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context: literature > Medieval
Heike Monogatorie
War stories, with roots in the upheavals in late Heian times, become a very big part of literature over the next centuries. Note that this was when the samurai took control of Japan, and it is no coincidence that tales of their greatness and heroism were widely told. These were normally historical stories, though clearly some fictionalising came into them.
The Tale of the Heike, the most widely used version of which was written down in 1371, is the most famous. It tells of the wars that ended the Heian period, much of it centring on Yoshitsune and his companion Benkei. Yoshitsune is perhaps the greatest tragic hero in Japanese culture: a great young leader, betrayed and hunted down by his brother. The stories are not just rollicking adventure by any means - there is plenty of buddhist thought and lyrical beauty. The opening lines are justly famous:
The sound of the Gion temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the teak-tree flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.