Hello and welcome to the history of Japan podcast episode Episode 623, The Great Peace, Part 2.

The first time that Emperor Go-Digo's plot to overthrow warrior rule in Japan and restore the power of the imperial court was foiled,

it was, at least according to Taiheiki, because of a woman.

Specifically, the text lays blame on one Toki Yoritazu, one of the warriors involved in

Godiggo's plot, who committed, the text says, the ultimate sin.

He loved his wife too much.

Quote, Yoritazu feared the coming parting with his beloved wife, saying to himself,

Not by one chance in a thousand may I escape death when disturbance afflicts the realm,

and the hosts clash in battle.

So it came about on a certain night when, after sleep, they two awakened to talk,

that suddenly he entreated his wife with flowing tears, saying,

Even when people take shelter together under the

same tree or dip water from a single stream, it must be because strong karma ties for many

lives bind them together. Close indeed must be your union with me, who have cherished you

tenderly for more than three years, yet uncertainty is the lot of mankind. Since we two share an eternal vow, let your

woman's heart remain chaste to the end if you should hear that my body has passed into

nothingness, and perform holy rights for my sake in the after existence. Now, that's obviously

a pretty weird thing to say out of nowhere, and of course, Yorikazu's wife, who is not given a name, asks her husband, what's going on?

That he felt he had to wake her up in the middle of the night to remind her to be chased if he dies.

And then, quote, the shallow-minded man spoke to her again,

Know then that the emperor has favored me with such a command

as I did not dream of, and places his trust in me. Thus I have become party to an imperial

...