Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/285

CELEBRATED CHARACTERS IN JAPANESE HISTORY

 

Adams, Will, an English pilot, arrived in Japan in 1600 and died there in 1620. He was sent to Iyeyasu as a captive, but the Shōgun, recognising his ability, retained him in official service. Adams was employed as a ship-builder and as an intermediary with the foreign traders, was granted an estate, and married to a Japanese; but he was virtually a prisoner and was not allowed to return to England. A street in Yedo, Pilot Street, is supposed to have been named after him. He was buried near Yokohama.

Antoku, the eighty-second Emperor, was a child and under the control of the Taira, of which clan his mother was a member. When the Gempei war broke out, he was carried away by his mother's kindred, and was present at the naval battle of Dan-no-ura (1185) near Shimonoseki, when the power of the Taira clan was shattered. His grandmother, seeing that escape was impossible, took the young Emperor in her arms and plunged into the sea. Both were drowned.

Asaina Saburo, a member of the Minamoto clan during the Gempei war, was noted for his wonderful physical strength.

Benkei, Yoshitsune's henchman, is the subject of many traditional exploits. Originally a robber, he was overcome by Yoshitsune, then a stripling, and became a faithful follower, spending his days battling in the young general's cause and finally dying for him. For one of the stories concerning him, see vol. iii. p. 36.

Dengyō Daishi, a Buddhist priest, spent a portion of his life in China, and on his return to Japan founded the Tendai sect. This was in 805. He and Kobo were the first preachers of sectarian Buddhism in Japan. He is also known as Saicho. He built the monastery of Hizei-zan.

En no Shōkaku, a Buddhist saint of the seventh century, made pilgrimages to mountain-tops. Being condemned to death, the sword broke, as in the case of Nichiren. The saint then flew away out of mortal sight.

Forty-Seven Ronins. In 1701 Asano, Lord of Akō, resented the insult of another nobleman, named Kira, by slashing him with his sword.

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