The Snow of Yoshino: In 1186, Shizuka Was Parted from Yoshitsune in Life

In the first month of 1186 (Bunji 2), on Mt. Yoshino in Yamato (present-day Yoshino Town, Nara Prefecture).

In the falling snow, Shizuka Gozen let go of Minamoto no Yoshitsune's (this site's id 51) hand.

Hunted by his brother Yoritomo, Yoshitsune fled further south in the guise of a yamabushi.

Beyond lay peaks forbidden to women; he could not take Shizuka. Yoshitsune climbed the snowy slope with a few attendants.

Shizuka, unable to move, saw off that receding back. This was the last time the two would exchange words.

Shizuka was a shirabyōshi — a female performer who sang and danced imayō in men's dress.

Her mother Iso no Zenji too was a shirabyōshi, and Shizuka inherited the name to become a dancer whose fame rang through the capital.

It is transmitted that Yoshitsune noticed Shizuka and doted on her. The girl who had danced in the splendid halls of the capital became the beloved consort of the hero who destroyed the Taira, and now wandered the snowy mountains with that hero's fall.

The gap of fortune was far too sudden.

Yoshitsune, who had destroyed the Taira at Dannoura, broke with his brother Yoritomo despite that achievement.

In 1185, Yoshitsune became a target of pursuit and fled the capital with a few companions.

Shizuka followed him too. She did not abandon the fall of the man she loved. But in the mountains of Yoshino, the party was blocked by snow and pursuers.

Beyond this point, a woman's feet would only be a burden. With a breaking heart, Yoshitsune made the decision to send Shizuka back to the capital.

At the parting, it is transmitted that Yoshitsune gave Shizuka gold and silver and had an attendant escort her to the capital.

But that attendant robbed her of the valuables partway up the peaks and fled. Left alone, Shizuka wandered in the snow, was in time captured by a mountain monk, and was to be sent to Kamakura.

The man she loved to the western peaks, herself to Kamakura in the east. The two roads that had parted at Yoshino never crossed again.

In Shizuka's breast, only Yoshitsune's back, vanishing into the snow, remained seared.