ood, imposing temples, and lordly mansions. The anvils
rang merrily as the armorers forged weapons for the troops, merchants
sought the new city with their goods, heavily laden boats flocked into
its harbor, and almost as if by magic a great city, the destined capital
of the shoguns, rose from the fields.

The site of Kamakura had been well chosen. It lay in a valley facing the
open sea, while in the rear rose a semicircle of precipitous hills.
Through these roadways were cut, which might easily be defended against
enemies, while offering free access to friends. The power of the
Minamoto had suddenly grown again, and the Taira saw fronting them an
active and vigorous foe where a year before all had seemed tranquil and
the land their own.

To the proud Kiyomori this was a bitter draught. He fell sick unto
death, and the high officials of the empire gathered round his bed, in
mortal fear lest he to whom they owed their power should be swept away.
With his last breath the vindictive old chief uttered invectives against
his foes.

"My only regret is that I am dying," he said, "and have not yet seen the
head of Yoritomo of the Minamoto. After my decease do not make offerings
to Buddha on my account; do not read the sacred books. Only cut off the
head of Yoritomo of the Minamoto and hang it on my tomb. This is my
sole command: see that it be faithfully performed."

This order was not destined to be carried out. Yoritomo was to die
peacefully, eleven years afterwards, in 1199, with his head safe on his
shoulders. Yet his bedchamber was nightly guarded, lest traitors should
take his life, while war broke out from end to end of the empire.
Kiyomori's last words seemed to have lighted up its flames. Step by step
the forces of Yoritomo advanced. Victory followed their banners, and the
foe went down in death. At length Kioto, the capital of the mikado, was
reached, and fell into their hands. The Taira fled with the young mikado
and his wife, but his brother was proclaimed mikado in his stead, and
all the treasures of the Taira fell into the victors' hands.

Though the power of Yoritomo now seemed assured, he had a rebellion in
his own ranks to meet. His cousin Yoshinaka, the leader of the
conquering army, was so swollen with pride at his success that he forced
the court to grant him the highest military title, imprisoned the old
ex-mikado Go-Shirakawa, who had long been the power behind the throne,
beheaded the Buddhist abbots