Letter from Koshigoe

He led his warriors to victory over the Taira for his half brother Minamoto no Yoritomo in the Genpei wars, and helped to bring about the creation of Japan's first bakufu, or tent government in Kamakura, just south of the little-known fishing village of Edo on the seaside.

While fighting the Taira clan, he had a few disagreements with the shogun's favourite advisor, Kajiwara Kagetoki, which proved to be bad for his position when he would later want to meet with the brother he never had time to know as a child growing up.

Having overthrown the enemies of the court and erased the infamy of military defeat as His Lordship's deputy and the bearer of an imperial commission, I had supposed that my deeds would be commended; yet, to my distress, pernicious slanders have caused accomplishments of uncommon merit to be ignored.

At the risk of appearing querulous, I must say to you that never since birth have I enjoyed a moment's peace of mind - never, from the time of my journey in my mother's arms to Uda District in Yamato, an infant orphaned by my father's death.

I whipped my mount over precipitous cliffs, heedless of life in the face of the enemy; I braved the perils of wind and wave on the boundless sea, ready to sink to the bottom as food for monsters of the deep.

Despairing of obtaining a hearing through any means short of divine assistance, I have repeatedly submitted oaths of loyalty inscribed on the backs of talismans from temples and shrines in Japan, and by the spirits of the underworld, but no pardon has been granted.