It was in the third year of Juyei,[74]
At the close of the third month.
We of Heike were in our ships,
The men of Genji on shore.
Two armies spread along the coast
Eager to bid in battle
For final mastery.
Then said Noritsune, Lord of Noto,
“Last year at Muro Hill in the land of Harima,
At Water Island, even at Jackdaw Pass,
We were beaten again and again; outwitted
By Yoshitsune’s strategy.
Oh that some plan might be found, some counsel given
For the slaying of Kurō.”[75] So spoke he.
Then thought Kagekiyo in his heart,
“Though he be called ‘Judge,’
Yet is he no god or demon, this Yoshitsune.
An easy task! Oh easy for one that loves not
His own life chiefly!”
So he took leave of Noritsune
And landed upon the beach.
The soldiers of Genji
“Death to him, death to him!” cried
As they swept towards him.
CHORUS.
And when he saw them,
“What great to-do!” he cried, then waving
His sword in the evening sunlight
He fell upon them swiftly.
They fled before his sword-point,
They could not withstand him, those soldiers;
This way, that way, they scuttled wildly, and he cried,
“They shall not escape me!”
KAGEKIYO (breaking in excitedly).
Cowards, cowards all of you!
CHORUS.
Cowards, all of you!
Sight shameful alike for Gen and Hei.
Then, thinking that to stop one man
Could not but be easy,
Sword under arm,
“I am Kagekiyo,” he cried,
“Kagekiyo the Passionate, a captain of the soldiers of Hei.”
And swiftly pursued, with naked hand to grasp
The helm that Mionoya wore.
He clutched at the neck-piece,
Twice and again he clutched, but it slipped from him, slid through his fingers.
Then crying “He shall not escape me, this foe I have chosen,”
Swooped like a bird, seized upon the helmet,
“Eya, eya,” he cried, tugging,
Till “Crack”—the neck-piece tore from the helm and was left in his hand,
While the master of it, suddenly free, ran till he was come
A good way off, then turning,
“O mighty Kagekiyo, how terrible the strength of your arm!”
And the other called back to him, “Nay, say rather ‘How strong the shaft
Of Mionoya’s neck!’” So laughed they across the battle,
And went off each his way.
(KAGEKIYO, who has been miming the battle, breaks off abruptly and turns to the VILLAGER. The CHORUS speaks for him.)