Heike Monogatari

I guess this 13th C. epic is sort of an Illiad of Japanese literature -- as an endless source of subsequent retellings in theatre and fiction -- echoing right down to the present -- even Mishima's last book "Decay of the angel", as the title borrows an idea that Heike Monogatari uses several times to reference the loss of glory that is so much more poignant than glory itself.

This is a story that loves the taste of defeat ! And almost everyone gets to enjoy it -- as today's victor becomes tomorrow's loser -- and ultimately gets the opportunity to write a brief poem about their setting sun.

Just as with the poetry in "Dream of Red Chamber" -- all this poetry is lost on those of us who rely on translations -- but still I enjoy them -- like this one -- that the cloistered emperor wrote when visiting the remote hermitage of his aunt -- a daughter of the supreme Heike minister who had seen her clan -- including her imperial son -- driven from the capital and eventually annihilated at a climatic sea battle:

The Cherry Blossoms
have blown from the trees
that stand on the bank.
They are once again blooming
upon the ripples of the pond.


What's a "cloistered emperor" you might ask ? It's one of those bizarre arrangements that had to be made to accomodate the sacred-political theory that there can only be one imperial family --- with the reality that political power is developed within competing clans of ministers acting as regents -- so usually as soon an emperor becomes old enough to figure out what's happening, he is removed from public life to become a monk -- and one of his infant nephews/siblings is made emperor.

The machinations of power -- and even the great, decisive battles, are given short shrift in this style of story telling -- what's important are scenes of great sorrow -- or great bravery (but even then, it's the bravery of the loser's last stand -- not the winner's triumph) -- and what the hero was wearing to his last battle seems just as important as how he fought it.

Even the outcome of the last great power struggle of the epic ---- between Yoshitune -- the successfull general who completed the destruction of the Heike -- and his brother Yorimoto -- who doesn't seem to do anything other than gather power -- is left unreselved by the narrative (footnotes tell us that Yoshitune eventually killed himself)

What's important here is suffering -- and there's nothing better than when it's the long, drawn out, hopeless kind --- like a captive endlessly waiting for his execution. (note: lots of people are executed -- but unlike some of the gruesome scenes in China's "Three Kingdoms", nobody is tortured to death. A simple beheading suffices -- even for Shigehara, the Heike general held resposible for the worst atrocity of the era: the burning of the temples at Nara. It was suggested that he deserved all "Three thousand and five varieties of punishment" proscribed by Chinese law -- but in the end, he was only beheaded -- after plenty of time for sorrowfulful despartures from his wife, retainers, and son. Here are the final poems between him and his wife:

Shigehara:

Crying ceaselessly,
You have made these robes for me
to be worn but once
In memory of your tears
I shall never take them off

His wife:

How foolish of me
to make these new robes for you
in expectation
this change of robes means nothing
It is but our last farewell.

And it may be significant that the apparent leading villans of the piece are both essentially politicans -- not generals -- and they never taste defeat. Kiyomori, the Priest-Premier, whose arrogant behavior summoned the divine retribution that annihilated his family, died of natural causes -- or -- maybe you'd call them super-natural causes since his body got so hot, it burned those who touched him. (I guess Hell just couldn't wait ) -- and Yorimoto who was still alive, and in control, at the end of the story.

Something else to note is that history is sometimes inconvenient for epic -- the most glaring example being the flock of geese that frightened/stampeded the huge Heike army at Fuji river.

Well - clearly I'm a fan of this kind of story telling any way -- if I want to read history, I'll read history books -- but if I want to savor the poignance of defeat and loss (and what Sports fan doesn't ?) this is a treasure trove