his frail form
offers a salted tribute
to the warriors lying
dead and dying on and under
his geta. A thousand
clacking sounds rise up
into the stormy seas as
these tiny samurai know
defeat once
again.
The Samurai Ghost *****, or heike crab, was used by Carl Sagan in Cosmos to illustrate evolution and survival of the fittest. The battle of Dan-no-ura immortalized in the Tale of Heike was a pivotal moment in Japan’s history, which established the first military dictatorship and resulted in the death of a child emperor.