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Like Go-Toba, he cherished the hope of seeing the Imperial Court released from the Bakufu shackles, and to that end the alert, enterprising Kameyama seemed better suited than the dull, resourceless Takakura, just as in Go-Toba's eyes Juntoku had appeared preferable to Tsuchimikado. Dying in 1272, Go-Saga left a will with injunctions that it should be opened in fifty days.
It lies in that vibration of peace that beats in every heart; that harmony which brings together emperor and peasant; that sublime intuition of oneness which commands all sympathy, all courtesy, to be its fruits, making Takakura, Emperor of Japan, remove his sleeping robes on a winter night because the frost lay cold on the hearths of his poor; or Taiso of Tang forego food because his people were feeling the pinch of famine; ... it lies in that worship of feeling which casts around poverty the halo of greatness, impresses his stern simplicity of apparel on the Indian prince, and sets up in China a throne whose imperial occupant alone amongst the great secular rulers of the world never wears a sword."
Yorimasa determined to strike a blow for the Minamoto cause, and looking round for a figure-head, he fixed upon Prince Mochihito, elder brother of Takakura. This prince, being the son of a concubine, had never reached Imperial rank, though he was thirty years of age, but he possessed some capacity, and a noted physiognomist had recognized in him a future Emperor.
Then Ikenoshoji, starting from his real dream, nine times prostrated himself before the god, and hastened to the dwelling of his master. Erelong the wife of Takakura Dainagon found herself with child; and after the ten happy months she bore a son with painless labor. It was strange that the infant had upon his forehead, marked quite plainly and naturally, the Chinese character for "rice."
The Emperor Nijo had died in 1166, after five years of effort, only partially successful, to restrain his father, Go-Shirakawa's, interference in the administration. Nijo was succeeded by his son, Rokujo, a baby of two years; and, a few months later, Takakura, then in his seventh year, was proclaimed Prince Imperial. Thus, Kiyomori found himself uncle of an Emperor only ten years of age.
The power of the Taira family increased until sixty men of the clan held important posts at court, while their lands spread over thirty provinces. They had splendid palaces in Kioto, the capital, and in Fukuwara, overlooking the Inland Sea. The two sons of Kiyomori were made generals of high rank, and his daughter became wife of the emperor Takakura, a boy eleven years of age.
The Fujiwara had used the military leaders for their own ends; Kiyomori supplemented his military strength with Fujiwara methods. These steps were mere preludes to his ambitious programme. He married his wife's elder sister to the ex-Emperor, Go-Shirakawa, and the fruit of this union was a prince who subsequently ascended the throne as Takakura.
On the nomination of Takakura to be Crown Prince the Taira leader was appointed appointed himself would be a more accurate form of speech to the office of nai-daijin, and within a very brief period he ascended to the chancellorship, overleaping the two intervening posts of u-daijin and sa-daijin. This was in the fiftieth year of his life.
The famed Takakura Dainagon, whose other name was Kane-ie, was so rich that he had treasure-houses in every direction. He owned one precious stone that had power over fire, and another that had power over water. Of all that a man might have in this world, he wanted nothing except an heir, and he had no other cause for sorrow.
Water Color Painting Medals of Honor. Ranshu Dan, 1; Toho Hirose, 1; Shoyen Ikeda, 2; Keisui Ho, 1; Tomoto Kobori, 1. Gold Medals. Bunto Hayashi, 1; Taisei Minakami, 1; Yoshino Morimura, 2; Hachiro Nakagawa, 10; Hosui Okamoto, 1; Tesshu Okajima, 2; Kangei Takakura, 2. Sculpture Gold Medals. Choun Yamazaki, 4; Yoshida Homei, 4. Metal Work Grand Prize. Chozaburo Yamada, 4. Gold Medal.
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