扇の芝
平等院に続く朱塗りの正門の近くに、「扇の芝」と呼ばれる小さな三角形の庭があります。この庭は、1180年に武士であり詩人でもあった源頼政が、宇治の戦いで敵対する平氏に敗北した後、儀式的自殺である切腹をした場所に当たります。
平家物語にも描かれる事件において、頼政は自軍が敗北を喫した後に平等院の境内に逃げ込みました。伝承によると、76歳の頼政のそばで、父を守ろうとした二人の息子も亡くなったようです。
自刃する前に頼政は歌を詠みました。「埋れ木の 花咲くこともなかりしに 身のなる果てぞ 悲しかりける」。頼政は仏教の浄土の方角である西向きになるように大きな扇を地面に置き、切腹をしました。そして死に際し、仏が降りてきて極楽に導いてくれると信じて「南無阿弥陀仏」と唱えました。頼政の死は、日本における侍の切腹の初めての例と言われており、侍の美徳を体現したとして後に称えられました。頼政の墓も、境内にあります。
いつこの庭が置かれたかは不明ですが、一番早いもので室町時代（1336―1573）に記載があります。
The Fan Lawn (Ogi-no-Shiba )
Near the main gate to Byodoin temple is a small, triangular garden known as the Fan Lawn. It marks the location where warrior and poet Minamoto no Yorimasa (1106–1180) performed seppuku, or ritual suicide, in 1180 after being defeated in the Battle of Uji by the rival Taira clan.
In an incident that is recounted in The Tale of the Heike, Yorimasa sought refuge in the grounds of Byodoin after his forces had been defeated. Two of his sons reportedly died alongside the 76-year-old Yorimasa as they tried to protect him.
Before killing himself, Yorimasa composed a poem:
Umoregi no
hana saku koto mo
nakarishi ni
mi no naru hate zo
kanashikarikeru)
My life that was like
a rotten branch
sinking into the earth,
fated to bear no fruit,
now comes to this sad end.
Yorimasa laid a large fan on the ground facing west, in the direction of the Pure Land (Jodo), and performed ritual suicide. As he lay dying, he chanted “Namu Amida Butsu” (Homage to Amida Buddha), an invocation to that Buddha to guide him and his sons to the Pure Land.
Yorimasa’s death was reportedly the first case of ritual suicide by a samurai in Japan, and he was subsequently honored for demonstrating the virtues of a samurai. Yorimasa’s grave is in the grounds of the temple.
It is not known when the Lawn was first laid out, but it was mentioned as early as the Muromachi period (1336–1573).
