Tom Holland

And so they fought, now closing, now breaking.

What shall Benkei do?

For when he thinks that he has conquered, with his little sword, the boy thrusts the blow aside.

Again and again, Benkei strikes.

Again and again, his blows are parried, till at last even he, mighty Benkei, can do battle no longer.

So that's a scene from the Japanese Noh play, if you like Noh theatre.

It's called Benkei on the Bridge, and it was written in the 15th century.

And it describes perhaps the most celebrated fight in the entire history of the samurai.

So the British Museum right now, there are three different illustrations of this tremendous encounter.

Tom, you love the story of Benkei on the Bridge, don't you?

I do.

Those sort of Zen gardens of a lot of gravel.

He could be raking his Zen garden.

Yeah, but maybe lulling him into a false sense of security, is he?

And who is this person who's defeated him?

So we're in 12th century Japan, so medieval Japan.

The emperors have become slightly sort of… Kind of ciphers almost.

Yeah, ciphers, almost like puppet figures.

And these two clans, loosely related to the imperial family, sort of semi-detached from the imperial family…

What are they called?