Download or read book The Tale of the Heike written by and published by [Tokyo] : University of Tokyo Press. This book was released on 1975 with total page 858 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tale of the Heike is one of the masterworks of Japanese literature, ranking with The Tale of Genji in quality and prestige. Familiar in Japan for generations, first through oral narration and later through the printed page, this fourteenth-century reworking of traditional materials tells the story of the decline and final military defeat of the mighty house of Taira, reporting battlefield exploits in vivid detail, chronicling the fates of high-born ladies and other helpless victims of the times with delicate lyricism, and introducing humorous passages to leaven the comberness of the theme articulated in its famous opening lines: 'The sound of the Gion Shoja bells color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, thay are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.' The translation is not only far more readable than earlier ones, it is also much more faithful to the content and style of the original, especially in preserving the evidence of oral narration. Intended for the general audience as well as the specialist, this edition is lightly annotated, but includes three appendixes that give background information, a chronology, and an evaluation of the Heike as literature. There is also a glossary of persons, places, and terms. Illustrations consist of a color frontispiece, about fifteen prints from fourteenth- and fifteenth-century manuscripts, and two maps. --publisher description.
Download or read book The Tales of the Heike written by Burton Watson and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2006-06-27 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tales of the Heike is one of the most influential works in Japanese literature and culture, remaining even today a crucial source for fiction, drama, and popular media. Originally written in the mid-thirteenth century, it features a cast of vivid characters and chronicles the epic Genpei war, a civil conflict that marked the end of the power of the Heike and changed the course of Japanese history. The Tales of the Heike focuses on the lives of both the samurai warriors who fought for two powerful twelfth-century Japanese clans-the Heike (Taira) and the Genji (Minamoto)-and the women with whom they were intimately connected. The Tales of the Heike provides a dramatic window onto the emerging world of the medieval samurai and recounts in absorbing detail the chaos of the battlefield, the intrigue of the imperial court, and the gradual loss of a courtly tradition. The book is also highly religious and Buddhist in its orientation, taking up such issues as impermanence, karmic retribution, attachment, and renunciation, which dominated the Japanese imagination in the medieval period. In this new, abridged translation, Burton Watson offers a gripping rendering of the work's most memorable episodes. Particular to this translation are the introduction by Haruo Shirane, the woodblock illustrations, a glossary of characters, and an extended bibliography.
Download or read book The Heike Story written by Eiji Yoshikawa and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2011-04-10 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Heike Story is a modern translation of a Japanese classic. Kyoto in the twelfth century was a magnificent city, but crime, disorder, and lust were rampant. The people were abused by the nobility, while armed Buddhist monks terrorized court and commoner alike. In despair, the Emperor called upon the Heike and Genji clans to quell civil disturbances. Although the clans succeeded, they quarreled over the spoils of war and plunged the country into a century of warfare. The Heike Story describes the rise to power of Kiyomori of the Heike clan during this turbulent time. From a youth sunk in poverty, Kiyomori eventually rose to become the Emperor's Chief Councilor. Although he was a gentle, enlightened man, he left a trail of bloodshed and ruin in his wake. The strange twists of Kiyomori's fate are the core of this epic novel. Its exotic atmosphere, narrative power, pageantry, and poetry will enthrall readers and provide an entertaining introduction to an important source of Japanese culture. This new edition features a foreword by Dr. Davinder Bhowmik that introduces this celebrated author and book to modern readers.
Download or read book Atsumori written by Zeami Motokiyo and published by Volume Edizioni srl. This book was released on 2014-03-07 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The japanese Noh drama by the Master Zeami Motokiyo about the Buddhist priest Rensei and the warrior of the Taira Clan Atsumori. The story of redention of the warrior Kumagai Jiro Naozane that killed the young Atsumori. One of the most popular and touching Zeami's Noh drama inspired by "The Tales of Heike". Contents: Preface by Massimo Cimarelli Atsumori by Zeami Motokiyo Pearson Part I Interlude Part II Glossary Notes
Download or read book The Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike written by Chômei Kamo and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Tale of Genji written by Murasaki Shikibu and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-02-28 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An abridged edition of the world’s first novel, in a translation that is “likely to be the definitive edition . . . for many years to come” (The Wall Street Journal) A Penguin Classic Written in the eleventh century, this exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the world’s first novel—and is certainly one of its finest. Genji, the Shining Prince, is the son of an emperor. He is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances, and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic. Royall Tyler’s superior translation is detailed, poetic, and superbly true to the Japanese original while allowing the modern reader to appreciate it as a contemporary treasure. In this deftly abridged edition, Tyler focuses on the early chapters, which vividly evoke Genji as a young man and leave him at his first moment of triumph. This edition also includes detailed notes, glossaries, character lists, and chronologies.
Download or read book Eccentric Spaces Hidden Histories written by David Bialock and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2007-02-01 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After The Tale of Genji (c. 1000), the greatest work of classical Japanese literature is the historical narrative The Tale of the Heike (13th-14th centuries). In addition to opening up fresh perspectives on the Heike narratives, this study also draws attention to a range of problems centered on the interrelationship between narrative, ritual space, and Japan's changing views of China as they bear on depictions of the emperor's authority, warriors, and marginal population going all the way back to the Nara period. By situating the Heike in this long temporal framework, the author sheds light on a hidden history of royal authority that was entangled in Daoist and yin-yang ideas in the Nara period, practices centered on defilement in the Heian period, and Buddhist doctrines pertaining to original enlightenment in the medieval period, all of which resurface and combine in Heike's narrative world. In introducing for the first time the full range of Heike narrative to students and scholars of Japanese literature, the author argues that we must also reexamine our understanding of the literature, ritual, and culture of the Heian and Nara periods.
Download or read book Essays in Idleness written by Kenko and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2013-12-05 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These two works on life's fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist monks from medieval Japan, but each shows a different world-view. In the short memoir Hôjôki, Chômei recounts his decision to withdraw from worldly affairs and live as a hermit in a tiny hut in the mountains, contemplating the impermanence of human existence. Kenko, however, displays a fascination with more earthy matters in his collection of anecdotes, advice and observations. From ribald stories of drunken monks to aching nostalgia for the fading traditions of the Japanese court, Essays in Idleness is a constantly surprising work that ranges across the spectrum of human experience. Meredith McKinney's excellent new translation also includes notes and an introduction exploring the spiritual and historical background of the works. Chômei was born into a family of Shinto priests in around 1155, at at time when the stable world of the court was rapidly breaking up. He became an important though minor poet of his day, and at the age of fifty, withdrew from the world to become a tonsured monk. He died in around 1216. Kenkô was born around 1283 in Kyoto. He probably became a monk in his late twenties, and was also noted as a calligrapher. Today he is remembered for his wise and witty aphorisms, 'Essays in Idleness'. Meredith McKinney, who has also translated Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book for Penguin Classics, is a translator of both contemporary and classical Japanese literature. She lived in Japan for twenty years and is currently a visitng fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra. '[Essays in Idleness is] a most delightful book, and one that has served as a model of Japanese style and taste since the 17th century. These cameo-like vignettes reflect the importance of the little, fleeting futile things, and each essay is Kenko himself' Asian Student
Download or read book Heike Story The written by Yoshikawa, Eiji and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 1956 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A retelling of the medieval Japanese novel Heike monogatari.
Download or read book The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature written by Haruo Shirane and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-31 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature provides, for the first time, a history of Japanese literature with comprehensive coverage of the premodern and modern eras in a single volume. The book is arranged topically in a series of short, accessible chapters for easy access and reference, giving insight into both canonical texts and many lesser known, popular genres, from centuries-old folk literature to the detective fiction of modern times. The various period introductions provide an overview of recurrent issues that span many decades, if not centuries. The book also places Japanese literature in a wider East Asian tradition of Sinitic writing and provides comprehensive coverage of women's literature as well as new popular literary forms, including manga (comic books). An extensive bibliography of works in English enables readers to continue to explore this rich tradition through translations and secondary reading.
Download or read book Genji Heike written by and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1994-06-01 with total page 1002 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike are the two major works of classical Japanese prose. The complete versions of both works are too long to be taught in one term, and this abridgement answers the need for a one-volume edition of both works suitable for use in survey courses in classical Japanese literature or world literature in translation and by the general reader daunted by the complete works. The translator has selected representative portions of the two texts with a view to shaping the abridgments into coherent, aesthetically acceptable wholes. Often called the world's earliest novel, The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, is a poetic evocation of aristocratic life in eleventh-century Japan, a period of brilliant cultural efflorescence. This new translation focuses on important events in the life of its main character, Genji. It traces the full length of Genji's relationship with Murasaki, the deepest and most enduring of his emotional attachments, and contains all or parts of 10 of the 41 chapters in which Genji figures, including the "Broom Tree" chapter, which provides a reprise of the themes of the book. In romanticized but essentially truthful fashion, The Tale of the Heike describes the late twelfth-century political intrigues and battlefield clashes that led to the eclipse of the Kyoto court and the establishment of a military government by the rival Minamotho (Genji) clan. Its underlying theme, the evanescence of worldly things, echoes some of the concerns of the Genji, but its language preserves many traces of oral composition, and its vigor and expansivelness contrast sharply with the pensive, elegant tone of the Genji. The selections of the Heike, about 40 percent of the owrk, are taken from the translator's complete edition, which received great acclaim: "this verison of the Heike is superb and indeed reveals to English-language readers for the first time the full scope, grandeur, and literary richness of the work."—Journal of Asian Studies For both the Genji and the Heike abridgments, the translator has provided introductions, headnote summaries, adn other supplementary maerials designed to help readers follow the sometimes confused story lines and keep the characters straight. The book also includes an appendix, a glossary, a bibliography, and two maps.
Download or read book Lovable Losers written by Mikael S. Adolphson and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2015-09-30 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lovable Losers is the first substantial piece of English-language scholarship to examine the actions and the memorization of the Heike (Ise Taira), a family of aristocratic warriors whose resounding defeat at the hands of the Seiwa Genji in 1185 resulted in their iconic status as tragic losers. The Tale of the Heike and the many other works derived from it set in place the depiction of the Heike as failed upstart aristocrats whose spectacular downfall was due to neglect of their warrior heritage and the villainy of the family head, Taira no Kiyomori. Lovable Losers aims to contextualize and deconstruct representations of the Heike not only to show how such representations were created in specific contexts in response to specific needs, but also to demonstrate that the representations themselves came to create and sustain a particular kind of culture. Drawing on the expertise of scholars in a variety of disciplines, this volume explores the Heike in their own time and their depiction as cultural figures in the centuries that followed. Their portrayal in literature and the arts spans more than eight hundred years and a wide range of genres and media, including nō plays, picture scrolls, early modern comic books, novels, and film. In texts from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, the Heike serve as catalysts for miracles and vectors for subtle criticisms of the Tokugawa government. Over time Kiyomori became an emblem of postwar democracy and economic progress; today he is a powerful symbol of modern citizens' dissatisfaction with politics. The Heike’s ambiguous moral standing allowed them to be reimagined, reconstructed, and repurposed by different authors in different contexts, as both heroes and villains. Rather than assuming their failure, Lovable Losers repositions the Heike within the larger phenomenon of the Genpei War and its aftermath, demonstrating how they took advantage of their station as nobles and warriors. The new research it presents seeks to transcend categorization and blur the lines between different approaches to the Heike to give a well-rounded depiction of a family who has played a defining role in Japanese culture in action, in memory, and somewhere in between.
Download or read book Genpei written by Kara Dalkey and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2015-07-07 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the twelfth century, two rival clans, the Minomoto and the Taira, struggled for supremacy in Imperial Japan. Each attempted a rebellion and, for a time, the Taira gained ascendancy. But their rule turned despotic and at last, during the Genpei War of 1179-1185, the Minomoto drove the Taira out of the capital and took control for themselves. At the final battle of Dan-no-ura, the Taira-born child-emperor and his family all jumped into the Inland Sea to avoid capture and drowned. With them was lost the Imperial Sword, never to be seen again. The Minomoto leader took control, moved the capital, and became the first Shogun of Japan. That much is history. But wherefore come the tales of superhuman strength, the incredible insight, the clandestine knowledge of the Genpei War's heroes? There has been much speculation throughout the generations. Some have called the Minomoto's rise to power destiny, others call it a deal between humans and spirits-since even in death, the eternal Japanese warrior's spirit cannot be laid to rest. How much is truth, how much legend? One can never tell, for there are older, stranger tales as well.... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Download or read book The Tale of the Heike written by and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-10-25 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tale of the Heike is Japan's great martial epic; a masterpiece of world literature and the progenitor of all samurai stories, now in a major and groundbreaking new translation by Royall Tyler, acclaimed translator of The Tale of Genji. First assembled from scattered oral poems in the early fourteenth century, The Tale of the Heike is Japan's Iliad - a grand-scale depiction of the wars between the Heike and Genji clans. Legendary for its magnificent and vivid set battle scenes, it is also a work filled with intimate human dramas and emotions, contemplating Buddhist themes of suffering and separation, as well as universal insights into love, loss and loyalty. The narrative moves back and forth between the two great warring clans, between aristocratic society and street life, adults and children, great crowds and introspection. No Japanese work has had a greater impact on subsequent literature, theatre, music and films, or on Japan's sense of its own past. Royall Tyler's new translation is the first to capture the way The Tale of the Heike was originally performed. It re-creates the work in its full operatic form, with speech, poetry, blank verse and song that convey its character as an oral epic in a way not seen before, fully embracing the rich and vigorous language of the original texts. Beautifully illustrated with fifty-five woodcuts from the nineteenth-century artistic master, Katsushika Hokusai, and bolstered with maps, character guides, genealogies and rich annotation, this is a landmark edition. Royall Tyler taught Japanese language and literature for many years at the Australian National University. He has a B.A. from Harvard University and a PhD from Columbia University and has taught at Harvard, Stanford and the University of Wisconsin. His translation of The Tale of Genji was acclaimed by publications such as The New York Times Book Review.
Download or read book As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams written by Lady Sarashina and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1989-12-05 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born at the height of the Heian period, the pseudonymous Lady Sarashina reveals much about the Japanese literary tradition in this haunting self-portrait. Born in 1008, Lady Sarashina was a lady-in-waiting of Heian-period Japan. Her work stands out for its descriptions of her travels and pilgrimages and is unique in the literature of the period, as well as one of the first in the genre of travel writing. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Download or read book The Tale of Genji written by Melissa McCormick and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written in the eleventh century by the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji is a masterpiece of prose and poetry that is widely considered the world's first novel. Melissa McCormick provides a unique companion to Murasaki's tale that combines discussions of all fifty-four of its chapters with paintings and calligraphy from the Genji Album (1510) in the Harvard Art Museums, the oldest dated set of Genji illustrations known to exist. In this book, the album's colorful painting and calligraphy leaves are fully reproduced for the first time, followed by McCormick's insightful essays that analyze the Genji story and the album's unique combinations of word and image. This stunning compendium also includes English translations and Japanese transcriptions of the album's calligraphy, enabling a holistic experience of the work for readers today. In an introduction to the volume, McCormick tells the fascinating stories of the individuals who created the Genji Album in the sixteenth century, from the famous court painter who executed the paintings and the aristocrats who brushed the calligraphy to the work's warrior patrons and the poet-scholars who acted as their intermediaries. Beautifully illustrated, this book serves as an invaluable guide for readers interested in The Tale of Genji, Japanese literature, and the captivating visual world of Japan's most celebrated work of fiction.
Download or read book Samurai Rising written by Pamela S. Turner and published by Charlesbridge Publishing. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Minamoto Yoshitsune should not have been a samurai. But his story is legend in this real-life saga. This epic warrior tale reads like a novel, but this is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history. When Yoshitsune was just a baby, his father went to war with a rival samurai family—and lost. His father was killed, his mother captured, and his surviving half-brother banished. Yoshitsune was sent away to live in a monastery. Skinny, small, and unskilled in the warrior arts, he nevertheless escaped and learned the ways of the samurai. When the time came for the Minamoto clan to rise up against their enemies, Yoshitsune answered the call. His daring feats and impossible bravery earned him immortality.
