(Voice actor) Mr.David Radtke

Mount Atago in Minato ward, Tokyo, is 25.7 meters high. It’s not a high mountain, but this is the highest natural mountain in central Tokyo. Atago shrine on the top of Mount Atago is a shrine that Ieyasu Tokugawa built in 1603, in hopes that the town of Edo will not suffer from fire. Nowadays there are many high-rise buildings around it, but in the past, it was the highest place in Edo, where Mount Fuji could be seen, and many people of Edo visited the shrine as a scenic location. Also, after Ieyasu built the shrine, the Tokugawa clan began seizing power, so this shrine is known as “the shrine of nation-unifying” or “the shrine of victory,” and samurais around the country had faith in it. The feudal lords, wanting a piece of the luck of the Atago shrine’s god, built Atago shrines of their own in their territories, and since it was a shrine connected to Ieyasu, each Tokugawa shogun treasured the shrine. Atago shrine has two pathways to the main hall. One is gentle, but the distance is longer. This one is called the “Female Hill” because woman who don’t have much strength or endurance can climb it. The other one that is connected straight to the main hall, by a steep stone staircase, is called the “Male Hill.” The Male Hill is also known as the “stone staircase of advancement.” The 3rd shogun Iemitsu Tokugawa approached Mount Atago on his way back from the memorial service of his father Hidetada. Iemitsu ordered someone to get the plum flower at the top of Mount Atago. But the condition was to climb the mountain on a horse. If one could achieve this order in front of Iemitsu, it would be tremendous honor. So, three men took on the challenge, but the stone staircase was steep, and they all fell from their horses. Iemitsu was disheartened. While he knew that climbing the stone staircase with a horse is difficult, he had in mind a certain incident that required the horseback riding skill to successfully do so. During the Battle of Ichinotani in 1184, Yoshitsune Minamoto’s forces dashed down a precipitous cliff on horseback. He wanted to find a samurai he could count on if a war broke out and would be a need to ride a horse like that. Iemitsu felt that even though it had only been 20 years since his grandfather brought peace to Japan, but there were already no longer any samurais who could be counted on in a pinch. The fourth challenger was the vassal of the Ikoma family from Marugame domain, Sanuki (now Kagawa prefecture), Heikuro Magaki. Did Heikuro live up to shogun Iemotsu’s expectaions?