The Tale of the Heike
平家物語
A Resource for reading and teaching Japan's Epic of the Genpei War
(1180-1185)
Keyed to the translation by Royall Tyler (Penguin Books, 2012)
Keyed to the translation by Royall Tyler (Penguin Books, 2012)
This site is intended to provide context and other helpful information for readers of Japan's best-known medieval war tale, The Tale of the Heike (Japanese: Heike monogatari 平家物語). From this page, you can navigate to pages for each book (or chapter) as well as several other pages with general information. The base text is Royall Tyler's 2013 translation, which can be purchased through Amazon or other major booksellers. This site was designed by the members of the "World of Japan: Tale of the Heike" class at the University of Pittsburgh during the Spring, 2018 semester. A list of contributors can be found here.
The General Information tab will take you to essays contextualizing the Tale of the Heike, including relevant history, variant texts, and the Heike as a performing art.
The Lesson Plans tab links to lesson plans associated with each Book and designed for use in middle- and high-school classes. These plans were developed under the guidance of master teachers Michele Beauchamp, Kachina Martin, and Matthew Roberts (Pine-Richland High School).
The Books tab will take you to individual sub-pages for each of the Heike's 13 Books. These pages include summaries of individual episodes, maps, short essays on important topics raised in those episodes, and activities for students or reading groups. In addition, a list of major characters (with references to where they appear) and key terms and a series of lesson plans is hyperlinked to the chapter pages.
The Resources tab provides information about The Tale of the Heike in Japanese culture as well as a Suggested Readings list. The Interviews with Scholars tab will take you to interviews with prominent scholars of The Tale of the Heike, including the translator, Royall Tyler.
The Maps tab will take you to maps from the Tyler translation. These are also hyperlinked to the Book pages for which they are relevant.
The Key Terms tab takes you to an alphabetical list of important terms found in the text. The Characters tab takes you to an alphabetical list of important characters with references to the places they appear in the text. Both lists are hyperlinked to the descriptions found under the Books tab.