a movie script about one of the greatest Samurai in Japan in 940 CE

by Dr. Pelham Mead

I just finished my 24th movie script called, “Kozaisho.”She was the concubine of Samurai Taira No Masakado 900-940 CE in Northern Japan. Based on his true story I told his story through the eyes of his concubine. Japanese wives in those days lived with their fathers even after getting married as a tradition. Especially when the father was richer than the husband. Masakado’s father died when he was 13 and his Taira clan Uncle Kunika took over Masakado’s father’s ranches and homes and sent Masakado to serve under the Minister of the Right in the capital city of Koyoto. Fourteen years later Masakado returns as a trained warrior to claim his father’s estate only to be ambushed in 935 CE by his Cousins, sons of Uncle Kunika. Masakado and his small group of body guards managed to fight off the assassins killing all of the cousins attacking him. With that victor behind him he set out to kill Uncle Kunika, whom he found hiding in a farm house. He burnt the farm house down with Uncle Kunika inside.Upon returning to his home compound in Hitachi the other Uncles from the Taira clan began to plot against him and organized an army to kill Masakado. Masakado appealed to the Emperor and was forgiven for killing his cousins. The Taira clan sought out Masakado regardless and for several years attacks and counter attacks occurred. Masakado defeated all of the Governors in the Northern provinces and returned tax forffeited land to the farmers that the Governors had taken away. This made Masakado very popular with the farmers. Eventually, the Emperor was afraid Masakado would march on Koyoto and kill the Emperor so he hired two Samurai, one was a cousin Sadamori and the other a Samurai for hire. They track down Masakado with an Army of five thousand and did battle agains Masakado’s small army of five hundred. Masakado was killed with an arrow to his eye and Sadamori beheaded the dead corpse and took Masakado’s head back to the Emperor. When the head was hung from an Apple tree in the Koyoto market place for many weeks it shouter out for it’s body. The eyes of the head remained open and the people were afraid that the head was cursed. Eventualy, the head disappeared and reappeared in a small fishing village called Edo which is now the modern day Tokoyo. He head was buried there in a sacred mound. Ten years later his daughter and son tried to raise a revolution against the Emperor and failed. They did succeed in expanding and building a large Shinto shrine to their father in Edo which remains even to this day. Every time over the hundreds of years someone tried to move the shrine or negatively affect the shrine bad fortune came to them. In WWII, General McArthur tried to move the shrine and put in a truck facility until a local Japanese businessman went to General McArthur and explained that the shrine was a sacred Shinto shrine for a great deity and disturbing it was a disgrace and bad fortune. General McArthur apologized and stopped the building of the truck garage and restored the Masakado shinto shrine to it’s original glory. It stands today in the financial district of Tokyo and Masakado has a holiday once a year celebrating his greatness and kindness to the Japanese farmers.LikeCommentShare