Fujishima: In 1338, a Stray Arrow in a Muddy Field Broke the Pillar of the Southern Court

On the second day of the intercalary seventh month of 1338 (Engen 3 / Ryakuō 1), at Fujishima in Echizen Province (present-day Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture).

Nitta Yoshisada rushed to Tōmyōji-nawate with only some fifty riders to save allies in a tight spot.

But what awaited him was the great army of the Ashikaga general Shiba Takatsune.

Though he tried to flee, his horse's legs were trapped in a field of mud stretching in every direction, and he could not move.

There a single stray arrow flew and pierced Yoshisada's brow. It was the all-too-abrupt end of the hero who had taken Kamakura.

Driven from Kyoto, Yoshisada went down to Echizen bearing the imperial princes Takayoshi and Tsunayoshi.

It was a strategy to build a Southern Court base in the Hokuriku and await a comeback.

But the Kanegasaki Castle he relied on was besieged by the Ashikaga and fell; Prince Takayoshi took his own life, and Yoshisada's son Yoshiaki died with him.

Entrusted with the princes yet unable to protect them, he even lost his own son.

Yoshisada's days in the Hokuriku were a succession of defeats and losses.

Near Fujishima, Yoshisada's side and the Ashikaga were glaring at each other over a castle.

On the second day of the intercalary seventh month of 1338, hearing of an ally's crisis, Yoshisada himself led a small force to the rescue.

For a supreme commander to go to the front line with a small force was, ordinarily, something to be avoided.

Perhaps there was impatience. It is transmitted that the wish to recover from his repeated failures in the Hokuriku with a single feat of arms lured him out into the defenseless field.

Yoshisada's head was exposed by the Ashikaga, and his death dealt the Southern Court a deep blow.

Losing Nitta Yoshisada after Kusunoki Masashige, the military of the Southern Court had its very framework broken.

Edo-period Mito learning and the Meiji state honored Yoshisada as a loyal subject who died for Emperor Go-Daigo, enshrining him at Fujishima Shrine in Fukui.

But what Yoshisada himself saw at his end was neither great cause nor honor, but only the mud of Echizen that trapped his legs and a single arrow bearing down.

Carrying the regret of failing to protect his son and the prince, the hero sank into a muddy field.