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The Tale of the Heike
The Tale of the Heike (平家物語, Heike Monogatari) is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185).
It has been translated into English at least five times. The first translation was by Arthur Lindsay Sadler, in 1918–1921. A complete translation in nearly 800 pages by Hiroshi Kitagawa & Bruce T. Tsuchida was published in 1975. It was also translated by Helen McCullough in 1988. An abridged translation by Burton Watson was published in 2006. In 2012, Royall Tyler completed his translation, which, he says, seeks to be mindful of the performance style for which the work was originally intended.
Historical novelist Eiji Yoshikawa published a prose rendering in the Asahi Weekly in 1950, under the title New Tale of the Heike (Shin Heike Monogatari).
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.
The Tale of the Heike's origin cannot be reduced to a single creator. Like most epics (the work is an epic chronicle in prose rather than verse), it is the result of the conglomeration of differing versions passed down through an oral tradition by biwa-playing bards known as biwa hōshi.
The monk Yoshida Kenkō (1282–1350) offers a theory as to the authorship of the text in his famous work Tsurezuregusa, which he wrote in 1330. 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. Yukinaga wrote it after that".
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. Moreover, as it is true that there are frequent steps back, and that the style is not the same throughout the composition, this cannot mean anything but that it is a collective work.
The story of the Heike was compiled from a collection of oral stories recited by travelling monks who chanted to the accompaniment of the biwa, an instrument reminiscent of the lute. The most widely read version of the Heike monogatari was compiled by a blind monk named Kakuichi, in 1371. The Heike is considered one of the great classics of Medieval Japanese literature.
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The Tale of the Heike
The Tale of the Heike (平家物語, Heike Monogatari) is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185).
It has been translated into English at least five times. The first translation was by Arthur Lindsay Sadler, in 1918–1921. A complete translation in nearly 800 pages by Hiroshi Kitagawa & Bruce T. Tsuchida was published in 1975. It was also translated by Helen McCullough in 1988. An abridged translation by Burton Watson was published in 2006. In 2012, Royall Tyler completed his translation, which, he says, seeks to be mindful of the performance style for which the work was originally intended.
Historical novelist Eiji Yoshikawa published a prose rendering in the Asahi Weekly in 1950, under the title New Tale of the Heike (Shin Heike Monogatari).
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.
The Tale of the Heike's origin cannot be reduced to a single creator. Like most epics (the work is an epic chronicle in prose rather than verse), it is the result of the conglomeration of differing versions passed down through an oral tradition by biwa-playing bards known as biwa hōshi.
The monk Yoshida Kenkō (1282–1350) offers a theory as to the authorship of the text in his famous work Tsurezuregusa, which he wrote in 1330. 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. Yukinaga wrote it after that".
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. Moreover, as it is true that there are frequent steps back, and that the style is not the same throughout the composition, this cannot mean anything but that it is a collective work.
The story of the Heike was compiled from a collection of oral stories recited by travelling monks who chanted to the accompaniment of the biwa, an instrument reminiscent of the lute. The most widely read version of the Heike monogatari was compiled by a blind monk named Kakuichi, in 1371. The Heike is considered one of the great classics of Medieval Japanese literature.