.

Meanwhile, Yoshitsune had been chafing in Kyoto. To a man of his
temperament enforced passivity on the eve of such epoch-making events
must have been intolerable. He saw plainly that to drive the Taira
from Shikoku was an essential preliminary to their ultimate defeat,
and he saw, too, that for such an enterprise a larger measure of
resolution and daring was needed than Kajiwara Kagetoki seemed
disposed to employ. He therefore obtained from the cloistered Emperor
the commission of tai-shogun (great general) and hastened to Settsu
to take command. Complications ensued at once. Kagetoki objected to
be relegated to a secondary place, and Go-Shirakawa was induced to
recall Yoshitsune. But the latter refused to return to Kyoto, and, of
course, his relations with Kagetoki were not cordial. The situation
was complicated by an unpleasant incident. Kagetoki wished to equip
the war-junks with sakaro. Yoshitsune asked what that meant, and
being informed that sakaro signified oars at the bow of a boat for
use in the event of going astern, he said that such a provision could
tend only to suggest a movement fatal to success.

"Do you contemplate retiring?" he asked Kagetoki. "So far as I am
concerned, I desire only to be equipped for advancing." Kagetoki
indignantly replied: "A skilful general advances at the right moment
and retires at the right moment. You know only the tactics of a wild
boar." Yoshitsune angrily retorted, "I know not whether I am a boar
or whether I am a deer, but I do know that I take pleasure in
crushing a foe by attacking him." From that moment the relations
between the two generals were distinctly strained, and it will
presently be seen that the consequences of their estrangement became
historical.

The 21st of March, 1185, was a day of tempest. Yoshitsune saw his
opportunity. He proposed to run over to the opposite coast and attack
Yashima under cover of the storm. Kagetoki objected that no vessel
could live in such weather. Yoshitsune then called for volunteers.
About one hundred and fifty daring spirits responded. They embarked
in five war-junks, some of the sailors being ordered to choose
between manning the vessels or dying by the sword. Sweeping over the
Harima Nada with the storm astern, Yoshitsune and his little band of
heroic men landed safely on the Awa coast, and dashed at once to the
assault of the Taira, who were taken wholly by surprise, never
imagining that any forces could have essayed s