One hundred and fifty years after the turn of time’s
hourglass, BC to AD, the Chinese were in the midst of a major dynasty change. A time called the “Three Kingdoms”, the
period was later epitomized as the perfect example of how dynasties vacillate
between unity, fragmentation, and unity once again. Centuries later the history was published,
including a romanticized version of events called simply The Three Kingdoms. Japan
experiencing its own transition of dynasties at the end of the 12th century, The Tale of the Heike is the country’s
analogous work of literature. Its is no
less powerful.
The Tale of the Heike is the story of the transition of power from the Taira to the Minamoto clan. The groundswell beginning several years before the Genjei War which decided matters, the book opens with a slip in the Taira’s power base many decades prior. Taking years for this slip to manifest itself as a major weakness, the surrounding events are described and woven into the full political context of the kingdom at that time. Phase by phase, individual maneuver by maneuver, the machinations and plots of the Minamoto clan slowly reveal themselves. And in telling of the rise to power, not only cabals and battles fill the pages. Earthquakes, assassinations, mass executions, and major fires—all from real history—flesh out the change of dynasty, giving the history an edged interest.
