etomo's advice and Fujiwara Nobuyori's rejection of
Yoshitomo's counsels were wholly responsible for the disasters that
ensued, and were also illustrative of the contempt in which the
Fujiwara held the military magnates, who, in turn, were well aware of
the impotence of the Court nobles on the battle-field.

The manner of Yoshitomo's death, too, reveals something of the ethics
of the bushi in the twelfth century. Accompanied by Kamada Masaie and
a few others, the Minamoto chief escaped from the fight and took
refuge in the house of his concubine, Enju, at Awobaka in Owari.
There they were surrounded and attacked by the Taira partisans. The
end seemed inevitable. Respite was obtained, however, by one of those
heroic acts of self-sacrifice that stand so numerously to the credit
of the Japanese samurai. Minamoto Shigenari, proclaiming himself to
be Yoshitomo, fought with desperate valour, killing ten of the enemy.
Finally, hacking his own face so that it became unrecognizable, he
committed suicide. Meanwhile, Yoshitomo had ridden away to the house
of Osada Tadamune, father of his comrade Masaie's wife. There he
found a hospitable reception. But when he would have pushed on at
once to the east, where the Minamoto had many partisans, Tadamune,
pointing out that it was New Year's eve, persuaded him to remain
until the 3d of the first month.

Whether this was done of fell purpose or out of hospitality is not on
record, but it is certain that Tadamune and his son, Kagemune, soon
determined to kill Yoshitomo, thus avoiding a charge of complicity
and earning favour at Court. Their plan was to conceal three men in a
bathroom, whither Yoshitomo should be led after he had been plied
with sake at a banquet. The scheme succeeded in part, but as
Yoshitomo's squire, Konno, a noted swordsman, accompanied his chief
to the bath, the assassins dared not attack. Presently, however,
Konno went to seek a bath-robe, and thereupon the three men leaped
out. Yoshitomo hurled one assailant from the room, but was stabbed to
death by the other two, who, in their turn, were slaughtered by the
squire. Meanwhile, Masaie was sitting, unsuspicious, at the
wine-party in a distant chamber. Hearing the tumult he sprang to his
feet, but was immediately cut down by Tadamune and Kagemune. At this
juncture Masaie's wife ran in, and crying, "I am not faithless and
evil like my father and my brother; my death shall show my
sincerity," seized her husband's sword