ended in the fifth year (1091), was
called the "After Three-years War." With regard to the nature of this
commotion, no enumeration of names is necessary. It was a family
quarrel between the scions of Kiyowara Takenori, a magnate of Mutsu
who had rendered conclusive assistance to Yoshiiye in the Nine-years'
War; and as a great landowner of Dewa, Kimiko Hidetake, took part,
the whole north of Japan may be said to have been involved. It fell
to Yoshiiye, as governor of Mutsu, to quell the disturbance, and very
difficult the task proved, so difficult that the issue might have
been different had not Fujiwara Kiyohira--who will be presently
spoken of--espoused the Minamoto cause.

When news of the struggle reached Kyoto, Yoshiiye's younger brother,
Yoshimitsu, who held the much coveted post of kebiishi, applied for
permission to proceed at once to his brother's assistance. The Court
refused his application, whereupon he resigned his office and, like a
true bushi, hastened to the war. Yoshimitsu was a skilled performer
upon a musical instrument called the sho. He had studied under a
celebrated master, Toyohara Tokimoto, now no more, and, on setting
out for the field of battle in the far north, he became apprehensive
lest the secrets imparted to him by his teacher should die with him.
He therefore invited Tokimoto's son, Tokiaki, to bear him company
during the first part of his journey, and to him he conveyed all the
knowledge he possessed. The spectacle of this renowned soldier giving
instruction in the art of music to the son of his deceased teacher on
moonlit nights as he travelled towards the battlefield, has always
appealed strongly to Japanese conception of a perfect samurai, and
has been the motive of many a picture.

This Go-sannen struggle furnished also another topic for frequent
pictorial representation. When about to attack the fortress of
Kanazawa, to which the approaches were very difficult, Yoshiiye
observed a flock of geese rising in confusion, and rightly inferred
an ambuscade of the enemy. His comment was, "Had not Oye Masafusa
taught me strategy, many brave men had been killed to-night." Yet one
more typical bushi may be mentioned in connexion with this war.
Kamakura Gongoro, a youth of sixteen, always fought in the van of
Yoshiiye's forces and did great execution. A general on the enemy's
side succeeded in discharging a shaft which entered the boy's eye.
Gongoro, breaking the arrow, rode straight at the a