YOSHITSUNE

In the summer of 1185, a young general waited at a temple outside Kamakura and wrote a letter to his elder brother. Weeks before, he had won the greatest victory of his age, destroying the Taira clan at Dan-no-ura. Now his brother would not even let him into the city.

He was Minamoto no Yoshitsune, perhaps the most brilliant commander in Japanese history. Four years later, hunted across Japan on his brother's orders, he died in a burning house in the far north, at thirty.

Born the baby son of a defeated warrior, he was raised in a mountain temple and sheltered in the golden city of Hiraizumi. When his half-brother Yoritomo rose against the Taira, Yoshitsune rode to join him — and in little more than a year rode down a cliff at Ichi-no-Tani, crossed a storm to Yashima, and won the war at sea. Then he accepted a title from the court without his brother's permission, and lost everything.

Told as a narrative history from beginning to end, with a cast of characters, a map, and a travel guide to the places you can still visit today, this book says plainly what the records show, what historians still debate, and which famous stories are only legends — including Benkei on the bridge and the barrier at Ataka.

Inside, you'll find:

A baby spared by his father's enemy, and the mountain temple of Kurama
Benkei, and the golden north of Hiraizumi
Two brothers meeting for the first time, and how different they were
The ride down the cliff at Ichi-no-Tani
A court title, and a retired emperor who played the brothers against each other
The storm crossing to Yashima, and the end of the Taira at Dan-no-ura
The letter from Koshigoe
An assassin, a storm, Shizuka's dance, and years in hiding
The last stand at Koromogawa, and how Japan gained a word for sympathy
A guide to visiting the places in this story today, from Kurama and Dan-no-ura to Kamakura and Hiraizumi
If you want a hero without flaws, this is not your book. If you want the real story of the genius general who could not win his brother's trust, turn the page and meet the real Yoshitsune.