Musashibō Benkei

Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Benkei fight on the Gojō Bridge, color woodcut by Kuniyoshi , around 1850

Musashibō Benkei ( Japanese 武 蔵 坊 弁 慶 , * 1155 ; † 1189 ), often called Benkei for short , was a Japanese warrior monk ( Sōhei ) in the service of Minamoto no Yoshitsune . As a fighter, he is one of the most popular figures in Japanese folklore , which describes him as a loyal and strong fighter. His life was told over and over again in numerous pieces of the Kabuki and Noh theater , which makes it very difficult to differentiate between fiction and facts in his biography today.

Life

There are various traditions about the descent of Benkei and his birth:

1. His father, the head of a temple shrine, raped his mother, the daughter of a blacksmith.
2. Benkei is the descendant of a temple deity.

He is often said to have demonic traits such as shaggy hair and long teeth, and Benkei may have been called Oniwaka ( 鬼 若 , devil boy ) in his youth .

He became a monk at a young age and traveled extensively between the various monasteries in Japan. At the time, the Buddhist monasteries of Japan were important centers of culture and enjoyed considerable political influence and military power. Like many other monks, Benkei was trained as a Sōhei in martial arts. He is said to have been two meters tall at the age of seventeen (a height that in Japan at that time must probably be attributed more to fiction). At this time he left the order and joined the Yamabushi , a group of monks living in seclusion in the mountains, who also cultivated martial traditions and whose hallmarks were black hats. Benkei is often shown wearing such a cap in many pictures today.

According to legend, Benkei is said to have guarded the Gojo Bridge in Kyoto , and to have taken weapons from anyone who wanted to cross it. After he finally collected 999 swords, he was defeated by Minamoto no Yoshitsune in his one thousandth duel. From then on he is said to have accompanied Yoshitsune as a henchman and fought with him in the Gempei War against the Taira clan.

After the final victory of the Minamoto over the Taira in the sea ​​battle of Dan-no-ura , Yoshitsune was betrayed by his older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo , who turned against him. For the next two years, Benkei accompanied Yoshitsune as an outlaw. Eventually they were both encircled in the Takadachi castle . According to legend, Benkei is said to have fought to the end of the gates to the castle in which Yoshitsune was pierced, pierced by arrows and died standing up and no soldier dared to walk past the dead Benkei, thereby enabling Yoshitsune to commit ritual suicide ( Seppuku ).

The fact of his death is still preserved today in the Japanese proverb "Benkei no nakidokoro" ( 弁 慶 の 泣 き 所 , literally: Benei's weak point ). In its use, it corresponds to the Achilles' heel that has become proverbial in German .

reception

The reason Benkei is so appealing to the Japanese folk is arguably its loyalty and honor. A Kabuki play shows Benkei in a moral dilemma between lying and trying to protect his master in order to cross a bridge. The critical moment and climax of the play is when the monk realizes his situation and vows to do his duty.

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  Benkei drags Miidera's bell up a mountain, depiction of Kuniyoshi

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  Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Benkei, representation of Yoshitoshi

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  The young Benkei

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Taiji Takashima: Kotowaza no izumi (Fountain of Japanese Proverbs). Tokyo, Hokuseido 1993, ISBN 4-590-00649-9 (five languages: English, German, French, Chinese, Japanese), Proverb No. 51, p. 18

Web links

Commons : Benkei  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Musashibō is the family name, Benkei the first name.