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,” 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 incorpor