The Genpei War and the Tale of the Heike, Japan's Greatest War Story

This short lecture discusses what is widely considered to be the greatest war story in Japanese history--The Tale of the Heike--and history of the samurai battles from the 10th and 11th centuries that inspired it.
Sources used:
McCullough, Helen Craig. The Tale of the Heike. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988.
Oyler, Elizabeth. Swords, Oaths, and Prophetic Visions: Authoring Warrior Rule in Medieval Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2006.
Tyler, Royall. The Tale of the Heike. New York: Viking, 2012.
Varley, H. Paul. Warriors of Japan: As Portrayed in the War Tales. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1994.
Performance of the opening lines of the Tale of the Heike from “Yoko Hiraoka performing 'Gion Shoja' on Chikuzen Biwa,” • Yoko Hiraoka performin... . Accessed 3 May 2016.
***********************
The Ohio State University's East Asian Studies Center (EASC) and Columbus State Community College (CSCC) collaborated to develop modules on Japanese history to be incorporated into the World History curriculum at CSCC. These modules are made available online for classroom use worldwide.
Project Contributors:
OSU: Ryan Schultz, Etsuyo Yuasa, Amy Carey
CSCC: Jennifer Nardone, Dona Reaser
This project is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant for EASC.

[@Cami555555Sheep]

Thank you, there’s a new anime called “heike monogatari” out right now and this video helped me understand the plot a lot clearer The main character (fictional) is even a girl called biwa who “witnesses” the fall of the heike haha

[@MrZawe]

heike monogatari anime lead me here Thx awsome video

[@erenyaeger6614]

Same

[@Rinetto]

Same

[@soranin9017]

Same

[@mofumofu9959]

Me to

[@kylerodgers7165]

Same

[@shido6804]

Fun Fact Not all Taira clan were executed. In fact interestingly, Minamoto no Yoritomo forgot to executed Taira no Kiyomori Grand-grand children or Shigemori grandchild. His name is Taira No Chikazane, he is the only survivor of the Taira Clan. After the shitstorm during the Genpei War, he change his name to Oda Chikazane and become the founder of the famous Oda clan. And then born the most famous samurai during the Sengoku period. Oda Nobunaga

[@oscarbayton1118]

its like someone wrote a script for this

[@CC-st9ht]

But more accurately, the powerful daimyo in sengoku era, made their family history by themselves. So Oda Nobunaga claimed Oda clan is one of Fujiwara too. Tokugawa Ieyasu also claimed that Tokugawa clan is one of gen-ji. They need justification to be authority. So they can't ignore Tenno's influence completely.

[@zachhawn8720]

The demon king rises! Fear and respect him!!!

[@86thrasher]

Don’t forget the descendants of the Taira would go on to defend Japan from the Mongols in 1274 and 1281

[@blackmoth2595]

Taira clan is so big just like Minomoto and Fujiwara, that it had many cadet branches... as the Kanmu Heishi (Kiyomori's Taira) perished, there were still many Taira cadet branches... surprisingly the Hojo Clan that supported Kamakura bakufu also from the Taira clan, but from cadet brach.

[@LegaultTV]

Wow, thanks! I'm going to use this as a source for my National History Day project on the Genpei War.

[@sage9499]

just watched the heike monogatari, it was like a dream that slowly turned into nightmare

[@robertogaskell2782]

you failed to mention the role played by Yoritomo's younger brother the great general Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

[@MrHolland]

Excellent short lecture; thank you for taking your time to put this out there.

[@elk3407]

Heike Monogatari anyone?

[@erenyaeger6614]

Me

[@khanhminhtran1495]

Me also

[@jubei2154]

I Read a book called Kumagai - Memoirs of a warrior. Kumagai was a samurai of the era who out lived a few of the leaders of the time,and after Genpei wars retired to the mountains to become a lay priest, he had a room down the hall from the few biwa hoshi who were writing odes of the war etc.. Hearing them singing their newly written lyrics Kumagai would get angry because some if not alot were false as they were too young for the time and had not been there.. especially the Atsumori account... Kumagai fought for both the Taira and Minamoto at different times...

[@maryh.4797]

This is very informative and an easy to understand format! I appreciate it!

[@seal3081]

thx!

[@andrewlankford9634]

13:40 All we are is dust in the wind. Whooohoooooa....

[@newcivilisation]

Have you read the play 'Atsumori'? It's about these wars. Lots of heartbreaking poetry in there.

[@mohtashimnizamani]

i'm just here because i had read about samurai crabs in 'cosmos' book.

[@simplearchaeology1242]

Interesting.

[@tcc5750]

11:30 :O neat, "Emperor, I order you to make me Shogun!" xD

[@kristofb5013]

At 8:57 it says Minamoto Yoritomo and gives the dates 1192-1333. Is this meant to be the duration of the Genpei war or his lifespan (141 years???)

[@shinsenshogun900]

Chris B They're never going to give Yoritomo's years away, since every other character here were not given with said lifespans, so they just dated Yoritomo's government, the Kamakura Bakufu, it's period of years, even after Yoritomo and his succeeding sons died away, giving their regime to the Early Hojo regents, Yoritomo's clan in law

[@Samurai-ub6ew]

it's how long the kamakura shogunate lasted the beginning of 1192 and the end 1333

[@user-pe6rb9vu4u]

Please study the difference between Emishi and Ainu

[@mememimi7415]

Emishi and Ainu are different. There is meaning as the people that Emishi doesn't follow an Imperial Court, not a individual race. Emishi consisted of more than one race.

[@shaunnazari1961]

Kwaidan brought me here!!!

[@TrampMachine]

Here because I watched the new anime.

[@Deatheater4444]

Let's all take a moment to remember the badassery of Taira no Noritsune and the despicable treason of Taguchi Shigeyoshi

[@madikorous5884]

Is this the naval battle depicted in the movie Kwaidan?

[@laxmanrawat748]

It's very much similar to Mahabharata.

[@23Disciple]

Benkei lives forever!

[@nolanbenbow627]

Genpei toumaden anyone?

[@anthonyperez2242]

Ikr

[@tcc5750]

1:30 :O wow

[@ramenmooken6441]

I have a bronze statue of minanoto no yoritomo weighting about 8 kgs I would like to restitute to Japan

[@youngyankee13]

Fuck Yoritomo who killed Yoshitsune, fucking jealous baka.

[@andrejohnson5130]

13

[@yentagame2820]

I’m from the taira clan

[@Andy-km1xp]

Yenta Game what??

[@hafidlho7332]

watch out for the genji m8

[@sillyname6808]

Cool, you should take over Japan bro.

[@walnzell9328]

I'm descended from daimyos. Maybe, just maybe, even from one of the three ruling clans of this era. Although, I think all the Taira were executed, so you must be pretty distantly related. If your are, then if Akihito and his heirs, and all the other people related to the Imperial line were to die (I hope not), you would be Emperor.

[@shinsenshogun900]

Yenta Game You should be our next Shogun!

[@SiD19884]

hire a samurai!

[@Moepowerplant]

Interesting that Japan had its Syria/Iraq phase

[@thespyfromtf2133]

every country has those at some point in their history , the modern Syria and Iraq are caused by diferente factors such as religion and foreing involvment

[@shinsenshogun900]

John Snow these different factors only prolong and exacerbate the inevitable, another great war

[@user-jn7tc3tp2x]

Ninjutsu came from the Genpei War!!

[@Andy-km1xp]

Gerann Gerber truly?

[@shinsenshogun900]

Gerann Gerber really?

[@Prodmullefc]

Truly and really! Yes this is factual

[@MrWaterlionmonkey]

I thought ninja start to appear in the sengoku jidai (1467 - 1590)

[@gpg4424]

Toooo much wars and destruction Will lead to BUDDHISM as a solution for peace i guess...

[@michaelricha7959]

Genpei war was also caused by nine tailed fox cause its revenge in fantasy stories

[@Superphilipp]

O wow, I didn’t realize Pokemon was that old

[@nannettesidebottom5960]

The reader's pronunciation is repugnant. He doesn't know how the Japanese spelling system works, because when he says, 'Heike', he says ending ke, sounding like kay. ei in Japanese sounds like ay, and e sounds like the e in the word set.

[@nothguorbrednaxela]

Nannette Sidebottom As well, I believe when he says the word he pronounces “cur-tee-er” he means “courtier”, pronounced “court-ear”. Please correct me if I’m wrong. It may be that I just don’t know the word he’s saying.

[@AlexEaterofWorlds]

he has a PHD in japanese language but do tell how he should prounce it.

[@MrHolland]

Excellent short lecture; thank you for taking your time to put this out there.

[@madikorous5884]

Is this the naval battle depicted in the movie Kwaidan?