The Tale of the Heike
Heike (平家) refers to the Taira (平), hei being the on'yomi reading of the first kanji and "ke" (家) meaning "family".
However, in the term "the Genpei War" "hei" is read as "pei" and the "gen" (源) is the first kanji in "Genji" the alternative name for the Minamoto clan.
According to Kenkō, "The former governor of Shinano, Yukinaga, wrote Heike monogatari and told it to a blind man called Shōbutsu to chant it".
He also confirms the biwa connection of that blind man, who "was natural from the eastern tract", and who was sent from Yukinaga to "recollect some information about samurai, about their bows, their horses and their war strategy.
One of the key points in this theory is that the book was written in a difficult combination of Chinese and Japanese (wakan konkō shō), which in those days was mastered only by educated monks and nobles, such as Yukinaga.
However, in the end, as the tale is the result of a long oral tradition, there is no single true author; Yukinaga is only one possibility of being the first to compile this masterpiece into a written form.
[4] Those who emphasise this aspect of the story point to its glorification of the heroic spirit, its avoidance of the realistic brutality and squalor of war, and its aestheticisation of death:[5] a classic instance of the latter is the comparison of the drowned samurai in the final battle to a maple-leaf brocade upon the waves.
[6] Others, while still accepting the importance of the military episodes and of heroic figures like Yoshitsune, would emphasise instead the Tale’s immersion in Buddhist thought, and its themes of duty, Dharma, and fate.
[7] Announced at the very beginning is the Buddhist law of transience and impermanence,[8] specifically in the form of the fleeting nature of fortune, an analog of sic transit gloria mundi.
The theme of impermanence (mujō) is captured in the famous opening passage:– 祇園精舎の鐘の聲、諸行無常の響き有り。 沙羅雙樹の花の色、盛者必衰の理を顯す。 驕れる者も久しからず、唯春の夜の夢の如し。 猛き者も遂には滅びぬ、偏に風の前の塵に同じ。 Gionshōja no kane no koe, Shogyōmujō no hibiki ari.
The sound of the Gion Shōja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sāla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline.
[9] The Buddhist theme of impermanence in the Heike is epitomised in the fall of the powerful Taira – the samurai clan who defeated the imperial-backed Minamoto in 1161.
The Taira warrior family sowed the seeds of their own destruction with acts of arrogance and pride that led to their defeat in 1185 at the hands of the revitalized Minamoto, and the first establishment of samurai government (Kamakura shogunnate).
[citation needed] The central figure of the first section is Taira no Kiyomori who is described as arrogant, evil, ruthless and so consumed by the fires of hatred that even in death his feverish body does not cool when immersed in water.
The accuracy of each of these historical records has become a compelling subject for further study; and some accounts have been shown to withstand, while other presumed "facts" have turned out to be inaccurate.
[14] The most prevalent and well known edition of the Tale of the Heike today, the 1371 Kakuichi text, is generally thought to be a fictional dramatization of the Genpei War.
The two main themes are set in the famous introduction (the bells of the Gion Shōja): impermanence and the fall of the mighty (Taira no Kiyomori).
The Taira clan members occupy major government positions, Kiyomori's daughter becomes the Emperor's wife, and more than half of all the provinces are under their control.
Angered by the Taira dominance, Major Counselor Fujiwara no Narichika, Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, Buddhist monk Saikō and others meet at Shishigatani (the villa of the temple administrator Shunkan) and plot a conspiracy to overthrow Kiyomori.
Taira no Shigemori, the eldest virtuous son of Kiyomori, successfully admonishes his father by reminding him of the Confucian value of loyalty to the Emperor.
[18] The illness of Kiyomori's pregnant daughter, Taira no Tokuko, is attributed to angry spirits of the executed (such as Fujiwara no Narichika) and the exiled.
Fujiwara no Narichika's son Naritsune and Yasuyori are pardoned, but Shunkan is left alone on Kikaijima for letting the anti-Taira conspirators gather at his villa.
Upon hearing the rumours of an attack being planned by the Taira, monks of the Kōfukuji temple (who supported the rebellion of Prince Mochihito) revolt and kill messengers sent by Kiyomori.
Taira forces lay siege to Nara and burn many important temples (Tōdai-ji, Kōfuku-ji), statues and Buddhist texts.
Yoshinaka's rudeness and lack of knowledge about etiquette are shown to be ridiculous in several episodes (makes fun of courtiers, wears tasteless hunting robes, does not know how to get out of a carriage).
Yoshitsune takes control of the capital and guards the mansion of the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, not letting Yoshinaka's men capture him.
While the Minamoto fight among themselves in the capital, the Taira move back to Fukuhara and set up defences at the Ichi-no-tani stronghold (near what is now Suma-ku, Kobe).
Taira no Shigehira (Kiyomori's son who burned Nara), deserted by his men at Ikuta-no-mori, is captured alive trying to commit suicide.
In the famous and tragic passage, Kiyomori's widow, holding young Emperor Antoku in her arms, commits suicide by drowning.
[…] It constitutes a single literary entity – a tale in the old monogatari style, rich in poetic imagery, rhythmic passages, waka, and melancholy associations.
