had passed into the bushi's code, forbade a
man to live under the same sky with his father's slayer. Deeds like
the killing of Yoshitsune's son were the natural consequence of that
doctrine.

Meanwhile, Yoshitsune had been passing from one place of concealment
to another in the three contiguous provinces of Izumi, Yamato, and
Kii. He escaped deadly peril in the Yoshino region through the
devotion of Sato Tadanobu, whose brother, Tsuginobu, had died to save
Yoshitsune's life in the battle of Yashima. Attacked by the monks of
Zo-o-do in overwhelming force, Yoshitsune had prepared to meet death
when Tadanobu offered to personify him and hold the position while
Yoshitsune escaped. With much difficulty Yoshitsune was induced to
consent. Tadanobu not only succeeded in covering the retreat of his
chief, but also managed himself to escape to Kyoto where, being
discovered, he died by his own hand. Finally, in the spring of 1187,
Yoshitsune and his followers, disguised as mendicant friars, made
their way up the west coast, and, after hairbreadth escapes, found
asylum in the domain of Fujiwara Hidehira, who had protected
Yoshitsune in his youth. Hidehira owned and administered the whole of
the two provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, which in those days covered some
thirty thousand square miles and could easily furnish an army of a
hundred thousand men.

The attitude of this great fief had always been an object of keen
solicitude to Yoritomo. At one time there were rumours that Hidehira
intended to throw in his lot with Yoshinaka; at another, that he was
about to join hands with the Taira. Yoritomo could never be certain
that if the Kwanto were denuded of troops for some westward
expedition, an overwhelming attack might not be delivered against
Kamakura from the north. Thus, when he learned that Yoshitsune had
escaped to Mutsu, all his apprehensions were roused. By that time
Hidehira had died, in his ninety-first year, but he had committed to
his son, Yasuhira, the duty of guarding Yoshitsune. Hence, when, in
the spring of 1188, Kamakura became aware of Yoshitsune's presence in
Mutsu, two consecutive messages were sent thither, one from Yoritomo,
the other from the Court, ordering Yoshitsune's execution. Yasuhira
paid no attention, and Go-Shirakawa commissioned Yoritomo to punish
the northern chief's contumacy. Yasuhira now became alarmed. He sent
a large force to attack Yoshitsune at Koromo-gawa. Benkei and the
little band of comrades