Shizuka gozen (静御前) (role )

Links

Biography:

First and foremost Shizuka gozen should be remembered as the devoted lover of Yoshitsune. According to Jacqueline Pigeot the 12th century hero was said to be quite ugly, but was, nevertheless, an unrepentant seducer. In fact, he is said to have had many lovers, but Shizuka was the most famous. According to the Gempei jōsui ki (源平盛衰記), book XXIII: "He had a pale complexion and was of average stature; his face reflected his boldness; his gaze was too piercing."

Pigeot wrote that "Shizuka appears in several historical documents whose credibility is not in doubt, notably in the Mirror of the East (Azuma Kagami [吾妻鏡])." That is where Shizuka is first mentioned. It says that after the attempt to assassinate Yoshitsune he fled accompanied by three warriors and his mistress. Twelve days later they stopped at the Kinpusen-ji (金峯山寺), a temple in the mountains, where they sought refuge. Yoshitsune's male companions urged him to send Shizuka away because she hindered their movements. Shizuka was then questioned by the temple's steward who decided to send her to Kyoto where she was interrogated again and then to Kamakura, where Yoritomo, the head of the clan, was headquartered. This is where her legend takes a turn: Yoritomo and his wife Masako ask this famous shirabyōshi (白拍子) or court dancer to perform for them. She declines twice, because she asks herself how she can perform in front of the man who is leading the fight to kill her lover. Was she obliged to do their bidding. Then she sang two short songs that showed her courage. One said: "Ah! If only the past could become present again!" In the second song she sang about longing for the one who wanders the snowy slopes of Yoshino. The text of the Azuma Kagami says that Yoritomo erupted with anger, questioning how a woman could show such impudence and not show greater respect to her new master. But at this point, Masako points out that this is the way a devoted lover should be and soothes his feelings.

In the next episode, several months down the road, Shizuka is pregnant. When the child is born and it is a male, Yoritomo orders that it be killed so there will be no threat from his brother's line later on. One of his henchmen rips the child out of his mother's arms, takes it outside of the city and places it in a grave for it to die. As Pigeot notes there are no further historical references to Shizuka, but the myth will continue to grow.

Source: 'Histoire et légende de Shizuka, courtisane du XIIe siècle' by Jacqueline Pigeot, l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres / Année 1998 / 142-2 / pp. 431-433.

We know that shortly after these events, according to the oral history, 'The Tale of Heike' (Heike monogatari - 平家物語), that Yoshitsune and his men had been eliminated. (Ibid. 433-434)

We know from the oldest version of 'The Tale of Heike' that the first assassination attempt against Yoshitsune was at his home in Kyoto, but that a handful of his faithful followers were able to thwart that attempt. However, there was no mention of Shizuka. But in some of the versions of 'The Tale' Yoshitsune was caught with a courtesan with him, pointing to the surprise of the assault at the time of the attack. In other versions, Shizuka appears to counsel Yoshitsune urging him to place a spy in the enemy camp. In another version, Yoshitsune is receiving a moxa treatment when Shizuka urges him to put on his armor. And yet in another version, Yoshitsune's men were nowhere to be seen, so she raised the alarm, got him up, helped him get suited up for a fight and had his horse ready to be mounted nearby. (Ibid. 434-435)

When she did finally appear, according to Pigeot: "D'une façon plus ou moins insistante, elle est toujours peinte comme la digne compagne d'un guerrier. Elle se voit ainsi conformée à un nouveau modèle de femme, né en ces périodes de guerres. La femme idéale ne se signale plus seulement par sa beauté ou ses talents artistiques: elle doit faire preuve de vigilance et de sang-froid, et même assumer, à l'occasion, le rôle de conseillère ou d'écuyer de son partenaire masculin." (Ibid.)

Pigeot noted that there was an alternate and more popular early telling of much of the life of Yoshitsune, but with his warrior deeds left out. This was the Gikei-ki (義経記) or 'Chronicle of Yoshitsune'. It concentrated on the more personal telling of his life at the beginning and at the end with only two or three lines referring to his warrior status. Pigeot also noted that the title of the 'Chronicle' referred to the Chinese reading of Yoshitsune's name:Gikei. (Ibid. 435-436)

'The Chronicle' spends its time describing Yoshitsune's private life, something the 'Tale of Heike' ignores. Shizuka, obviously, doesn't appear until the second part of the 'Chronicle'. Nowhere does it say that Shizuka was a warrior, but it does put emphasis on her devotion and Yoshitsune's appreciation of a woman's soul.

Yoshitsune had had 24 loves, but when he fled the capital he only took 11 women him, which included 5 shirabyōshi. However, the only one who made it all the way into the mountains of Yoshino with him was Shizuka. In time his companions convinced him to abandon her. They had a pathetic parting, she was arrested and sent to Kyoto and Kamakura. This is where the 'Chronicle' and the Azuma kagami diverge somewhat. In the 'Chronicle' she gives birth and her son is put to death. Then she is commanded to dance for Yoritomo and his wife. This makes her refusal doubly poignant, because it would be for the man who ordered her son slain and who is determined to kill her lover, Yoshitsune.

'The Mirror of the East' did not specify what happened to Shizuka after she was sent to Kyoto. But the composer of the 'Chronicle' says she entered a religious order at 19 where she became an ascetic in seclusion. Her grief was so great that a year later she invoked the name of Buddha and was reborn into the Pure Land Paradise. In other words, she died and was reborn in a better place. (Ibid. page 437)

****

"Dancing girl of Kyōto, who became the mistress of Minamoto Yoshitsune. When Yoritomo intended to assassinate his brother through the agency of the bonze Tosabō Shōshun (1185), Shizuka gave notice of it to her lover, who thus had time to save himself and kill his assailants. Forced to take flight, Yoshitsune sent Shizuka back to Kyōto, from where Yoritomo brought her to Kamakura and vainly sought to make her reveal the hiding place of his brother. Masako, knowing her great skill, asked her to dance before her, but Shizuka obstinately refused. Yoritomo however forced her to dance, accompanied with the music of cymbals by Hatakeyama Shigetada whilst Kudō Suketsune played the tambourine. During the dances she improvised a doleful love song to the illustrious exile. Yoritomo, much displeased ordered her child which was born soon after, to be killed by Adachi Kiyotsune, and sent her back to Kyōto."

Quoted from: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan by E. Papinot, pp. 583-584.