Kusunoki Masatsura


Kusunoki Masatsura, along with his father Masashige and brother Masanori, was a supporter of the Southern Imperial Court during Japan's Nanbokucho Wars.
Masatsura was one of the primary military leaders who revived the Southern Court in the 1340s. The Court had had little to no resources for three years; the strategy was too focused on defending their base at Yoshino, and not on gaining allies, land, or income. The Kusunoki family, and Masatsura in particular, fought to gain power and support for the Emperor. In 1347, Masatsura led an attack on bakufu sympathizers in Kii Province and ended up attracting supporters from Kii, as well as Izumi and Settsu Provinces. When the Shōgun's Northern Court sent Hosokawa Akiuji to stop him, Masatsura met Hosokawa and defeated him at Sakainoura. Because of his loyalty Emperor Go-Daigo rewarded him with the most beautiful woman in the palace, called Ben-Naishi, as his wife. After several more campaigns against the bakufu, Masatsura was killed in the Battle of Shijō Nawate, in February 1348 at the age of 22.
Before he died, he composed a death poem on the Nyoirin-ji temple door in Yoshino, the location of Go-Daigo's tomb:

In popular culture

In Equinox Flower, a 1958 color Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu, one of the characters declaims a poet "based on a death poem of patriot Kusunoki Masatsura". Whether it has to do with the above poem is unknown.
An approximate translation is :