Editing Minamoto no Yorimasa (section)

==Poetry==
[[File:Nijo-in no toki… 二条院の時 (BM 2008,3037.18313 1).jpg|thumb|Woodblock triptych print, oban tate-e. The general Minamoto no Yorimasa standing holding his bow (right), his wife Ayame-no-mae seated (centre) in a robe decorated with a Genji motif, and the warrior Ii no Hayata also seated (left), all watching a plover fly across a crescent moon (left).)]]

In a famous episode in the [[Taiheiki]]:

<blockquote><poem>''Samidare ni sawabe no makomo mizu koete/izure ayame to hikizo wazurau''

The fifth-month rains swamp the water-oats along the shore,
making it hard to tell irises from one another and pull
just one</poem></blockquote>

"So, Yorimasa not only added to his reputation as an archer by shooting down a [[nue]]; he also proved himself a distinguished poet by winning with a single poem Lady Ayame, whom he had adored for years and months."<ref name=Sato>{{Cite book |last=Sato |author-link=Hiroaki Sato (translator) |first=Hiroaki |title=Legends of the Samurai |publisher=Overlook Duckworth |year=1995 |ISBN=9781590207307 |pages=188–190}}</ref>

Yorimasa's [[death poem]] was:

<blockquote><poem>{{nihongo2|埋もれ木の/花咲くことも/なかりしに/身のなる果てぞ/悲しかりける}}
''umoregi no/hana saku koto mo/nakarishi ni/mi no naru hate zo/kanashikarikeru''

Like a fossil tree
From which we gather no flowers
Sad has been my life
Fated no fruit to produce<ref name=Turnbull2>{{Cite book |last=Turnbull |first=Stephen |title=The Samurai Sourcebook |publisher=Cassell & Co. |year=1998 |ISBN=1854095234 |page=200,307–308}}</ref></poem></blockquote>