JAPAN
but Tadanobu insisted that hesitation would give the foe time to surround them, and then all must die. At length Yoshitsune consented, and having changed armour with Tadanobu, "tearfully continued his flight." A fierce combat ensued. Tadanobu, proclaiming himself Yoshitsune, slew a score of his assailants, and finally cutting a way through their ranks, reached Kyōtō, where he concealed himself in the house of a woman who had formerly been his mistress, until an opportunity of rejoining Yoshitsune should present itself. The woman had for lover at the time Kajiwara Kagehisa, one of Yoritomo's captains. Looking for credit and reward, she revealed to Kagehisa the fact that Tadanobu was hiding in her house. But Kagehisa, whose conduct at this point is described as that of a "true bushi," rebuked the woman sternly. "I have orders to search diligently for Yoshitsune," he said, " but I have no order to search for Tadanobu, and I should deem myself disgraced if, for the sake of guerdon, I sought the life of one of the most loyal soldiers in the Empire. Tadanobu was once your lover. If you are not sufficiently virtuous to die for him, you can at least help him to escape." With that he turned his back on the woman and never visited her again. But she, now adding chagrin to cupidity, repaired to Rokuhara, and gave information to the officials there. Two hundred men were sent to seize Tadanobu. Again he fought a splendid
188
