On their way, when they encountered a band of chasers to hunt down the surviving soldiers in Mino Province, he hastily made Yoshitomo escape and he killed himself after shouting, 'I am MINAMOTO no Yoshitomo, I tell you.'
途中、美濃国にて落武者狩りの一団に遭遇した際、義朝を逃した上で「我こそは源義朝なり」と名乗って自決した。