The Heike Story

The Heike Story PDF Author: Eiji Yoshikawa
Publisher:
ISBN: 9784805317075
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Immerse yourself in the rich drama of medieval Japan. Set in Japan in the turbulent 12th century, this fast-paced novel recounts the titanic struggle between two Japanese clans--the Heike and the Genji--as they seek to pacify a fractured nation, ultimately turning on each other in their unbridled lust for power. Written by the great Eiji Yoshikawa, this classic work of fiction brings to life the wars, intrigue, feuds, and romance surrounding the most dramatic episode in Japanese history. Yoshikawa begins his tale in the magnificent capital of Kyoto, which has recently fallen into chaos as crime and disorder run rampant. The people are abused by the nobility, while Buddhist monks terrorize courtiers and commoners alike. In despair, the Emperor's calls for help are answered by the Heike and Genji families. Although they succeed in bringing order, they eventually fall out while dividing the spoils of war and plunge the country into even greater turmoil. The book is told through the eyes of Kiyomori, who is the eldest son of Tadamori, the ineffective leader of the Heike clan. Yoshikawa describes the Heike's decline under Tadamori's leadership and the family's descent into poverty. It is only when Kiyomori is appointed to a court position that the Heike's influence grows, much to the displeasure of their rivals, the Genji. Along the way, Kiyomori oversees his clan's ascent, alongside his loyal friend Tokitada. The story ends with the young Ushikawa, the future leader of the Genji clan, abandoning his schooling to take the reins of power in anticipation of the seemingly inevitable war between the Heike and the Genji. Covering nearly 40 years in Tadamori's life, the twists and turns of his personal fate mirror the conflict between his family and the rival Genji clan. The new edition has a foreword by historian Alexander Bennett, who explains the historical backdrop of the novel and its importance as a towering work of historical fiction. Combining raw narrative power, pageantry, and poetry, The Heike Story will enthrall readers interested in the drama and spectacle of ancient Japan.

The Heike Story

The Heike Story PDF Author: Eiji Yoshikawa
Publisher:
ISBN: 9784805317075
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Immerse yourself in the rich drama of medieval Japan. Set in Japan in the turbulent 12th century, this fast-paced novel recounts the titanic struggle between two Japanese clans--the Heike and the Genji--as they seek to pacify a fractured nation, ultimately turning on each other in their unbridled lust for power. Written by the great Eiji Yoshikawa, this classic work of fiction brings to life the wars, intrigue, feuds, and romance surrounding the most dramatic episode in Japanese history. Yoshikawa begins his tale in the magnificent capital of Kyoto, which has recently fallen into chaos as crime and disorder run rampant. The people are abused by the nobility, while Buddhist monks terrorize courtiers and commoners alike. In despair, the Emperor's calls for help are answered by the Heike and Genji families. Although they succeed in bringing order, they eventually fall out while dividing the spoils of war and plunge the country into even greater turmoil. The book is told through the eyes of Kiyomori, who is the eldest son of Tadamori, the ineffective leader of the Heike clan. Yoshikawa describes the Heike's decline under Tadamori's leadership and the family's descent into poverty. It is only when Kiyomori is appointed to a court position that the Heike's influence grows, much to the displeasure of their rivals, the Genji. Along the way, Kiyomori oversees his clan's ascent, alongside his loyal friend Tokitada. The story ends with the young Ushikawa, the future leader of the Genji clan, abandoning his schooling to take the reins of power in anticipation of the seemingly inevitable war between the Heike and the Genji. Covering nearly 40 years in Tadamori's life, the twists and turns of his personal fate mirror the conflict between his family and the rival Genji clan. The new edition has a foreword by historian Alexander Bennett, who explains the historical backdrop of the novel and its importance as a towering work of historical fiction. Combining raw narrative power, pageantry, and poetry, The Heike Story will enthrall readers interested in the drama and spectacle of ancient Japan.

The Tale of the Heike

The Tale of the Heike PDF Author:
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101601094
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 1079

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Book Description
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.

Atsumori

Atsumori PDF Author: Zeami Motokiyo
Publisher: Volume Edizioni srl
ISBN: 8897747108
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
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

The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature

The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature PDF Author: Haruo Shirane
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316368289
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
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.

The Tales of the Heike

The Tales of the Heike PDF Author: Burton Watson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231510837
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
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.

Looking for the Lost

Looking for the Lost PDF Author: Alan Booth
Publisher: Vertical Inc
ISBN: 1568366159
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 421

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Book Description
A VIBRANT, MEDITATIVE WALK IN SEARCH OF THE SOUL OF JAPAN Traveling by foot through mountains and villages, Alan Booth found a Japan far removed from the stereotypes familiar to Westerners. Whether retracing the footsteps of ancient warriors or detailing the encroachments of suburban sprawl, he unerringly finds the telling detail, the unexpected transformation, the everyday drama that brings this remote world to life on the page. Looking for the Lost is full of personalities, from friendly gangsters to mischievous children to the author himself, an expatriate who found in Japan both his true home and dogged exile. Wry, witty, sometimes angry, always eloquent, Booth is a uniquely perceptive guide. Looking for the Lost is a technicolor journey into the heart of a nation. Perhaps even more significant, it is the self-portrait of one man, Alan Booth, exquisitely painted in the twilight of his own life.

The Tale of the Heike

The Tale of the Heike PDF Author:
Publisher: [Tokyo] : University of Tokyo Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 858

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Book Description
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.

Seasonal Associate

Seasonal Associate PDF Author: Heike Geissler
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 1635900360
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
How the brutalities of working life are transformed into exhaustion, shame, and self-doubt: a writer's account of her experience working in an Amazon fulfillment center. No longer able to live on the proceeds of her freelance writing and translating income, German novelist Heike Geissler takes a seasonal job at Amazon Order Fulfillment in Leipzig. But the job, intended as a stopgap measure, quickly becomes a descent into humiliation, and Geissler soon begins to internalize the dynamics and nature of the post-capitalist labor market and precarious work. Driven to work at Amazon by financial necessity rather than journalistic ambition, Heike Geissler has nonetheless written the first and only literary account of corporate flex-time employment that offers “freedom” to workers who have become an expendable resource. Shifting between the first and the second person, Seasonal Associate is a nuanced expose of the psychic damage that is an essential working condition with mega-corporations. Geissler has written a twenty-first-century account of how the brutalities of working life are transformed into exhaustion, shame, and self-doubt.

Dancer, Nun, Ghost, Goddess

Dancer, Nun, Ghost, Goddess PDF Author: Roberta Strippoli
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789004356290
Category : Arts, Japanese
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Dancer, Nun, Ghost, Goddess explores the Tale of the Heike episode of the dancers Giō and Hotoke, which first appeared in the fourteenth century and went on to inspire, in often unpredictable ways, countless artistic productions in subsequent centuries.

Genji & Heike

Genji & Heike PDF Author:
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804766460
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1002

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Book Description
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.