The Tale of the Heike, Vol. 1 (Books 1-6)

About this book

No other work of Japanese classic literature has excited the imagination of the Japanese as has the Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike). This epic story by an unknown author depicts in twelve books and an epilogue the rise and the fall of the Heike clan and its defeat at the hands of the powerful Genji clan. It is set in the twilight years of the Heian period in the last half of the twelfth century a time of far reaching change in Japan when the Fujiwara hegenomy was waning and court factions struggled to claims and protect them by allying themselves with provincial military clans. The clans however with superior strength overthrew the nobles and eventually seized political power Two of the strongest clans were the Heike and the Genji. The Heike rose to power rapidly only to suffer defeat at the hands of the Genji. The major part of the narrative concerns the three or four years immediately preceding the death of Kiyomori the head of the Heike clan and the years following up to the fall of the Heike at the Battle of Dan-no-ura.