Many of these warrior chronicles have no identifiable authors and actually were written by several people. For example, The Tales of the Heike draws on numerous setsuwa and has many variants. The Taiheiki also is the product of many writers, who did not know how the events would end, resulting in an open and unfinished work. The author(s) of these military tales did not, however, write the narratives from beginning to end; instead, they edited and rewrote the transmitted texts, much as the editors of the setsuwa collections did, to suit their own ends.
Another notable characteristic of warrior chronicles like The Tales of the Heike and the Taiheiki is that they often allude to Chinese history and Chinese texts, comparing the disorder and dangers of the present with those in the past and drawing lessons from this comparison or pointing to similarities. In this regard, they belong to a larger tradition of historical narrative.
The military narratives were transmitted in two ways: as read text (yomi-mono), which could be used for sermons and other functions, and as orally recited material (katari-mono) performed by biwa hōshi (blind lute minstrels) or storytelling monks (monogatari sō) attached to armies. Hōgen monogatari, Heiji monogatari, and Heike monogatari were recited by biwa hōshi, and the Taiheiki and the Meitokuki were recited by monogatari sō.
These warrior tales, which belonged to performative traditions, later were heavily used and absorbed by other genres such as nō, kōwakamai, otogi-zōshi (Muromachi tales), jōruri, kabuki, Tokugawa fiction, and modern novels.
Chronology of Major Incidents in Warrior Tales
Jōhei–Tengyō disturbance (935–941) Shōmonki
Hōgen disturbance (1156) Hōgen monogatari
Heiji disturbance (1159) Heiji monogatari
Struggle between Heike and Genji lineages (1180), with Heike destroyed at Dan-no-ura (1185)
Heike monogatari
Jōkyū disturbance (1221) Jōkyūki
Kenmu restoration (1334), with Ashikaga Takauji as Seii taishogun (barbarian-subduing generalissimo) (1338)
Taiheiki
THE TALES OF THE HEIKE (HEIKE MONOGATARI , MID-THIRTEENTH CENTURY)
The Tales of the Heike is about the Genpei war (1180–1185), fought between the Heike (Taira) lineage, led by Taira no Kiyomori, and the Genji (Minamoto) lineage, whose head became Minamoto no Yoritomo. The Taira’s initial, rapid ascent to power was followed by a series of defeats, including their abandonment of the capital in 1183 (taking with them Antoku, the child emperor). By 1183 Yoritomo had gained control of the Kantō, or eastern, region; Kiso no Yoshinaka, another Minamoto leader, had brought Kyoto under his power; and the Taira had fallen back to the Inland Sea. In an interlude of fighting among the Minamoto, Yoritomo and his half brother (Minamoto) Yoshitsune defeated Yoshinaka in 1184. In a decisive battle at Ichi-no-tani in 1184, near the present-day city of Kobe, Yoshitsune, leading the Minamoto forces, decisively turned back the Taira, driving them into the Inland Sea. Finally, in 1185, the last of the Taira forces were crushed at Dan-no-ura, in a sea battle at the western end of the Inland Sea. In the same year, Rokudai, the last potential heir of the Taira clan, was captured and eventually executed.
This war between the Taira and the Minamoto marked the beginning of the medieval period and also became the basis for The Tales of the Heike, which focuses on the lives of various warriors from both military houses, particularly those of the defeated. The narrative also includes numerous non-samurai stories drawn from anecdotes (setsuwa), many of which deal with women and priests, that were frequently transformed by the composers of the Heike into Buddhist narratives, much like the anecdotes in Buddhist setsuwa collections. Therefore, even though The Tales of the Heike is a military epic, it has strong Buddhist overtones, which are especially evident in the opening passage on impermanence, in many of the stories of Buddhistic disillusionment and awakening (such as those about Giō or Koremori), and in the final “Initiates’ Book” (Kanjō no maki) leading to the salvation of Kenreimon’in, the daughter of Kiyomori, who has a vision of the fall of her clan.
The first variants of The Tales of the Heike were probably recorded by writers and priests associated with Buddhist temples who may have incorporated Buddhist readings and other folk material into an earlier chronological, historically oriented narrative. These texts, in turn, were recited from memory, accompanied by a lute (biwa) played by blind minstrels (referred to as biwa hōshi), who entertained a broad commoner audience and had an impact on subsequent variants of The Tales of the Heike, which combined both literary texts and orally transmitted material. The many variants of The Tales of the Heike differ significantly in content and style, but the most famous today is the Kakuichi text, part of which is translated here. This variant was recorded in 1371 by a man named Kakuichi, a biwa hōshi who created a twelve-book narrative shaped around the decline of the Heike (Taira) clan. At some point “The Initiates’ Book,” which unifies the long work and gives it closure as a Buddhist text, was added, as well as sections that were inspired by Heian monogatari and centered on women and the private life of the court.
Thanks largely to Kakuichi, the oral biwa performance of The Tales of the Heike eventually won upper-class acceptance and became a major performing art, reaching its height in the mid-fifteenth century. After the Ōnin war (1467–1477), the biwa performance declined in popularity and was replaced by other performance arts, such as nō and kyōgen (comic drama), but The Tales of the Heike continued to serve as a rich source for countless dramas and prose narratives. Indeed, most of the sixteen warrior pieces (shuramono) in today’s nō drama repertoire are from The Tales of the Heike. Heike heroes began appearing in the ballad dramas (kōwakamai) in the sixteenth century, and in the Tokugawa period, stories from The Tales of the Heike became the foundation for a number of important kabuki and jōruri (puppet) plays, thus making it one of the most influential works of premodern Japanese culture.
The first half of the Heike, books one through six, relates the history of Kiyomori, the head of the Taira (Heike) clan, who comes into conflict with the retired emperor GoShirakawa and then with various members of the Minamoto (Genji) clan. The second half, books seven through twelve, is about three important Minamoto (Genji) leaders: Yoritomo, the head of the Genji in the east; Yoshinaka, who becomes a Genji leader farther to the west; and Yoshitsune, Yoritomo’s brother. However, the real focus of the narrative is not on the Genji victors—in fact, Yoritomo, the ultimate victor, plays almost a peripheral role—but on a series of defeated Taira figures: Shigemori, Shigehira, Koremori, Munemori, and Kenreimon’in—all descendants of Kiyomori—who, bearing the sins of the forefather, suffer different fates on their way to death. In short, in the first half, The Tales of the Heike centers on the Taira, on Kiyomori, the clan leader, and, in the second half, on the various defeated Taira, almost all of whom die or are executed. (Also important in the second half is the fall of the former Genji leader, Kiso Yoshinaka, who is defeated by Yoritomo.) It is not until “The Initiates’ Book” that the tragedy of the Taira becomes an opportunity for reconciliation, between Kenreimon’in, Kiyomori’s daughter, and the retired emperor GoShirakawa, who had been victimized by Kiyomori.
Key Figures
Imperial Family
ANTOKU (r. 1180–1185): emperor and son of Emperor Takakura and Kenreimon’in; is held by the Taira clan and drowns at Dan-no-ura.
GOSHIRAKAWA (1127–1192, r. 1155–1158): retired emperor, head of the imperial clan, and son of Retired Emperor Toba.
KENREIMON’IN (1155–1213): daughter of Kiyomori and Tokiko (Nun of the Second Rank), consort of Emperor Takakura, mother of Emperor Antoku, and full sister of Munemori, Tomomori, and Shigehira; is taken prisoner at Dan-no-ura and dies a nun.
MOCHIHITO, PRINCE (1151–1180): second son of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa and leader of an anti-Taira revolt in 1180; also called Prince Takakura.
NUN OF THE SECOND RANK: principal wife of Kiyomori and mother of Munemori, Shigehira, and Kenreimon’in; dies at Dan-no-ura.
TAKAKURA: emperor and son of Retired Emperor GoShirakawa.
TOBA: retired emperor and father of Retired Emperor GoShirakawa.
Taira (Heike)
ATSUMORI: nephew of Kiyomori; dies at Ichi-no-tani.
KIYOMORI: son of Tadamori and, after his father’s death, Taira clan head; dominates the court even after taking vows.
KOREMORI: eldest son of Shigemori; commits suicide after taking vows.
MUNEMORI: son of Kiyomori and Nun of the Second Rank and, after Shigemori’s death, Taira clan head.
ROKUDAI: son of Koremori, grandson of Shigemori, and presumptive Taira clan head after the Genpei war.
SHIGEHIRA: son of Kiyomori and Nun of the Second Rank; a Taira leader largely responsible for the burning of Nara; captured at Ichi-no-tani and later executed.
SHIGEMORI: eldest son of Kiyomori and, until his early death, a restraining influence on Kiyomori.
TADAMORI: father of Kiyomori and a former Taira clan head.
TADANORI: younger brother of Kiyomori.
Genealogy of key figures in The Tales of the Heike.
Minamoto (Genji)
YORITOMO: leader of the Minamoto in the east and founder of the Kamakura shogunate after the Genpei war.
YOSHINAKA: cousin of Yoritomo and leader of the Minamoto in the north; captures Kyoto and later is killed by Yoritomo’s forces; also called Lord Kiso.
YOSHITSUNE: younger half brother of Yoritomo and one of Yoritomo’s chief commanders; defeats the Heike at Dan-no-ura.
Priests
MONGAKU: monk; incites Yoritomo to rebel against the Taira.
SHUNKAN: bishop and Shishi-no-tani conspirator.
Book One
THE BELLS OF GION MONASTERY (1:1)
The bells of the Gion monastery in India echo with the warning that all things are impermanent.126 The blossoms of the sala trees teach us through their hues that what flourishes must fade.127 The proud do not prevail for long, but vanish like a spring night’s dream. The mighty too in time succumb: all are dust before the wind.
Long ago in a different land, Zhao Gao of the Qin dynasty in China, Wang Mang of the Han, Zhu Yi of the Liang, and An Lushan of the Tang all refused to be governed by former sovereigns. Pursuing every pleasure, deaf to admonitions, unaware of the chaos overtaking the realm, ignorant of the sufferings of the common people, before long they all alike met their downfall.
More recently in our own country there have been men like Masakado, Sumitomo, Gishin, and Nobuyori, each of them proud and fierce to the extreme. The tales told of the most recent of such men, Taira no Kiyomori, the lay priest of Rokuhara and at one time the prime minister, are beyond the power of words to describe or the mind to imagine.
Kiyomori was the oldest son and heir of Taira no Tadamori, the minister of punishments, and the grandson of Masamori, the governor of Sanuki. Masamori was a ninth-generation descendant of Prince Kazurahara, a first-rank prince and the minister of ceremonies, the fifth son of Emperor Kanmu.
KIYOMORI’S FLOWERING FORTUNES (1:5)
Not only did Kiyomori himself climb to the pinnacle of success, but all the members of his family enjoyed great good fortune as well. Kiyomori’s eldest son, Shigemori, became a palace minister and a major captain of the left; his second son, Munemori, became a junior counselor and a major captain of the right; his third son, Tomomori, rose to the level of middle captain of the third court rank; and his grandson, Shigemori’s heir Koremori, rose to that of lesser captain of the fourth court rank. In all, sixteen members of the family became high-ranking officials; more than thirty were courtiers; and a total of more than sixty held posts as provincial governors, guards officers, or officials in the central bureaucracy. It seemed as though there were no other family in the world but this one….
In addition, Kiyomori had eight daughters, all of whom fared well in life…. One of them was made the consort of Emperor Takakura and bore him a son who became crown prince and then emperor, at which time she received the title of Kenreimon’in. Daughter of the lay priest and the prime minister, mother of the ruler of the realm, nothing further need be said about her good fortune….
GIŌ (1:6)
As prime minister, Kiyomori now held the entire realm within the four seas in the palm of his hand. Thus ignoring the carpings of the age and turning a deaf ear to censure, he indulged in one caprice after another. An example was the case of Giō and Ginyo, sisters renowned in the capital at that time for their skillful performance as shirabyōshi dancers. They were the daughters of a shirabyōshi dancer named Toji. Giō, the older sister, had succeeded in winning extraordinary favor with Kiyomori. Thus the younger sister, Ginyo, also enjoyed wide repute among the people of that time. Kiyomori built a fine house for their mother, Toji, providing her with a monthly stipend of a hundred piculs of rice and a hundred strings of coins, so that the entire family prospered and lived a life of ease.
The first shirabyōshi dancers in our country were two women, named Shima-no-senzai and Waka-no-mai, who introduced this type of dancing during the time of the retired emperor Toba. Such dancers originally wore white jackets of the kind called suikan and tall black hats and carried silver-hilted daggers, pretending to be male dancers. Later they dropped the black hat and dagger and simply retained the suikan jacket, at which time they became known as shirabyōshi, or “white tempo,” dancers.
As Giō became renowned among the shirabyōshi of the capital for the extraordinary favor she enjoyed, some people envied her and others spoke spitefully of her. Those who envied her would say, “What splendid good fortune this Lady Giō enjoys! Any woman entertainer would be delighted to be in her place. Her good fortune doubtless derives from the Gi element that makes up the first part of her name. We should have a try at that too!” Giichi, Gini, Gifuku, and Gitoku were some of the names that resulted.
The scorners took a different view. “How could fortune come from a name alone?” they asked. “It is due solely to good karma acquired in a previous existence!” and for the most part they declined to change their names.
After some three years had passed, another highly skilled shirabyōshi dancer appeared in the capital, a native of the province of Kaga named Hotoke, or “Buddha.” She was said to be only sixteen. Everyone in the capital, high and low alike, exclaimed over her, declaring that among all the shirabyōshi dancers of the past, none could rival her.
Lady Hotoke thought to herself, “I have won fame throughout the realm, but I have yet to realize my true ambition, to be summoned by this prime minister of the Taira clan who is now at the height of power. Since it is the practice among entertainers, why should I hold back? I will go and present myself!” Accordingly she went and presented herself at Kiyomori’s Nishihachijō mansion.
When Kiyomori was informed that the Lady Hotoke who enjoyed such renown in the capital at that time had come to call, he retorted, “What does this mean? Entertainers of that type should wait for a summons—they simply do not take it upon themselves to appear! I don’t care whether she’s a god or a buddha—I already have Giō in my service! Send her away!”
Refused admission in this summary manner, Hotoke was preparing to take her leave when Giō spoke to the prime minister. “It is quite customary for entertainers to present themselves in this way. Moreover, the girl still is young and just has happened to hit on this idea; it would be a shame to dismiss her so coldly. I, for one, would be greatly distressed. Because we are devotees of the same art, I cannot help feeling sympathy for her. Even if you do not let her dance or listen to her singing, at least admit her into your presence before you send her away. That would be the kind thing to do. Bend your principles a bit and call her in.”
“If you insist,” replied Kiyomori, “I will see her,” and he sent word to have her admitted.
Having been rudely dismissed, Lady Hotoke was about to get into her carriage and leave, but at the summons she returned and presented herself.
“I had no intention of admitting you,” Kiyomori announced when the
y met. “But for some reason Giō was so adamant that, as you see, I agreed to the meeting. And since you are here, I suppose I should find out what sort of voice you have. Try singing an imayō for me.”
“As you wish,” replied Lady Hotoke, and she obliged with the following song in the imayō style:
Since I met you,
I’m like the little pine destined for a thousand years!
On turtle-shape isles of your pond,
how many the cranes that flock there!128
She repeated the song, singing it over three times while all the persons present listened and looked on in wonder at her skill.
Kiyomori was obviously much impressed. “You are very good at imayō,” he said, “and I have no doubt that your dancing is of the same order. Let’s have a look. Call in the musicians!”
When the musicians appeared, Hotoke performed a dance to their accompaniment. Everything about her was captivating, from her hairdo and costume to her appearance as a whole, and her voice was pleasing and artfully employed, so her dancing could not fail to make an impression. In fact, it far exceeded Kiyomori’s expectations, and he was so moved by her performance that he immediately fell in love with her.
“This is somewhat troubling,” said Hotoke. “Originally I was not to be admitted but was sent away at once. But through the kind offices of Lady Giō, I was allowed to present myself. Having done so, I would be most reluctant to do anything that would counter Lady Giō’s intentions. I beg to be excused as soon as possible so that I may be on my way.”
“There is no reason for that!” replied Kiyomori. “But if you feel uneasy in Giō’s presence, I will see that she leaves.”
“But how would that look?” objected Hotoke. “I was uneasy enough to find that the two of us had been summoned here together. If now, after all her kindness, she were dismissed and I were to remain behind, think how dreadful I would feel! If by chance you happen to remember me, perhaps you might summon me again at some future time. But for today I beg to take my leave.”
Traditional Japanese Literature Page 50