HEIKE MONOGATARI - 13TH CENTURY

THE TALE OF HEIKE 平家物語

The discussion below includes reference to the following translations and

secondary sources for The Tale of Heike:

Bownas, Geoffrey et.al. the Penguin Book of Japanese Verse. (Viking, 1986)

Keene, Donald ed. Anthology of Japanese Literature from the Earliest Era

to the Mid-Nineteenth Century. (Grove, 1988)

McCullough, Helen Craig tr. The Tale of the Heike. (Stanford, 1988)

Morris, Ivan. Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan. (Noonday, 1988)

AUTHOR AND DATE OF COMPOSITION UNKNOWN, BUT IT CAN SAFELY

BE SAID THAT THE WORK IS A BALLAD MEANT TO BE RECITED

BY A SINGLE VOICE AND ACCCOMPANIED BY A STRINGED

INTRUMENT KNOWN AS A BIWA琵琶.

IT IS SAID THAT THE MAIN PERFORMERS OF THIS BALLAD WERE

BLIND ITINERANT MONKS, LOOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH BUDDHIST

TEMPLES, WHO USED THEIR PERFORMANCES AS METHODS OF

TEACHING THE FAITH, AS WELL AS PROVIDING ENTERTAINMENT.

BY THE LATE MUROMACHI PERIOD, THESE MUSICIANS AND BALLADEERS

HAD ORGANIZED THEMSELVES INTO A GUILD, THE TODOKAI,

WHICH ENJOYED THE PATRONAGE OF THE ASHIKAGA AND

TOKUGAWA SHOGUNAL AUTHORITIES FOR THE NEXT TWO

HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS.

MODERNIZATION OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AND THE

ABOLISHMENT OF TOKUGAWA STATE POWERS LED TO

THE END OF OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT PROTECTION OF

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN THE 1870'S.

TO THIS DAY, TRADITIONAL JAPANESE MUSICAL FORMS AND

INSTRUMENTS HAVE NEVER BEEN TAUGHT IN JAPAN'S SCHOOL SYSTEM

AS IT IS CONCEIVED AND ADMINISTERED BY

THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION.

TWELVE BOOKS PLUS ONE BOOK OF ADDENDA

CONCERNING THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPRESS

KENREIMON'IN IN HER PLACE OF RETIREMENT

IN OHARA, A VILLAGE IN THE NORTHEAST OF

KYOTO, IN A NUNNERY KNOWN AS THE

JAKKOIN寂光院OR 'CLOISTER OF LONELY LIGHT.'

THE FIRST SIX CHAPTERS

CHRONICLE THE RISE OF THE TAIRA

FAMILY OF COURTIERS WHO MARRIED THEIR DAUGHTERS INTO THE

IMPERIAL FAMILY (AS HAD OTHER FAMILIES SUCH AS THE

FUJIWARA BEFORE THEM). BY THE MID-TWELFTH CENTURY,

THE TAIRA FAMILY PATRIARCH KIYOMORI HAD CONSOLIDATED HIS

POWER. IN THE ENSUING DECADES, HE BECAME THE FATHER OF

THE EMPRESS (KENREIMON'IN IN THE TALE OF HEIKE WHO

ESCAPES DROWNING AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE), AND THE

GRANDFATHER OF THE REIGNING EMPEROR (THE INFANT

ANTOKU, KENREIMONIN'S SON, WHO PERISHES IN THE TALE OF

HEIKE, DURING THE LAST BATTLE THE TAIRA WAGED AGAINST

THEIR ENEMIES, THE MINAMOTO, AT DAN NO URA).

CHAPTER SEVEN

BEGINS THE CHRONICLING OF THE END OF THE

TAIRA CLAN. MOST TEXTS IN ENGLISH DRAW THEIR MATERIAL

FROM THESE SECTIONS, MOST PROMINENTLY THE VERY LAST.

MAIN POINTS:

MUJO無常OR EVANESCENCE AS THE MAIN AESTHETIC OF THE

BALLAD. IN CONTRAST TO THE MORE BENIGN AESTHETIC CANON OF

THE HEIAN PERIOD (OKASHIをかしOR SENSING THE SURFACE OF

THE WORLD AND FINDING IT MARVELOUS, AND AWAREあはれOR

THE FUSION OF JOY AT THE EXCITEMENT OF THE ETERNALITY OF

THE WORLD WITH SADNESS AT THE THOUGHT

OF THE BREVITY OF HUMAN LIFE),

MUJO DEPENDS ON THE

CERTAINTY OF DEATH BY UNNATURAL METHODS SUCH AS THE

SWORD. WHEREAS MUJO IS A PRODUCT OF THE MILITARY

CONFLICTS OF JAPAN'S MIDDLE AGES, OKASHI AND AWARE

ARE PRODUCTS OF A LONGER ERA OF PEACE THAT PRECEEDED IT.

SEE THE PILLOW BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON FOR A SENSE OF THE

AESTHETIC OF OKASHI, THE TALE OF GENJI FOR A SENSE OF THE

AESTHETIC OF AWARE. BOTH TEXTS ARE COVERED ELSEWHERE IN

THIS SITE.

LITERARINESS:

HISTORY AS THE DEPICTION OF HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS,

NOT SIMPLY THE CHRONICLING OF EVENT. THE BALLAD THAT IS

THE TALE OF HEIKE IS DRAMATIC, THAT IS, IT CONTAINS

VOICES, DIALOGUES, AND WITNESSES THE FAILURE OF HUMAN

AMBITION. ABOVE ALL ELSE, THE TALE OF HEIKE IS THE MOST

POPULARLY, MOST OFTEN QUOTED AND ALLUDED TO WORK

IN TRADITIONAL JAPANESE DRAMATIC FORMS SUCH AS THE NOH,

THE BUNRAKU, AND THE KABUKI. THE THEME OF THE

'NOBILITY OF FAILURE' AS THE FORMER IVAN MORRIS

TERMED IT IN HIS FINE BOOK OF THE SAME TITLE, IS THE

ESSENTIAL JAPANESE WAY OF EXPRESSING THE FAILURE OF

THE HEROIC TYPE. IN THE RISE AND FALL DYNAMIC OF MOST

LITERATURE OF THIS TYPE, THE JAPANESE CONCENTRATE ON

THE FALL OF THE HERO.

SAMPLE SECTIONS:

Chapter One, Part I Gion Shoja

(The Opening Lines)

The pealing of the bells of the Jetavana temple

ring with the sound of the impermanence of all material

things. The color of the paired Sala trees gives

witness to the truth that all who flourish must necessarily

perish. Those who flaunt their pleasures are not long

for the world; they are as brief as the dream of a

Spring night. And the brave ones are vanquished

in the end; they are merely as specks of dust before

the wind. When we look at the records of courts distant

from our own, we encounter Zhao Gao of Qin, Wang Mang of

Han, Zhu Yi of Liang, and Lushan of Tang, all of whom were

loath to follow the dictates of the governments of their

ministers and Emperors, preferring instead to indulge their

pleasures, heed not the admonitions they heard,

until the state itself began to fall into civil strife

which they did not perceive, and until the people began

to suffer in anguish which they refused to acknowledge.

All were short-lived, and all are dead. Looking more

closely to our own courts, we have the examples of

Masakado in the Shohei era, Sumitomo in the Tengyo,

Yoshichika in the Kowa, and Nobuyori in the Heiji,

all of whom again dissipated their minds and

their bravery. Yet, in the more recent past, there is

the example of the Lay Priest of Rokuhara, the former

Great Minister of State, his Excellency the honorable

Taira Kiyomori, to tell of whom, as I about to do,

will require words and sentiment of which I have

scarcely the power to relay.

(translation by KLR)

Chapter Five, Part II Moon-Viewing (Bownas 92-93)

Incident related to the move of the capital from Kyoto

to Fukuhara, in the mountainside of what is

now modern Kobe, in 1180. Major Captain Sanesada has

journeyed back to the old capital to visit his sister,

the Empress Dowager. Her palaces lies in ruins.

There Sanesada meets a lady-in-waiting who is somewhat

of an amusing poetess. Sanesada composes a popular song

called an imayo about how sad it is to see the old city

in such a state, and stays the night with the lady.

On parting in the morning, another set of poems is exchanged.

This section is of a highly literary style rather than

a documentary style which characterizes more

masculine sections about the various battles.

Chapter Seven, Part XVI Tadanori's Flight from the Capital

(McCullough. The Tale of the Heike,p. 246-47)

This section must be read in connection

with the above-mentioned section, also dealing with the

literary quality of emotional response rather than

momentous event. In this case, it is the final meeting

between Taira Tadanori and his poetic mentor,

Fujiwara Shunzei, the most famous poet in the old

capital. It is a male farewell in contrast to the brief

amorous dalliance in the above section.

It is one of my favourite sections.

Chapter Nine: Part XVI The Death of Atsumori

Chapter Eleven: Part VII,VIII,IX The Fight at Dan no Ura

Initiates Chapter: Part I The Former Empress Becomes a Nun

Initiates Chapter: Part II The Former Empress Goes to Ohara

Initiates Chapter: Part III The Priestly Sovereign Goes to Ohara

Initiates Chapter: Part V The Passing Away of the Former Empress(The Last Lines)

(All of the above from Keene 171-183 to be read as assignments)

Initiates Chapter, Part V The Passing Away of the Imperial Lady

(Bownas 92-93)

The last poems left by the Empress Kenreimon'in

on her deathbed. Sanesada is at her side, the

Sanesada of the episode of the 'moon-viewing'

indicated above. This section is also much more in the

courtly tradition of literature The Tale of Heike tends to

replace rather than the masculine bravado of other sections

which are unique to the ballad's more modern form

as a 'military chronicle,' or gunki monogatari軍記物語.

(All sections not otherwise indicated are translated or paraphrased by Kenneth L. Richard)