Lord Soma’s family genealogy, called the Chiken marokashi, was the best in Japan. One year when his mansion suddenly caught fire and was burning to the ground, Lord Soma said, "I feel no regret about the house and all its furnishings, even if they burn to the very last piece, because they are things that can be replaced later on. I only regret that I was unable to take out the genealogy, which is my family’s most precious treasure."
There was one samurai among those attending him who said, "I will go in and take it out." Lord Soma and the others all laughed and said, "The house is already engulfed in flames. How are you going to take it out?!" Now this man had never been loquacious, nor had he been particularly useful, but being a man who did things from beginning to end, he was engaged as an attendant. At this point he said, "I have never been of use to my master because I’m so careless, but I have lived resolved that someday my life should be of use to him. This seems to be that time."
And he leapt into the flames. After the fire had been extinguished the master said, "Look for his remains. What a pity!" Looking everywhere, they found his burnt corpse in the garden adjacent to the living quarters. When they turned it over, blood flowed out of the stomach. The man had cut open his stomach and placed the genealogy inside and it was not damaged at all.
From this time on it was called the "Blood Genealogy."
Source:
Tsunetomo, Yamamoto: Hagakure: Book of the Samurai. From the version hosted at the Internet Archive built from public domain translations, available here - p. 140f
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