Kiyotsune : PhotoStory

Taira no Kiyotsune, a military commander of the Heike clan, drowned himself after defeat in a battle in the Western Sea. His wife's sorrow is deepened when she receives his hair as a keepsake.

His wife can't bear to look at the keepsake and she returns it to the shrine as an offering. The spirit of Kiyotsune appears in her dream.

His wife resents Kiyotsune for choosing to take his own life, and Kiyotsune is bitter that his wife returned the keepsake of his hair. Sleeves wet with tears, they tell each other their thoughts.

To calm his wife's resentment, Kiyotsune tells her what happened to bring about the current situation. He had been in despair at the sad plight of the Heike clan, who had been driven from Kyoto.

Pressed by the enemy, he fled to Kyushu by boat and finally arrived at Yanagi-ga-ura. He was shocked to see a pine surrounded by white herons, believing this might be a sign that the forces of Genji were near.

Their miserable fate always in his thoughts, he decided on death. Thus resolved, Kiyotsune stood on the bow of the boat and watched the moon.

He drew his flute from his waist and the clear sound of a poem rang out. He reflected on what had been and what was to come.

Even if it were thought he had lost his mind, that was fine. There were no regrets. In his final moment, he spoke aloud: “Namamidabutsu Midanyorai.”

He threw himself to his death at the bottom of the sea.

Even after death, he must return again and again to the scene of the carnage on the Western Sea and be thrown into the fighting. What saved him was that in his last moment he had invoked the name of the Buddha - Namamidabutsu.