Ito Sukechika of the Fujiwara family, and Hojo Tokimasa, who later was to become the famous head of the Hojo clan—to whose never-failing assistance and advice much of the success of Yoritomo's career has been attributed, and whose counsels exercised so much influence upon the early history of Kamakura.
The boy first found a home in the establishment of Sukechika. Later on, during the absence of her parent his daughter succumbed to the fascinations of the youthful Minamoto scion; tender relations were established, which flourished for a time in secret, until the birth of a son to the amorous pair brought discovery and retribution in its wake. The girl's stepmother betrayed this state of affairs to Sukechika, who promptly shattered the little drama with the bolt of his paternal ire. The unfortunate babe was cast into the water and drowned; his erring daughter was promptly united in marriage to another aspirant, and thus accorded the protection of a lawful lord and master. Vengeance was about to descend upon the head of the delinquent Yoritomo, but before his doom could be compassed he managed to flee from the scene, and escaped successfully to the domain of his other guardian, Tokimasa.
Although ostensibly a loyal supporter of the Taira clan, from various causes Tokimasa's partisanship for his faction had become secretly weakened and alienated: moreover a man of his acute penetration doubtless divined the impending downfall of the Taira ascendancy. By degrees the entire confidence and devotion of the older man was gained by his protege, and their relations underwent a change, Tokimasa becoming the counselor, supporter, and prime minister of his illustrious son-in-law— a state of things that lasted unchanged until the day of Yoritomo's death.
Now Tokimasa had two daughters. The elder, Masako—who at this time was twenty-one years of age—was not only beautiful, but had inherited her father's sagacity and high order of intelligence. The younger one, the child of a second wife, was reputed of more ordinary capacity, and somewhat plain of feature to boot.
The young Yoritomo desired to strengthen his position with his guardian by espousing one of his daughters, and from motives of policy deemed it expedient to pay his addresses to the less attractive of the pair. Hence he composed a love-letter, and instructed his messenger to deliver it secretly to the younger of the two maidens. Coming events would seem to have cast their shadows before. According to the well-known tradition, the slumbers of the prospective recipient had been visited by a strange dream, in which she had beheld herself toiling up a mountainside with the sun and moon shining from her long sleeves, and holding on high an orange-bough laden with ripe fruit (tachibana). The shrewd Masako was well versed in legendary lore, signs, bodings, and portents. At once deeming this incident of an auspicious nature she coveted it for herself, and worked upon the credulity of the younger girl by pronouncing it an evil omen: moreover should a dream of good luck be related before seven years, or one of sinister portent before seven days had elapsed, the good results would be neutralized and the evil intensified.
To her alarmed sister Masako proposed a solution of the difficulty—she would buy the dream herself. "But how can one buy or sell what can neither be seen nor handled?" inquired the reluctant possessor of the dream. Masako fixed her sister with a searching gaze and overruled her objections as to the ill effects of such a transaction upon the purchaser: "I will buy it!" she proclaimed. As the price of her intangible bargain she paid to the younger girl a set of silken robes and a silver mirror. It is recorded that the latter was a valuable family heirloom which Tokimasa had given into the keeping of his eldest child owing to his affection and admiration for the character of Masako.
This strange barter seems to have exercised some occult influence upon its purchaser, for the same night Masako dreamed that a white dove* approached her, offering a golden box containing a letter. The next morning this prophetic omen was realized, and Yoritomo's message was delivered: from that time it was not long before relations of a romantic and illicit nature were established.
Meanwhile Tokimasa was absent, being engaged in the execution of his duties as guard in Kyoto. He returned from the distant capital in company with Taira no Kanetaka, a relative of Kiyomori and governor of the province of Izu, and moreover to whom Tokimasa promised the hand of his eldest daughter in marriage.
But after his arrival, when tidings of this liaison that had flourished during his absence reached his ears, he was placed in a difficult position, and one that required delicate handling. However exalted might be his opinion of Yoritomo's talents and probabilities of a brilliant future, he hardly cared to risk incurring the odium of the whole Taira faction—including Kanetaka, the governor and prospective bridegroom—by uniting his daughter with their deadly enemy, the exiled scion of the hated Minamoto!
But the crafty Tokimasa proved equal of the occasion. Ostensibly ignoring the amour, he caused all preparations to be made for the celebration of the marriage with the governor, according to the original arrangement, but meanwhile there is no doubt that he was secretly conniving at his daughter's disappearance with her lover.
The nuptial festivities were celebrated with all due ceremony. But the same evening, under cover of the darkness and a convenient storm of wind and rain, the bride disappeared into the mountains, in which congenial retreat she was joined by the partner of her affection—the pair lying concealed until the father's pardon was accorded, and which was not long withheld.
From this time, assisted by Tokimasa, Yoritomo began to communicate in secret with the clansmen round about, and the military families in sympathy with his part. Meanwhile, a rising against the Taira was gathering strength in the south, under the auspices of Prince Mochihito, second son of the Emperor Go-Shirakawa. An order from this prince was dispatched to Yoritomo, requesting him to call to arms the Minamoto adherents, and to deliver the imperial family, as well as the country at large, from the selfish arrogance and tyrannous misrule of the Taira. This appeal was delivered to Yoritomo in the late spring of 1180; but while engaged in his preparations to comply, the fatal news arrived announcing the defeat and death of the prince in the battle on the Uji. Elated with this victory, the Taira were plotting to follow it up by exterminating the whole remainder of the Minamoto faction.
Yoritomo, being warned of this prospect, determined to take the field without loss of time, and as an initial attempt the stronghold of the governor Kanetaka—his former rival in the arts of love—was attacked. The fort was stormed, set on fire, and the unfortunate governor was beheaded.
This preliminary success decided the wavering adherents of the districts to rally around their new leader with contributions of men and arms, and war was soon declared. Supported by his little force of three hundred warriors, and bearing the prince's mandate attached to his standard, Yoritomo marched upon the foe at the historic hill of Ishibashi—a wooded eminence on the northern outskirts of the Hakone mountains. However, this valiant but premature attempt was doomed to failure. Woefully outnumbered by the enemy—who were encamped three thousand strong, and who attacked simultaneously from the front and from the rear—the Minamoto band suffered a crushing defeat and were almost annihilated, their leader only escaping from death by a hair's-breadth.
When Yoritomo was able to take cover in a grove of trees, his supporters had dwindled to the sorry remnant of six men. Acting upon their leader's advice these took refuge in flight: Yoritomo, with a single attendant, concealed himself in the hollow trunk of a tree. In this predicament signal service was rendered by Kajiwara Kagetoki—a secret sympathizer with the Minamoto cause—who indicated to the pursuers that their quarry had taken an opposite route. However the Taira commander, Oba Kagechika, in riding past the hollow tree thrust his spear into the aperture, according to some accounts actually grazing the sleeve of Yoritomo's armor! At this dramatic moment the god Hachiman did not desert his protege: two woodpigeons fluttered out from the tree—deluding the enemy into the assumption that no human being could be sheltering within—and the life of the fugitive was saved.
After this complete defeat at Ishibashi-yama Yoritomo became almost a solitary figure, leading a precarious existence concealed in the forests of that mountainous
