Introduction
This tale from Japanese history tells how Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199), a contemporary of Henry II and Richard the Lionheart, rose to power and became the first of the Shoguns, military dictators who sidelined the Emperors and wielded supreme authority in Japan until 1868.
SHORTLY after Henry II of England came to the throne in 1154, bringing almost twenty years of civil war in England to an end,* Imperial Japan was embroiled in her own. The practice of allowing Emperors to retire to the cloister had let loose a bitter rivalry between their heirs, and the Hogen Rebellion in 1156 established a lasting enmity between the Taira and Minamoto clans. Even as Henry’s ambitious sons Richard and John jockeyed for position in France, samurai warrior Oba Kagechika of the Taira clan inflicted a damaging defeat on Minamoto no Yoritomo at the Battle of Ishibashiyama on September 14th, 1180, during the Genpei War.*
The story goes that Yoritomo fled to the Hakone mountains, and Kagechika immediately organised a manhunt led by his cousin Kajiwara Kagetoki.* Kagetoki tracked his enemy without much difficulty to a large tree with a hollow bole, but did not raise the alarm. In happier times Yoritomo had been his friend, and Kagetoki went back to Kagechika empty handed, reporting that Yoritomo was nowhere to be found.
See Home Page and King Henry II.
Précis
IN 1156 civil war broke out in Japan between the Taira and Minamoto clans. At the Battle of Ishibashiyama in 1180 the Taira commander Oba Kagechika overcame Minamoto Yoritomo, who fled into the nearby forest and hid in a hollow tree trunk. There Kagetoki, Kagechika’s cousin, spied him; nevertheless, he reported back that Yoritomo had vanished without trace. (58 / 60 words)
IN 1156 civil war broke out in Japan between the Taira and Minamoto clans. At the Battle of Ishibashiyama in 1180 the Taira commander Oba Kagechika overcame Minamoto Yoritomo, who fled into the nearby forest and hid in a hollow tree trunk. There Kagetoki, Kagechika’s cousin, spied him; nevertheless, he reported back that Yoritomo had vanished without trace.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, despite, if, just, or, ought, unless, until.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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