Minamoto (Genji) · —
Musashibō Benkei
“The Warrior Monk”
A warrior monk of prodigious strength, said to have been a monk of Mount Hiei. Legend has him challenge Yoshitsune on the Gojō bridge, lose, and follow him for the rest of his life as his foremost retainer. He supported Yoshitsune's flight from the capital and to Ōshū, and at the end at Koromogawa left the legend of "Benkei's standing death," dying on his feet with his body full of arrows. Much of his story is the colouring of later tales.
- Epithet
- “The Warrior Monk”
- Rank / office
- Retainer of Yoshitsune
- Domain / base
- —
- Side
- Minamoto (Genji)
- Lived
- birth unknown–1189
Life
- Bunji 1 Following the Flight from the Capital Followed Yoshitsune, now at odds with Yoritomo, to the west and on to Ōshū.
- Bunji 5 The Standing Death at Koromogawa Protected his lord at the Koromogawa residence and is said to have died standing, riddled with arrows.
Battles in this archive1 battles
Related sites
- Koromogawa residence site (Hiraizumi)
- Benkei's grave (Hiraizumi)