Third Rank Lay Priest [Minamoto no Yorimasa] summoned his retainer, Watanabe Chōjitsu.
‘Take my head,’ he ordered, but overcome with the sorrow of taking his master’s life, Chōjitsu cried, overcome with tears, ‘Such a service is unthinkable. I would only dare to do it afterwards, should my Lord take his own life.’
‘I see,’ Yorimasa replied, then faced the west and chanted the name of Amida Buddha ten times in a loud voice, before reciting:
埋木の花さく事も無かりしにみのなるはてぞ哀なりける
| umoregi no hana saku koto mo nakarishi ni mi no naru hate zo aware narikeru | On a drowned tree Blossoms flower Not a one— To reach the end of life Is sad, indeed! |
With these as his last words, he ran the tip of his great sword through his belly, collapsing over it and died. At such a time, one would not normally be able to compose a poem, but Yorimasa had loved the Way of Waka extravagantly since he was young, so at the last he did not forget it.
