, called ''Tajima the arrow-cutter'', was a
sōhei
were Buddhist warrior monks of both classical and feudal Japan. At certain points in history, they held considerable power, obliging the imperial and military governments to collaborate.
The prominence of the ''sōhei'' rose in parallel wi ...
(warrior monk) from
Mii-dera
, formally called , is a Buddhist temple in Japan located at the foot of Mount Hiei, in the city of Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture. It is a short distance from both Kyoto, and Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. The head temple of the Jimon sect ...
who fought alongside the
Minamoto clan
was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...
forces, and many of his fellow Mii-dera monks at the
Battle of Uji in 1180.
The bridge over the
Yodo River
The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...
was torn up by Tajima's fellow ''sōhei'', but the attacking
Taira clan
The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...
forces were still shooting arrows, and were still threatening to cross the river. Tajima is said to have stood upon the bridge and, spinning his
naginata
The ''naginata'' (, ) is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades (''nihontō''). ''Naginata'' were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei ( ...
, deflected many if not most of the arrows that came his way.
According to ''
The Tale of the Heike
is an epic poetry, epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being ...
'',
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gochin no, Tajima
Japanese warrior monks
Heian period Buddhist clergy
Samurai
People of Heian-period Japan
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
12th-century Japanese people