Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/235

 III

, his foster-father Tsunémori, and his mother Fuji-no-Kata, who had shared the lot of the rest of the Taira clan, were now living at a temporary residence at Fukuhara, not far from Ichi-no-tani.

Tsunémori had an adopted daughter. Her name was Tamaori, and she was a beautiful damsel, fifteen years of age. He and his wife had brought her up from childhood. They loved her dearly, and intended her for Atsumori's wife.

The girl's real father, Tokitada, was a Taira. He was a mean man, and had early deserted the Taira clan whose fortunes were on the wane, and had gone over to the Minamoto clan, which was rising in importance. Now that the Tairas were on the verge of ruin, Tokitada had decided to take Tamaori back from Tsunémori's hands in order to marry her to Hirayama Suyéshigé, a samurai belonging to the Minamoto clan, in accordance with the latter's earnest proposal. He therefore 173