The Tale of the Heike

One of the masterworks of Japanese literature, ranking with The Tale of Genji, in a groundbreaking new edition

First assembled from scattered oral poems in the early fourteenth century, The Tale of the Heike is Japan’s Iliad - a vivid depiction of the late twelfth century wars between the Heike (Taira) and Genji (Minamoto) clans. No one work of Japanese literature or music has had a greater impact on subsequent culture, and indeed on the Japanese people’s sense of their own past. It is as familiar a touchstone to the Japanese as the Bible or the Arthurian legends in the West.

Royall Tyler’s masterful new translation recreates the work in its full operatic form, with speech, poetry, blank verse, song, and recitative that convey the great text’s character as an oral epic. Beautifully illustrated with fifty-five woodcuts from the nineteenth century artistic master, Katsushika Hokusai, and bolstered with maps, character guides, geneologies, and rich annotation.