Dominic Sandbrook

And presumably then the story of him being sent to the monastery is true.

I mean, that does kind of make sense.

But if he's sent to the monastery, then at some point he must have learned swordsmanship.

And if not with the great Tengu, then from someone else.

And as a youth, we know that he definitely did attract a band of formidable samurai.

And maybe Benkei, this warrior monk, was one of them.

Hold on, Benkei definitely existed?

There are early sources by which we mean kind of 60, 70 years after the events are supposed to have happened that do describe a warrior monk called Benkei in Yoshitsune's train.

The only issue being that he is described as being very thin and ascetic and not built like a rugby player.

But you could see perhaps, you know, it's a better story if he becomes this kind of great hulking monster in black armour.

Yeah, yeah.

Essentially, we don't really know anything about his youth.

He's a good swordsman.

He has this band of samurai.

He has discovered who his father is.

It's only when Yoshitsune is 20, so this is in the year 1180, that at last we get real historical certainty because this is the year when he emerges from this kind of obscurity that he's been veiled throughout his youth to join his half-brother, Yoritomo, who is now the head of the Minamoto clan.

And this is a very dramatic moment because the two half-brothers have never met before.

And it happens in the most iconic place possibly in the whole of Japan, in the shadow of Mount Fuji, where Yoritomo is standing guard.

And the reason that he is standing guard is because by this point, the Taira, led by Kiyomori, and the Minamoto, led by Yoritomo, are now at war.

Yes.