Death of Nitta Yoshisada
During the following few years, Nitta's rivalry with Ashikaga Takauji (and his brother Ashikaga Tadayoshi) came to a head, with the two planning rebellion, and issuing a call that "Nitta Yoshisada must be destroyed." They fought a number of battles, many of them in and around Kyoto, in the same locations as famous battles of the Genpei War; in the end, Nitta was defeated, but continued to be a thorn in Takauji's side until his death on July 2, 1338.
Nitta's death was as remarkable as his life. Turnbull (2003) writes that Nitta was fighting in the Siege of Kuromaru against Hosokawa Akiuji, an ally of Takauji, when his horse was felled by arrow fire. Nitta, pinned under the dead horse and unable to move was an easy target for archers. As a final act, Nitta drew his short sword and cut off his own head. Record has it that a number of his fellow samurai committed junshi seppuku nearby, in a show of allegiance.
Read more about this topic: Nitta Yoshisada
Famous quotes containing the words death of and/or death:
“But, when nothing subsists from a distant past, after the death of others, after the destruction of objects, only the senses of smell and taste, weaker but more enduring, more intangible, more persistent, more faithful, continue for a long time, like souls, to remember, to wait, to hope, on the ruins of all the rest, to bring without flinching, on their nearly impalpable droplet, the immense edifice of memory.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“It was not death he feared—it was the disgrace of death, and the misery of the ignominious preparations. He knew in his heart that heaven could not call it murder that he had done; but he felt equally sure that man would do so.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)