On the twenty-fourth of the third month of 1185, at Dannoura in Nagato, the last battle between the Minamoto and the Taira was fought. At first the Taira, riding the tide, had the upper hand, but when the tide turned, the Minamoto took the offensive. The Taira warships fell one after another.
Taira no Tomomori came to the emperor's ship and said, "It is all over now. Throw everything unseemly into the sea," and swept the ship clean himself. When the court ladies asked, "Middle Counselor, how goes the battle?", Tomomori laughed aloud: "You'll soon be seeing some rare men from the east."
Kiyomori's wife, the Nun of the Second Rank (Taira no Tokiko), had made up her mind. She drew a dark gray mourning robe over her head, tucked up the hem of her glossed-silk skirt, put the sacred jewel under her arm and the sacred sword at her waist, and took up the young Emperor Antoku in her arms. The emperor was eight, but seemed older than his years, and his hair hung down below his back.
The emperor, startled, said, "Grandmother, where are you taking me?" Holding back her tears, the nun said, "Do you not know yet? By good deeds in a former life you were born emperor, but drawn by evil karma, your fortune has run out. First face east and bid farewell to the Great Shrine of Ise, then face west and, thinking to be welcomed by the Buddha of the Western Pure Land, recite the nembutsu. This land is a place of much sorrow, so I am taking you to the fine place called the Pure Land of Paradise," she said, weeping.
The emperor joined his small hands, bowed to the east and bade farewell to the Great Shrine of Ise, then faced west and recited the nembutsu. The nun held him close, comforted him, "There is a capital beneath the waves too," and sank to the bottom of the fathomless sea.
Tomomori said, "I have seen all that was worth seeing," put on two suits of armor, and went into the sea hand in hand with his foster brother. So the Taira, who had boasted of their glory, perished beneath the waves of Dannoura.