such cases were so common that historians did not think it worth while to relate them unless some exceptional circumstances distinguished the event. One or two must be set down here, however, for the sake of illustrating not merely this particular phase of the bushi's character, but also his methods in general.

Towards the close of the twelfth century, after the overthrow of the Taira clan, which event was brought about chiefly by the military genius of Yoshitsune, the latter, becoming an object of jealousy to his brother Yoritomo, who wielded the administrative power, had to fly northward to Ōshiu. Attended by a small band of faithful followers, who had fought beside him in all his campaigns, he reached the plain of Yoshino, where his pursuers pressed upon him so closely that unless they could be checked, escape seemed impossible. Yoshitsune had reconciled himself to his fate when one of the party, Satō Tadanobu, a swordsman of the highest skill, asked permission to personate his chief and await the enemy's onset, hoping that during the interval thus gained his comrades could continue their flight. Yoshitsune was most unwilling to sacrifice an old friend,