He was a prominent Japanese poet.
He served eight different emperors in his long career
(holding high posts such as head of the arsenal).
He was a warrior, leading armies.
At the end of his life he became a monk.
But life drew him back to war,
and suffering defeat
he had committed suicide.
His assistant-in-death
tossed his beheaded head
fastened to a rock
into the river
so that it could not be found.
His death poem speaks thusly:
"Like an old tree
From which we gather no blossoms
Sad has been my life
Fated to bear no fruit"
Let us all remember Minamoto no Yorimasa with sadness.
Let us all learn his lesson:
never live life in a manner
that might lead you to feel
at your end
that your life had been fruitless.
