Warriors of Japan: As Portrayed in the War Tales

The war tales (gunki-mono) of Japan recount the stories of warriors and their battles from the tenth century, when a warrior class first emerged in the provinces in Japan, until the 17th century. A blend of history and fiction, the war tales are one of the most important sources of knowledge about Japan's premodern warriors. In this text Paul Varley, a leading cultural historian of premodern Japan, draws a portrait of warrior life and society in ancient and early medieval times. Among the tales he analyzes are "Heike Monogatari" (Tale of the Heike), a masterpiece of Japanese literature that describes the rise of warriors to national power in the late 12th-century, and "Taiheiki" (Chronicle of Great Peace), a 14th-century chronicle that relates more than 50 years of conflict in a time of dynastic rivarly within the Japanese imperial house. Analysis of each tale is preceded by a discussion of its historical background and probable origins and means of composition.