Video courtesy of AIRMW/Hot House Global program
Nozawa Matsuya and his wife Miki (Matsuya Miki (松也美紀)）play at the entrance gate of Kurayama Temple, this is the place where the fabled story of the duel between Ushiwakamaru and Musashibo Benkei occurred.
It is a favorite subject in Japanese art is the duel between Ushiwakamaru (the childhood name of Minamoto Yoshitsune) and the renegade monk Musashibō Benkei on Gojō (5th Avenue) Bridge in Kyoto. Having vowed to take 1000 swords away from their owners, Benkei had collected 999 when he spotted a youth wearing a richly decorated sword. His demand for the sword refused, Benkei attacked. But Yoshitsune, who had been trained by tengu (long-nosed goblins who could fly and were legendary masters of swordsmanship), leaped high in the air to strike the monk. Benkei conceded and became Yoshitsune’s faithful follower. In the war with the Taira, Yoshitsune won victory after amazing victory, but this only fueled the jealousy of Yoshitsune’s older brother, the future shogun Yoritomo. In the end, cornered by Yoritomo’s forces, Benkei dies while fighting off the enemy to give his lord enough time to commit seppuku, or ritual suicide.
