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The Tale of the Heike
A war tale of the Kamakura period describing the rise and fall of the Taira (平家) clan in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Spread by blind monks who chanted it to the biwa lute, it is the great work on the Buddhist theme that all glory passes.
平家物語は軍記物語だ。
The Tale of the Heike is a war tale.
Its opening lines are among the best-known passages in Japanese literature; schoolchildren recite them, and phrases from them are used in everyday comment on the fall of the powerful.
Common expressions
- 祇園精舎の鐘の声、諸行無常の響きあり: "The bell of the Gion monastery echoes the impermanence of all things" — the opening line
- 驕れる者も久しからず: "the proud do not last long" — quoted when the arrogant fall
- 盛者必衰: whoever flourishes must decline
Cultural note
Its episodes — the young 敦盛 killed at 一ノ谷, the archer 那須与一 hitting a fan on a boat, the drowning of the child emperor at 壇ノ浦 — became the source for countless noh plays, kabuki, and modern dramas.