We are approaching a flat, plateau-esque silhouette that looks like the roof of a building.
This is Yashima.
An island stage upon which history has been written and handed down many times.

It was the end of the Heian Period.
Exiled from Kyoto, the Taira Clan at last escaped here to Yashima. Their last base of operations, here they built a palace for Emperor Antoku amidst the backdrop of the Inland Sea.

Fate, however, intervened. For the Minamoto Clan’s great army had already closed in on them.
Led by Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune, the army sailed from Osaka Bay to Shikoku on a single stormy night. Undaunted, they fought the winds with oar and sail. The story goes that by dawn they’d already arrived at a beach overlooking Yashima.

The carnage of war sets the stage for the most famous scene of this story. At dusk, a folding fan rises from the bow of a Taira vessel. It was a divination ceremony; pierce the fan with an arrow to predict the outcome of the battle.

Yoshitsune called for Nasu-no-Yoichi, his master archer.
Yoichi hesitated for a moment. Hitting a small fan on a small ship rocked by waves seemed next to impossible.

And yet, Yoichi’s will was iron. He leaned forward on his horse, facing the sea.
He let his arrow fly, ripping open a silence that begged to be broken.
The arrow whistled, cutting a graceful arc across the sky. And with precision, it found its mark.

Yoichi’s feat stopped everyone, friend or foe, in their tracks, frozen in admiration and astonishment – if only for a moment.

The Taira Clan went on to lose the battle. Eventually they retreated west, and were finally crushed at the Battle of Dan-no-Ura. Still, on that previous night, Yashima left its mark on history as a seaborne battlefield.

Look through your window and see Yashima’s flat ridgeline.

It is more than just topography. It has seen glory and ruin, valor and regret. It is a grand stage reflecting the hopes of countless people.