Minamoto no Yoshitsune

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"Yoshitsune" forwards here. For the wrestler whose stage name is "Yoshitsune", see Takuya Sugi.

Yoshitsune by Kikuchi Yosai

"Yoshitsune and Benkei Viewing Cherry Blossoms", by Yoshitoshi Tsukioka

Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源義経) (1159 – June 15, 1189) was a general of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura period. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo. Yoshitsune's older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo (the third son of Yoshitomo) founded the Kamakura shogunate. Yoshitsune's name in childhood was Ushiwakamaru 牛若丸.

Yoshitsune was born slightly before the Heiji Rebellion of 1159 in which his father and oldest two brothers were killed. His life was spared and he was put under the care of Kurama Temple, nestled in the Hiei Mountains near the capital of Kyoto, while Yoritomo was banished to Izu Province. Eventually Yoshitsune was put under the protection of Fujiwara no Hidehira, head of the powerful regional Northern Fujiwara clan in Hiraizumi, Mutsu Province.

In 1180, Yoshitsune heard that Yoritomo, now head of the Minamoto clan, had raised an army at the request of Prince Mochihito to fight against the Taira clan which had usurped the power of the emperor. Yoshitsune shortly thereafter joined Yoritomo along with Minamoto no Noriyori, all brothers who had never before met, in the last of three conflicts between the rival Minamoto and Taira samurai clans in the Genpei War.

Yoshitsune defeated and killed his rival cousin Minamoto no Yoshinaka at the battle of Awazu in Omi Province in the first month of 1184 and in the next month defeated the Taira at the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani in present day Kobe. In 1185, Yoshitsune defeated the Taira again at the Battle of Yashima in Shikoku and destroyed them at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in present day Yamaguchi Prefecture.

After the Gempei War, Yoshitsune joined the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa against his brother Yoritomo. Fleeing to the temporary protection of Fujiwara no Hidehira in Mutsu again, Yoshitsune was betrayed and forced to commit Seppuku along with his wife and daughter, by Hidehira's son Fujiwara no Yasuhira. Yoshitsune is enshrined in the Shinto shrine Shirahata Jinja in Fujisawa.

Yoshitsune has long been a popular figure in Japanese myth and lore due to his appearance as the main character in the third section of the Japanese literary classic Heike Monotogari (Tale of the Heike).

[edit] Contemporary media

Akira Kurosawa's film The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail dramatises a legend about Yoshitsune, based on the kabuki play Kanjincho.
In the anime Samurai Champloo, 3 men rap a tale of the "Ghost of Yoshitsune" haunting the mountains, though Jin says, "They seem to have their rumors mixed up." (episode 16 - Lullabies of the Lost, verse 1).
Yoshitsune's feat of cutting leaves as they fell from a tree has been referenced many times in Japanese pop culture. In some instances, characters attempt the feat to compare themselves to Yoshitsune, as in the beginning of Blade of the Immortal. Sometimes, variations upon this motif are seen, such as in the manga One Piece where Zoro the swordsman achieves the ability to cut steel because he can hold a falling leaf on his sword's edge without cutting it, or in Hajime no Ippo, where the main character is facetiously given the task of catching falling leaves with his bare hands before he will be allowed into a gym. Ippo's eventual ability to indirectly mimic Yoshitsune is seen as a sign of great potential by the other characters.
NHK's 2005 taiga drama Yoshitsune is a fictionalized account of the samurai's life and the political intrigues that sealed his fate.
Game Republic's 2005 PlayStation 2 video game, Genji: Dawn of the Samurai is another fictionalized account of the story of Yoshitsune and Saito Musashibo Benkei.
Visual Kei heavy metal band Onmyo-Za published the trilogy "Kumikyoku Yoshitsune" as three partial singles in 2004, and also in "Garyo-Tensei" album in 2005.
Sogo Ishii's film Gojoe retells, with considerable reinvention, Yoshitsune's encounter with Benkei at Gojoe Bridge.
In the Nintendo DS game Age of Empires:The Age of Kings, Minamoto Yoshitsune has his own campaign over 5 missions, seeing him win at the 'Battle of Ichi-no-Tani' and then go on to defeat the Taira clan for good.
In Mortal Kombat, Liu Kang's name was to be Yoshitsune Minamoto.
In the anime Diamond Daydreams, Kyoko Asahina refers a tragic love tale about Yoshitsune and a girl he loved named Charinka who never loved him back. When Yoshitsune left the island, Charinka shown her true colors and cried out toward him but he never heard the call, leaving Charinka in tears. Kyoko adds that Charinka gets what she deserved in the end.
In an unusual twist, Yoshitsune along with Benkei and two Minamoto clan members, Yoritomo and Yoshinaka, are the villains of an old Namco arcade game Genpei Toumaden. The hero of the game is Taira no Kagekiyo, who was portrayed as the villain of Genji: Dawn of the Samurai. All of them make an appearance in the crossover game Namco X Capcom.
Kodansha is publishing manga about Yoshitsune. The manga is titled Shanaou Yoshitsune. It is being written by Sawada Hirofumi.
Yoshitsune appears as "Ushiwaka" (or "Waka") in the videogame Ōkami as a Taoist Prophet who often gives the main character (the incarnation of Amaterasu as a wolf) prophesies in the form of unusual riddles.
Yoshitsune appears as a recruitable demon in several of the Devil Summoner games.
Yoshitsune appears as "Minamoto Kurou Yoshitsune" in the Playstation 2 Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3 series.