The Tales of the Heike

by Burton Watson

  WIFE: of Koremori [10:8, 10:10, 10:12]; of Nobutaka [Initiates 1, 4]; of Shunkan [3:9 ]; of Takafusa [Initiates 1, 4].

  WIFE OF KIYOMORI: see Tokiko.

  WIFE OF MICHIMORI: see Kozaishō.

  YAMABUKI: woman attendant of Kiso no Yoshinaka [9:4].

  YAMAGAMI: Taira warrior at the battle of Uji [4:11].

  YASUKUNI: Murakami no Hangan Yasukuni, Genji warrior serving under Yoshitsune [9:12; 9:7].

  YASUTSUNA: native of Suruga Province who executes Rokudai [12:9].

  YASUYORI: Hei-hōgan (Taira police lieutenant) Yasuyori. Implicated in the Shishi-no-tani conspiracy, he is exiled to Kikai-ga-shima with Shunkan and Naritsune. On his way to the island, he takes religious vows. Throughout his exile, he leads Naritsune in prayer to the Kumano deities. One of the prayer stupas they cast in the water is brought to the capital and arouses the sympathy even of Kiyomori. Pardoned, he becomes a recluse and edits the Buddhist anthology A Collection of Buddhist Treasures (Hōbutsushū) [2:10, 2:15, 3:2, 3:9; 1:12, 2:3].

  YOICHI (1): Asari no Yoichi, skilled archer of the Genji of Kai Province. [11:8].

  YOICHI (2): see Munetaka.

  YOKOBUE: lesser maid-in-waiting (zōshi) to Kenreimon’in. After her former lover, Tokiyori, takes the tonsure and refuses to meet her, she enters a nunnery in Nara and dies soon afterward. Many variants describe her as throwing herself into the Ōi River. The best-known version of the story of Yokobue and Tokiyori (the Takiguchi novice) is the medieval Tale of Yokobue (Yokobue no sōshi) [10:8].

  YORIMASA: Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104–1180), of the third rank. A veteran warrior, he fights in the Hōgen and Heiji rebellions, first on Yoshitomo’s side in support of Emperor GoShirakawa (1156) and then aiding Kiyomori against Yoshitomo (1159). When Yorimasa is over seventy, he persuades Prince Mochihito to lend his name to a revolt against the Heike. The reasons given are essentially personal: his son has been humiliated by Kiyomori’s son Munemori. Yorimasa gains the support of the Miidera monks, who fight alongside his men at the battle of Uji. But the Kōfuku-ji monks arrive too late to prevent defeat, and Yorimasa commits seppuku in the Byōdō-in after reciting a final poem. The extended Yorimasa sequence in book four ends with the retelling of two highlights from his life—unusual feats of archery in the imperial service—but ends with condemnation: Yorimasa’s “pointless rebellion” led to his destruction and to the prince’s death [4:11; 1:11, 1:15, 4:3–6, 4:10, 4:12, 4:14, 4:15, 5:9, 7:10, 11:19].

  YORIMORI (1131–1186): son of Taira no Tadanori and the Ike Nun and Ike major counselor. After the Heiji rebellion (1159), his mother begs for Yoritomo to be exiled rather than executed. This may be one reason why Yorimori is kept at a distance by his half brother Kiyomori. When the Heike flee the capital in 1183, he decides to stay behind, trusting in Yoritomo’s promises of protection. His family regards him as a traitor, but when the Genji win the war, he is the only senior member of the Heike to escape execution or banishment [Initiates 5; 1:15, 3:4, 3:6, 4:2, 4:13, 5:1, 7:12, 7:19, 10:9, 10:13].

  YORITOMO (1147–1199): third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and half brother of Noriyori and Yoshitsune. After his father and older brothers Akugenda and Tomonaga die in the Heiji rebellion (1159), Yoritomo is captured in 1160. Spared execution, he lives as an exile in Izu, gaining the support of his erstwhile captor Hōjō Tokimasa and marrying his daughter Masako. In 1180 Yorimasa and his allies attack Heike supporters in the east but suffer a major defeat at Ishibashiyama. With a small group of survivors, Yoritomo escapes to Awa (present-day Chiba), then returns to Sagami, and sets up his headquarters in Kamakura, where he spends much of the remainder of the war. His cousin Yoshinaka and his half brothers Yoshitsune and Noriyori bring him victory in the war. The Kakuichi version is highly selective in its treatment of Yoritomo, saying little about how he gains the support of eastern warriors and omitting all but a mention of the battle of Ishibashiyama, which the other variants describe at great length. Mongaku is given a central role in persuading Yoritomo to join the revolt. Although he is eager to avenge his father’s death, Yoritomo wants his actions to be authorized by an imperial edict. The narrative legitimizes his war against the Heike by a convenient fiction: having him receive an imperial appointment as shogun at a date nine years earlier than the historical one, 1183 rather than 1192. The Kakuichi version does not disguise the ferocity with which Yoritomo consolidates his position during and after the war, most strikingly through the elimination of his own kin, but in the case of his persecution of Yoshitsune, much of the blame is shifted to Kagetoki and his slanders [6:7, 9:12, 10:5, 10:7, 11:7, 12:9; 3:17, 4:3, 5:3, 5:4, 5:6, 5:7, 5:10–12, 6:5, 6:6, 6:10, 6:12, 7:1, 7:2, 7:7, 7:12, 7:19, 8:4–6, 8:10, 8:11, 9:1, 9:3–5, 9:9, 9:10, 10:3, 10:4, 10:6, 10:13, 10:14, 11:1, 11:10, 11:14, 11:15, 11:17, 11:18, 12:2–8].

  YORIYOSHI: Minamoto no Yoriyoshi (988–1075) of Iyo Province. Successful in his northern wars against Abe Munetō and Sadatō, Yoriyoshi becomes the governor of Izu Province, founding a Hachiman shrine in Kamakura and expanding the influence of the Genji warriors in the east. In basing his headquarters in Kamakura and rebuilding the Hachiman shrine, Yoritomo is consciously emulating this ancestor [10:12; 1:11, 7:5].

  YOSHIHIRA: Kamakura no Akugenda Yoshihira (d. 1160), eldest son of Minamoto no Yoritomo. He dies in the Heiji rebellion [10:10; 6:5].

  YOSHIHISA: name given by Yoshitsune to Kumaō, son of the hunter Washio no Shōji Takehisa. He becomes Yoshitsune’s retainer and dies with him many years later in Ōshū [9:9].

  YOSHIMORI (1): Ise no Saburō Yoshimori (d. 1185), trusted warrior serving under Yoshitsune. The tale last mentions him fighting at the battle of Dan-no-ura. He dies the same year in a battle at Mount Suzuka in Ise Province [11.3, 11.5, 11.7, 11.8; 9:7, 11:1, 11:2, 11:6, 11:10].

  YOSHIMORI (2): Wada [no Kotarō] Yoshimori (1147–1213), Genji warrior and member of the Miura family of Sagami Province [11:8; 9:7].

  YOSHINAKA: Kiso no Yoshinaka (1154–1184), cousin of Minamoto no Yoritomo and Yoshitsune. Victor of a campaign against the Heike in the northwest (book seven), he occupies the capital after the Heike flee but later is killed on Yoritomo’s orders. In the episode translated here, Yoshinaka is generally referred to respectfully as Lord Kiso, whereas in those sections that mock his lack of courtly manners and political understanding, he is called simply Kiso [9:4, Initiates 4; 4:3, 4:14, 6:5, 6:6, 6:11, 6:12, 7:1–19, 8:1, 8:2, 8:4–11, 9:1–5, 10:13, 10:15, 11:1, 11:17, 12:4].

  YOSHITOMO: Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123–1160), father, by different women, of Akugenda Yoshihira, Tomonaga, Yoritomo, Yoshitsune, and Noriyori, among others. Feeling insufficiently rewarded for the part he played in ending the Hōgen rebellion (1156), Yoshimoto joins Fujiwara no Nobuyori in instigating the Heiji rebellion (1159). After his defeat, Yoshitomo flees to Owari, where he is betrayed and killed. It takes twenty years for the Genji to recover from their loses in the two short conflicts. In the first, Yoshitomo’s father, Tameyoshi, and many of his brothers are on the losing side and are executed. After the second, Yoshitomo and his elder two sons are killed. Yoshitomo’s head is publicly exhibited in the capital. In the Kakuichi version, Mongaku twice brings to Yoritomo what he claims to be Yoshitomo’s skull [1:7, 2:6, 4:3, 4:10, 5:7, 5:10, 10:1, 10:4, 11:18, 12:2].

  YOSHITSUNE (1159–1189): son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and Lady Tokiwa, half brother of Yoritomo and Noriyori, commander of Genji forces, and victor at Ichi-no-tani, Yashima, Dan-no-ura, and other battles. According to the narrative, Kagetoki’s “slander” of Yoshitsune causes Yoritomo to distrust him. The history of the young “Ushiwaka” is freely retold and reinvented in The Tale of Yoshitsune (Gikeiki), including his years at the Kurama-ji temple, his journey to northern Japan, and his acceptance by Fujiwara no Hidehira. The Tales of the Heike does not explain how Yoshitsune came to command an army. When we meet him, he is already an experienced general [9:9, 9:12, 10:5, 11:3–5, 11:7, 11:8; 4:3, 8:11, 9:1–3, 9:5, 9:7, 9:8, 10:1, 10:5, 10:14, 10:15, 11:1, 11:2, 11:6, 11:10–13, 11:15–18, 12:3–5, 12:8
].

  YOSHITSURA: Sawara no Jūrō Yoshitsura, Genji warrior from Miura in Sagami Province serving under Yoshitsune [9:12; 9:7].

  YOSHIYUKI: Yoshiyuki of Aki Province, sent by Munemori as a messenger to other Heike commanders [9:9].

  YOSHIZUMI: Miura no Suke Yoshizumi (1127–1200). Although Heike by descent, Yoshizumi’s family joins the Genji in their revolt. Yoritomo gives him the honor of receiving the Fukuhara edict from the imperial messenger. When Kagetoki and Yoshitsune nearly come to blows, Yoshizumi steps in to restrain Yoshitsune [11:7; 8:5, 9:7, 10:14].

  YOSŌBYŌE: see Shigekage.

  YUKIMORI (d. 1185): grandson of Taira no Kiyomori; son of Motoyori, who dies young; and director of the stables of the left. Yukimori dies at the battle of Dan-no-ura with his cousins Sukemori and Arimori [4:11; 2:3, 7:13, 7:19, 10:14, 11:10].

  YUKITSUNA: Tada no Kurando Yukitsuna of the Genji of Settsu Province. He is present at the meeting of the Shishi-no-tani conspirators where anti-Heike sentiments are voiced. One of the chief conspirators then gives him cloth and tells him to use it to equip the warriors. Afraid of being discovered, Yukitsuna reveals to Kiyomori what was said at the meeting. When Yorimasa circulates a call to arms listing the Genji warriors in every region, Yukitsuna is explicitly mentioned as a traitor [3:1; 1:12, 1:13, 2:3, 4:3].

  The bibliography suggests resources for those who want to explore further the world of The Tales of the Heike.

  Complete Translations of The Tales of the Heike

  Kitagawa, Hiroshi, and Bruce T. Tsuchida. The Tale of the Heike. With a foreword by Edward G. Seidensticker. 2 vols. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1975.

  McCullough, Helen Craig. The Tale of the Heike. Translated with an introduction. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988.

  Sadler, A. L. “The Heike monogatari.” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan 46, no. 2 (1918): 1–278; 49, no. 1 (1921): 1–324.

  Includes a translation of a related text, “The Book of Swords,” 325–354.

  Sieffert, René. Le Dit des Heiké. Le Cycle épique des Taïra et des Minamoto. Paris: Publications orientalistes de France, 1978.

  Variant Texts of Heike monogatari

  Texts of the Heike monogatari are available in widely differing variants, as many as one hundred according to some counts. Ten of the major versions are listed here. This translation is based on the variant of Akashi no Kakuichi, which was made for recitation rather than reading. Variants are grouped into “lineages” of “recited texts” (kataribon) and “read texts” (yomihon) or, alternatively, “abbreviated” texts (ryakuhon) and “expanded” texts (kōhon), respectively.

  Enkyō-bon Heike monogatari.

  An early text of Heike monogatari of the “read” lineage. Its colophons indicate that an exact copy was made in 1419 and 1420 of an original dated Enkyō 2–3 (1309–1310). “Enkyō” is sometimes read “Engyō” or “Enkei.”

  Feique no monogatari.

  A romanized version in colloquial Japanese printed in 1592 at the Jesuit collegio (seminary) at Amakusa in Kyushu and used as a language textbook for European missionaries.

  Genpei jōsuiki (Genpei seisuiki).

  A late variant of the “read” lineage, important to later reception.

  Genpei tōjōroku.

  A variant of the “read” lineage resembling the Enkyō-bon. Some books are missing. Additions focus on the Taira in eastern Japan, especially the Chiba family. It is dated in the colophon to 1337 (Kenmu 4).

  Hyakunijukku-bon Heike monogatari.

  A variant of the “recited” lineage. There are six known manuscripts, but with the text edited so that each of its twelve books has 10 sections (ku), for a total of 120 sections. Like the Yashiro-bon, it has no separate “Initiates’ Book” (Kanjō no maki).

  Kakuichi-bon Heike monogatari.

  The main example of the “recited” lineage. It owes its final form to Akashi no Kakuichi, leader of the Ichikata school of reciters, who had a disciple write down an official version in 1371, of which six copies (beppon) survive. Most Japanese editions are based on either the former Takano Collection manuscript, now at the University of Tokyo, or a manuscript at Ryūkoku University in Kyoto. Section names and divisions in the two manuscripts differ, and the University of Tokyo text (the version translated here) contains many short phrases and a few long passages not present in the Ryūkoku manuscript.

  Nagato-bon Heike monogatari.

  A variant of the “read” lineage.

  Rufubon Heike monogatari.

  A “vulgate” (rufubon) text found in different forms in Edo-period printed editions. The first complete English translation was of a rufubon text.

  Shibugassenjō-bon Heike monogatari.

  A variant written entirely in Chinese characters. Books two, four, and eight are missing. The fact that its account is often shorter or simpler than those of other versions was once regarded as evidence for its being closer to a lost archetype, but it is now usually thought to be a simplified edition of a more detailed version. Although the title refers to “four conflicts,” the longer subtitle makes clear that this work deals with only the Genpei war (1180–1185) and not with the earlier Hōgen (1156) and Heiji (1159) rebellions or with the later Jōkyū rebellion (1221).

  Yashiro-bon Heike monogatari.

  A variant of the “recited” lineage. Chapters (maki) four and nine did not survive. Compared with the Kakuichi version, this account is often simpler and shorter, leading some scholars to see it as an “archaic” stage in the evolution of recited texts. Other scholars argue for later abridgments.

  Yōshi-bon Heike monogatari.

  A Muromachi-period variant for recitation.

  Primary Sources and Related Works

  Azuma kagami (Mirror of the East).

  A chronicle of the period between 1180 and 1266 from the perspective of Kamakura. It was compiled in the late thirteenth century based on court diaries, temple records, and other documents from Kyoto as well as records from Kamakura itself. For a partial translation, see Minoru Shinoda, The Founding of the Kamakura Shogunate, 1180–1185, with Selected Translations from the Azuma Kagami (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960).

  Benkei monogatari (The Tale of Benkei).

  A medieval tale about Yoshitsune’s retainer Benkei. For a complete translation into French, see René Sieffert, Histoire de Benkei (Paris: Publications orientalistes de France, 1995).

  Gikeiki (The Tale of Yoshitsune).

  An account of episodes in the life of Yoshitsune, largely omitting his part in the Genpei war already described in Heike monogatari. For a translation, see Helen Craig McCullough, Yoshitsune: A Fifteenth-Century Japanese Chronicle (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1966).

  Gukanshō.

  A historical account covering all of Japanese history, with particular attention to the “military age” (musa no yo), beginning with the Hōgen rebellion (1156), as well as historical and political reflections. It was largely completed in 1220 by Jien (1155–1225), the abbot of Tendai-ji from 1184 and the younger brother of Kujō Kanezane (1149–1207). Both the “recited” and the “read” text lineages of Heike monogatari are believed to have used the account in Gukanshō. See Delmer Brown and Ichirō Ishida, The Future and the Past: A Translation and Study of the Gukanshō, an Interpretative History of Japan Written in 1219 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979).

  Gyokuyō.

  The diary of the nobleman Kujō Kanezane, in sixty-six volumes covering the period between 1164 and 1200, and one of the main contemporary sources confirming the accuracy of the details in the Heike variants.

  Heiji monogatari.

  The tale of the Heiji rebellion of 1159 in three chapters (maki). It is important for understanding the development of “war tales” (gunkimono) and the background of the conflict described in Heike monogatari, as many characters appear in both works. Heiji monogatari was also the subject of an early illustrated scroll. For a complete translation of books one and two, as wel
l as excerpts from book three, see Edwin O. Reischauer and Joseph K. Yamagiwa, Translations from Early Japanese Literature (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1951), 271–351. An appendix contains a complete translation of the text of the Heiji monogatari emaki.

  Heiji monogatari emaki.

  An illustrated scroll of the Heiji revolt, from the Kamakura period. It originally was thought to consist of ten scrolls, of which three complete ones have survived: The Burning of Sanjō Palace (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Shinzei (Seikado Art Museum, Tokyo), and The Removal of the Imperial Family to Rokuhara (Tokyo National Museum).

  Heike monogatari emaki.

  An early Edo scroll, in the collection of the Hayashibara Art Museum in Okayama, all of whose thirty-six kan have survived. This scroll illustrates more scenes than does any other illustrated version of the Heike. The narrative text included is similar to the “vulgate” versions in Edo-period printed editions.

  Hōgen monogatari.

  The tale, in various versions, of the Hōgen rebellion of 1156 in three chapters (maki). For a translation and study of the Rufubon Hōgen monogatari, with translated excerpts from other variants, see William R. Wilson, Hōgen monogatari: Tale of the Disorder in Hōgen, Monumenta Nipponica Monograph (Tokyo: Sophia University Press, 1971).

  Kanmon gyoki.

  The diary of the imperial prince Gosukōin (1372–1456), valuable for its frequent mention of performances by Heike reciters.

  Kenreimon’in ukyō no daibushū.

  An important diary by a court lady of the Genpei period. For a translation, see Phillip Tudor Harries, The Poetic Memoirs of Lady Daibu (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1980).

  Mai no hon.

  A collection printed in the Kan’ei period (1624–1643) of some forty-five libretti (daihon) of the kōwaka-mai performance tradition, more than half of which concern the Genpei war, including the Hōgen and Heiji periods. Many pieces deal with Minamoto no Yoshitsune (for example, Izumigajō). Those closely related to the Kakuichi version include Atsumori, Tsukishima, Iōnoshima (related to the Kikai-ga-shima story), Mongaku, Kiso ganjo, and Nasu no Yoichi. Some others have as their source “read” Heike variants such as Nagato-bon and Enkyō-bon. See James T. Araki, The Ballad-Drama of Medieval Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964; Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle, 1978).