The Tale of the Heike is Japan’s great martial epic: a masterpiece of world literature and the progenitor of all samurai stories. First assembled from scattered oral poems in the early fourteenth century, The Tale of the Heike is Japan’s Iliad – a grand-scale depiction of the wars between the Heike and Genji clans. Legendary for its magnificent and vivid set battle scenes, it is also a work filled with intimate human dramas and emotions, contemplating Buddhist themes of suffering and separation, as well as universal insights into love, loss and loyalty. The narrative moves back and forth between the two great warring clans, between aristocratic society and street life, adults and children, great crowds and introspection. No Japanese work has had a greater impact on subsequent literature, theatre, music and films, or on Japan’s sense of its own past.

If you have any questions, please call the Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.

Booking Details
Free for Japan Society Members

Book available from Book Depository and Amazon
Japanese version available here