79-728: The Taiheiki ( 太平記 ) (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a medieval Japanese historical epic (see gunki monogatari ) written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chō , the period of war between the Northern Court of Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto , and the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino . The latest English translation consists of 12 chapters of
158-510: A Kyoto- mōsō and a biwa hōshi brought unique perspectives as well. The heike-biwa instrument itself is a combination of gaku- and mōsō-biwa predecessors. Indeed, the relative average distance between the frets is equal to that of heike-biwa , as are the relative height of the frets. From Shobutsu, two schools emerged, the Yasaka-ryū school, led by Jōgen, and Ichikata-ryū school, headed by Jōichi. Akashi Kakuichi
237-421: A decrepit blind man who looks like a Buddhist priest and wanders about chanting old tales about war and ghosts". According to Ferranti, "outside of the realms of scholarship and the few who are involved in learning and performing", few Japanese civilians are familiar with the aural qualities of the biwa and cannot recognize its tones with references to ancient war-tales. The instrument is viewed as antiquated,
316-459: A disciple, an aspiring student would have to pay a fee, after which the study of each new piece of music required payment. By the 13th and 14th centuries, biwa hōshi performed for the military elite and the aristocracy, including the regional daimyō feudal lords. Public performances were also given during Buddhist temple services. The general population had the further option of attending Kanjin performances, which they were required to pay
395-524: A fee to see. The Ōnin War (1467–1477) proved a trying occurrence for the proliferation of the biwa hōshi . The war instigated the Sengoku period (15th–17th centuries), an era of civil war and political–military conflict that lasted for nearly two centuries. In this time, many heike musicians turned their attention to the jōruri or the shamisen three-stringed lute. Therefore, not only did
474-529: A gloomy world of martial valour and samurai ghosts However, modern associations with biwa are mainly connected to the biwa hōshi , themselves linked to the Tale of Heike and Hōichi the Earless , well-known works taught in schools and readapted for television series, manga , popular literature and other media. As such, "most Japanese come to think of the biwa as a battered old string instrument played by
553-471: A relic of the past that "cannot be a thing of contemporary Japanese life and experience, but is tied forever to the world of the Tale of the Heike ; a gloomy world of martial valour and samurai ghosts". For most of Japan's recorded history, music and narrative performance were common activities for the blind, whose importance in most other major genres is also unavoidable, save for court and theatre music, from
632-773: A series of battles, both military and political, as the Fujiwara family , who dominated the Imperial regency following the fall of the Hōjō, sought to retain influence. These battles, political maneuvers, and other developments of the time are related in the Taiheiki . These battles are historically very important as they led to the extinction of the Southern Court of the Japanese Imperial Line, which to this day
711-433: A unique focus on the personal thoughts and experiences of individual warriors. Heian literature focuses on the capital's view of provincial disturbances, but medieval war tales shift their perspective to focus on those actually involved with the war, often sympathizing with the defeated warriors. The authors of gunki monogatari do not hesitate to sympathize with the warriors or moralize about their actions. The general form of
790-504: A vehicle for placating lingering, resentful Heike spirits. Heikyoku and biwa hōshi became immensely popular for the next several hundred years. Biwa hōshi ( 琵琶法師 ) literally means "lute priest". Hōshi ( 法師 ) is derived from buppō no kyōshi ( 仏法の教師 ) , which translates as a teacher who explains Buddhist precepts. The two characters hō ( 法 ) and shi ( 師 ) mean "Buddhist doctrine" and "teacher" respectively. Hōshi referred to blind priests who played
869-440: Is arguably closer to the rigid concept of honor espoused by the warrior class. This rigid adherence to the code of loyalty is echoed in the famous Atsumori-Naozane episode, where the exhortations of the warrior ethic outweigh Naozane's regret and forces his hand to kill. Besides prescribing the "right" moral code to pursue, warrior ethics also restrict and dictate warriors' actions on more superficial levels. For example, cutting off
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#1732765440739948-650: Is based today in Nagoya is called Heike Shosetsu. It was composed by Ogino Tomoichi (1732–1801), initially a disciple in the Hatano-ryū faction, before acquiring the post of kengyō in the Kyoto branch of the Maeda-ryū school; Tomoichi had great knowledge of both major schools as a Hatano-ryū disciple master. As such, he played a fundamental role in the revival of the biwa hōshi . Toru Takemitsu also contributed to
1027-543: Is currently accepted as the definitive version of the heike . A documented reason for this is that Kakuichi was largely responsible for forming the Ichikata guild. This preceded the formation of the Tōdō ( 当道 ) , a self-governing guild of biwa hōshi . The Tōdō received income in two ways: patronage from the Kyoto aristocracy and military, and its monopoly over the teaching and transmission of heikyoku . To be accepted as
1106-473: Is illustrated in Heike monogatari when a young Genji warrior Yukishige turns on Takahashi and kills him despite the fact that the latter had just spared his life on account of Yushikige's youthful resemblance to his own son. While pity for a youthful enemy on account of fatherly affection is a common refrain in the plot of gunki monogatari , Yushikige's single-minded loyalty to his camp at the expense of compassion
1185-659: Is important to note that Buddhism and the warrior ethic are not seen as necessarily opposed to each other. Despite their inherent differences, the gunki monogatari ethic represents a sort of combination of the two. This is possible primarily because the form of Buddhism espoused by gunki monogatari is Amida Buddhism, which teaches that anyone who repents for their sins and calls on Amida Buddha can be reborn in his Western Paradise and achieve enlightenment from there. This belief allows warriors, even as they commit acts of violence , to call on Amida's name. Furthermore, pursuing enlightenment in this life, according to Amida Buddhism,
1264-580: Is impossible because of the deterioration of Buddhist law on earth ( mappō ). Key Buddhist ideas in the gunki monogatari include karma , the idea that current circumstances are punishments or rewards for past actions, and impermanence, the idea that all things on this earth cannot last long. These themes appear overtly in short sermon -like interjections in the text. Heike monogatari , in particular, can be conceived of as one long sermon on Buddhism. Biwa h%C5%8Dshi Biwa hōshi ( 琵琶法師 ) , also known as "lute priests", were travelling performers in
1343-421: Is manifest in the self-sacrificial spirit of Heike Monogatari's Sanemori , who despite his age, repeatedly turns back to engage the enemy so as to protect the retreating Heike forces. This loyalty is firmly tied to the concept of personal honor; warriors would rather die and be praised posthumously than live on with a tainted name. The code of honor also rejects compassion when it conflicts with duty . This
1422-472: Is seen as legitimate. Northern Court members may be considered pretenders , but the ramifications are relics of history. One Southern Court descendant, Kumazawa Hiromichi , proclaimed himself Japan's Emperor after World War II , calling Emperor Hirohito a fraud, as Hirohito's entire line is descended from the Northern Court. Despite this, he was not arrested for lèse-majesté , even when donning
1501-665: The Ashokavadana as holy men, played lutes for alms. A 7th-century text from China and Japan's early 12th-century Konjaku Monogatarishū recount this story, while other "scattered accounts" of blind lute-laying priests can be found in Tang-period volumes from the Chinese mainland. In the Shanbei region near Inner Mongolia , "blind beggars who recited tales and travelled with pipa accompanists were common", prior to
1580-616: The heike-biwa to accompany their songs about legends, wars, histories, and mythologies. Eventually, hōshi referred to non-blind and blind performers and was also used as a suffix to a series of other types of people, such as dancing musicians ( 田楽法師 , dengaku hōshi ) , Chinese-style entertainers ( 散楽法師 , sarugaku hōshi ) , outcast artists ( 絵取り法師 , edori hōshi ) , and men from Sanjō or men from temporary quarters ( 三条法師 , Sanjō hōshi ) . Biwa hōshi are referred to in Japanese iconography that dates back to
1659-457: The biwa and the blind in the Tōdō and various regional groups for mōsō ( 盲僧 , "blind priests") further cement this inseparable relationship. Blindness was a necessary condition for membership in these organizations, which looked after blind heike performers and professionals and blind biwa ritualists respectively. In the Tōdō, heike performers came to control the guild, and thus
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#17327654407391738-530: The biwa players and appear to be laughing or jeering at them", while children run away from and dogs bark at them. The present trend of scholarly analysis is to consider the heike 's origin as having arisen first as a biwa recitation for the purpose of spreading Buddhism. According to the Tsurezuregusa or Essays in Idleness , in the reign of the cloistered emperor Go-Toba , Yukinaga –
1817-518: The biwa hōshi is referred to as heikyoku ( 平曲 ) , which literally means " heike music". Although these performers existed well before the events of the Genpei War , they eventually became famous for narrating tales about this war. Before biwa hōshi sang heikyoku , they were entertainers and ritual performers. They took on a broad range of roles, including poetry and song, plague prevention, and spiritual purification; actually, it
1896-485: The heike of the Edo Maeda-ryū, as well as his sons Tateyama Zennoshin and Tateyama Kōgo, both of whom lamented the decline of heike in the late years of Meiji and sought to foster a number of pupils. In Nagoya, a city which had been a thriving centre for heike performance, a small faction of blind male players continued to transmit heike alongside other mediums of music of growing popularity, such as
1975-527: The heike performed for the shogunate became increasingly solemn and refined to meet the standards of the intellectual class. Moreover, to ensure the development of the heike score, improvisation notably declined. In 1868, the Meiji Restoration heralded the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate. This ultimately contributed to the abolition of the Tōdō, which undermined social privileges for
2054-583: The koto and shamisen . Differences exist between these lineages due to geographical separation and changes that have occurred uniquely in time. For example, the Nagoya lineage relied almost entirely on oral transmission. Nevertheless, the Nagoya heike and Tsugaru heike were both nominated by the Japanese government as " Intangible Cultural Properties " in 1955 and 1959 respectively, with Nagoya performers Inokawa Kōji, Doizaki Masatomi and Mishina Masayasu nominated as national treasures. The libretto notation on which remaining heikyoku performance
2133-487: The koto . Takemitsu, on the other hand, collaborated with Western composers and compositions to include the distinctly Asian-sounding biwa . His well-received compositions revitalized interest in the biwa in the modern day. According to Hugh de Ferranti, modern, live performances of biwa narrative singing are rare, with almost all performers being "practitioners of Chikuzen-biwa and Satsuma-biwa". The satsuma-biwa "emerged from interaction between moso and
2212-566: The Edo period (1600–1868), the Tokugawa shogunate provided the Tōdō with special privileges and substantial financing, which the Tōdō then distributed to members according to rank. The Edo period also marks the era in which the shogunate designated heike as one of its official ceremonial forms of music. Accordingly, new schools of heike appeared, many of which were influenced by the newly introduced shamisen and its accompanying styles of music. The two predominant schools that came about during
2291-485: The Edo period , some female enthusiasts learned from heike-biwa professionals as a recreational activity. Itinerant women performers did still exist in medieval Japan, though they are most frequently shown playing the tsuzumi drum. In the Edo period, singers called goze often accompanied themselves on the shamisen or koto , the latter of which was played by "affluent blind women who taught it to
2370-573: The Heike monogatari , we can see that earlier versions, such as the Shibu kassenjō , included only a general description of the battle itself, while later versions include individual warrior's actions. Furthermore, the later tales transform the warriors from human figures into idealized heroes who embody the warrior ethic. These later accounts are probably fictional, a result of the tendency of oral tales to use real people and events and integrate them with prescribed themes to create effective performances. Thus
2449-667: The Kamakura and Muromachi periods that focus on wars and conflicts, especially the civil wars that took place between 1156 and 1568. Examples of this genre include the Hōgen Monogatari and the Heiji Monogatari . The most well known gunki monogatari is Heike Monogatari . Unlike their Heian counterparts such as Genji Monogatari , many of the medieval warrior tales have no identifiable authors and are generally composed by multiple people. The authors did not write
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2528-576: The 13th century until the 19th. Folk and literature attest "invariably about blind biwa hōshi and zatō ", and only in modern times do sighted musicians master such instruments like the biwa . According to De Ferranti, the act of playing lutes for alms by blind musicians finds its roots in Indian Buddhist culture during the 1st millennium CE. As early as the 4th century, blind itinerants in South Asia, described by texts such as
2607-537: The 16th century. Along with blindness, maleness was a necessary condition for admission to the mōsō and Tōdō. However, it was common in Tang China for women to play the pipa, as it was also common for courtly women from the Heian through Muromachi periods to learn biwa in childhood. There are also a few rare references to both sighted and blind female entertainers who may have played biwa , though in
2686-554: The 1949 revolution. Under Mao Zedong , blind itinerants called shuoshude (Chinese: 说书的 ) played a three-string lute in "household ritual contexts" using their narrative "as a potent force for social reform" by the Communist Party. Prior to the spread of Buddhism during the 6th to 9th centuries, it was "generally acknowledged that in Japanese ritual life blind men and women [were] respected as shamanic celebrants who bore numinous power because of their separation from
2765-462: The 40-chapter epic, and spans the period from Go-Daigo's accession in 1318 (when Takauji was still a minor vassal of the Kamakura shogunate 's Hōjō clan ), through Takauji's betrayal of the Hōjō, and Go-Daigo's fall and expulsion by Takauji in 1333, to his return to Kyoto in 1338. Go-Daigo, unlike many of the emperors before and after him, sought to supersede the power of the shōguns , and to actually rule in addition to reigning in name. Thus began
2844-470: The Edo period were the Maeda-ryū founded by Maeda Kyūichi, and the Hatano-ryū founded by Hatano Kōichi. Both figures were members of the Shidō-ha, which was the most active branch of the older Ichikata school. Collaborations were formed between amateur aficionados of the heike who, over the course of the Edo period, made small revisions to the musical notation of the heike score. The ceremonial form of
2923-482: The Imperial Crest, because he had a koseki detailing his bloodline back to Go-Daigo in Yoshino . Kumazawa has been unsuccessful at creating any political change other than some sympathy. Like most Japanese historical epics, the Taiheiki ' s tendencies towards drama and exaggeration are acknowledged, but the text is regarded as remaining mostly accurate. It is the primary and first-hand source on many of
3002-688: The Jojuin mōsō tradition and historical membership of the Gensei Hōryū mōsō group. Such individuals thus must be acknowledged for potential importance in producing written texts and in the "transmission of repertory". Buddhist iconography throughout East and South-East Asia depict short-necked lutes being played by celestial beings as well as the Hindu goddess Saraswati , who led such divine musicians. Avatars of Sarasvati , "the biwa -playing Hindu goddess of music, wisdom, and eloquence", also play
3081-709: The Minamoto (sometimes called the Genji), who systematically killed every male descendant of the Taira. Religion in Japan at the time incorporated many native animistic ( Shinto ) beliefs into its Buddhist theological framework, leading many court nobles and religious leaders to worry about angry Taira spirits disrupting the peace. The great earthquake around 1185 CE contributed to this sentiment. Since their rituals included placating spirits and preventing plagues, heike music became
3160-523: The Yasaka School, founded by Yasaka Kigen. Ranks were assigned to biwa hōshi on the basis of skill, the highest being kengyō ( 検校 ) , followed by kōtō ( 勾当 ) , bettō ( 別当 ) and zatō ( 座頭 ) . The proliferation of the Yasaka and Ichikata factions heightened with the contributions of Akashi Kakuichi (1300–1371). A noted biwa hōshi , Kakuichi's heikyoku narration
3239-399: The aberrations between the actions of different characters in various versions of the war tales betray differences in the way various editors and authors perceived the ideal warrior ethic; hence we must refrain from drawing definite conclusions about the fixed nature of the warrior ethic. The other chief value system that governs the ethic of gunki monogatari is Buddhism . First of all, it
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3318-537: The author borrowed heavily from existing oral narratives as well as diaries and other historical records. Since the original record was written to be read, not recited, it had to be revised for recitation. The current authoritative copy of the Heike is a result of transcriptions of these oral recitations. The medieval war tales are written in a mix of Japanese and Chinese; the prose was Japanese but included numerous Chinese phrases, as opposed to mid-Heian warrior tales, which were composed in kanbun (Chinese prose). Although
3397-411: The blind. The role of early biwa hōshi in delivery the vocal performance of battle tales "to allay the fury of slain warriors' ghosts" further implies a shamanistic qualification of the blind. Historical references suggest biwa hōshi were involved in both divination and also in this fundamental role of placating aggravated spirits, especially those killed in battle. The intimate ties between
3476-463: The bodhisattva named "Miraculous Sound", Myōon Bōsatsu is described in the Lotus Sutra and was important for biwa players in court society. Her influence would spread beyond the court, integrating itself especially in the biwa hōshi tradition. After the early 8th century however, most sculptures and iconographic depictions show the pipa instead of the lute. Locations whose name contain
3555-574: The characters or sounds biwa also have sanctified lore. Lake Biwa is famous for Chikubu-shima , where Taira no Tsunemasa performs at the Benzaiten shrine, whose deity appears in the form of a white dragon. Especially in Kyushu , there are biwa hills, valleys, ponds, and bridges throughout Japan, where performers supposedly buried or offered instruments to the local waters. Other legends of certain sects and accounts from ancient texts further
3634-571: The chinkon ritual performance, accounts for their fearful quality. However, kyōgen plays called zatō-mono feature deliberate tricking of a blind zatō so that he becomes lost and disoriented, or suffers losses and misunderstanding. Such action is provoked by sighted individuals for pure amusement, as in the stories of Saru zatō and Tsukimi zatō . Picture scrolls marry this "similar sense of biwa hōshi as bizarre, somewhat frightening figures who can nevertheless be taunted". In these images, people "look out from their houses at
3713-454: The conflict cause a loss of performers, but also a decline in the number of listeners of the heikyoku . However, the complete demise of the biwa hōshi was prevented by the daimyō Tokugawa Ieyasu who favored the art of heike performance. Ieyasu ultimately reunified the country by establishing the Tokugawa shogunate , and became a fervent patron of the heike . During
3792-603: The continuation of the biwa by collaborating with Western composers. Recognising that traditional Japanese music, and interest in it, was quickly falling out of fashion, Takemitsu, as well as a number of composers before him, noted that studies in music theory and music composition almost entirely consisted of Western theory and instruction. Though some Western composers had begun to incorporate Japanese music and Japanese instruments into their compositions, these composers often focused on those Japanese instruments most similar to Western ones; for example, Michio Miyagi's utilization of
3871-401: The denotation of words for blind people such as mōjin ( 盲人 ) , zatō , and mekura ( 盲 ) . Also, many blind individuals gain the ailment gradually, resulting from aging, illness, or accident, meaning literacy may have been acquired earlier in life. Hugh de Ferranti states that notable numbers of biwa performers "were sighted and in some cases literate", evidenced by records of
3950-430: The development of the heike : Heikyoku musically is influenced by Buddhist chant, and the kōshiki and shōmyō traditions of the biwa from the 11th and 12th centuries. Indeed, it is a combination of the monogatari style practiced by gaku- and mōsō-biwa , and shōmyō narrative. Author Yukinaga brought elements of the court tradition, while Jien offered shomyo aspects. Shōbutsu as
4029-498: The end of the Edo period, the koto had replaced the biwa as the most common instrument used among blind musicians. The heike tradition persisted, however, through the Tsugaru lineage (transmitted by sighted performers) and the Nagoya lineage (transmitted by professional blind musicians of the Tōdō tradition), both of which belonged to the Maeda-ryū. The Tsugaru lineage consisted of Kusumi Taisō (1815–1882), who learned
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#17327654407394108-507: The era of Japanese history preceding the Meiji period . They earned their income by reciting vocal literature to the accompaniment of biwa music. Biwa hōshi were mostly blind, and adopted the shaved heads and robes common to Buddhist monks . The occupation likely had its origin in China and India , where blind Buddhist lay-priest performers were once common. The musical style of
4187-553: The heads of enemies as war trophies was considered the norm in the battlefield but condemned as unchivalrous if the enemy had already surrendered. The warrior ethic dictates a set course of action that warriors ought to pursue regardless of their personal sentiments or inclinations. An example of this is the classic battle between 'duty' and 'desire' which plays out in Atsumori's story in Heike Monogatari. Nevertheless,
4266-428: The individual warrior's attributes. Another part of the warrior scenes was the hero announcing his name, a speech which included not merely his personal name and title, but also his familial connections and accomplishments. The gunki monogatari puts a great deal of emphasis on the warrior ethic . This moral system includes, first of all, loyalty to one's lord and being valiant in the face of certain death. This
4345-403: The influence of the shamisen style. The main schools were Hatano-ryū and Maeda-ryū, named after their respective founders; intense rivalry between the schools, compounded by changes in the music world at large, contributed to the decline of the heike tradition. The growing utilization of the shamisen by the mid-16th century precipitated new innovations in popular music. Some of
4424-614: The late Heian period (794–1185 CE). They are also referred to in the Shinsarugakuki , written by Fujiwara no Akihira (989–1066). Shōbutsu, a Buddhist monk of the Tendai school, was, according to tradition, the first biwa hōshi to sing the Heike Monogatari , around the year 1220. Subsequently, two different factions of biwa hōshi were formed. These were the Ichikata school, founded by Akashi Kyoichi, and
4503-441: The legends about him became an ideal for them to follow. NHK 's 1991 taiga drama Taiheiki was noted for its portrayal of Ashikaga Takauji as an agent of change against the decadent Hōjō, rather than a national traitor as generally viewed by Japanese historians. Gunki monogatari Gunki monogatari ( 軍記物語 , Military chronicle-tale ) , or "war tales", is a category of Japanese literature written primarily in
4582-486: The lives of many Japanese blind people. According to the legends of these institutions, "the lineage of blind biwa players ultimately is traced to ... a blind disciple of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni , called Gankutsu Sonja". However, according to Hugh de Ferranti, not all blind biwa players of antiquity "were completely lacking the sense of vision and knowledge of music". Indeed, many people called blind were likely "only impaired in their vision", evidenced by
4661-567: The lute in Tibetan and Chinese iconographic displays; such avatars correspond to Benzaiten , a Japanese deity known for holding a biwa in her benevolent arms. Japanese iconography indicates two female lute-playing deities: the aforementioned Benzaiten and Myōonten; their identities are often fused together, but both have their roots in the continental Asian tradition, and can be traced from Sarasvati through various forms. Benzaiten represents eloquence while Myōonten epitomizes music itself. As
4740-489: The lute, hence leading to the widespread misconception that gunki Monogatari were originally written for the exclusive purpose of memorization and recitation. However, comparisons of carefully preserved original manuscripts reveal that the Heike Monogatari , the most famous war tale, was originally written pseudo-historically to chronicle the battle between the Minamoto and Taira families. In formulating this tale,
4819-465: The man in charge of the household of the chief advisor to the emperor, Fujiwara Kanezane – often exchanged poems with the imperial court. He was invited to an imperial discourse on poems, and unable to recall two of the seven virtues, was thus named the Jack of Five Virtues. Embarrassed, he gave up on learning poetry and took the tonsure, and became a monk under the abbot Jien of the Tendai sect. Jien
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#17327654407394898-465: The mid-1900s. Though blindness in Japanese society has historically been stigmatized "as the result of a Buddhist interpretation of the condition as a form of karmic punishment", other factors also led to the marginalization and discrimination of blind musicians. In general, the blind were treated according to the restrictions of their societal rank. In other words, commoner townsmen ( chōnin ) and warrior–rank blind people "were allowed to engage in
4977-985: The middle class, however, and were affiliated with the Sanjō districts in which "the discriminated classes" lived. However, folk beliefs in the visits of kami during such harvest festivals to rid villagers of impurity upon receiving gifts from householders may have provided a socio-cultural basis for the willingness to offer food and money to itinerant performers; further, kadozuke was seen as an act of merit. According to Hugh de Ferranti, iconographic and literary sources generally portray biwa hōshi as solitary and pitiable figures, though wealthy and powerful individuals also exist in such representations. Sometimes they are depicted as mysterious, frightening, and potentially dangerous individuals while in other sources, they are "ridiculous" characters "to be made fun of, at times with unbridled cruelty". Folklore links biwa hōshi to ghosts through their placation of wronged spirits and
5056-496: The most affluent could "make a living during the Edo period as teachers and performers based at their homes", while the rest (representing the majority of zatō and goze ) relied on kadozuke , regarded as a form of begging, despite its ritual associations. Door-to-door performances delivered by professionals associated to shrines and temples also occurred in the historical practice of seasonal rites and celebrations for farming areas; they were considered to be of low status by
5135-406: The musicians and reduced the availability of avenues for performance. The Hatano-ryū, in particular, underwent a debilitating decline in popularity, so much so that it struggled to survive in Kyoto until the middle of the 20th century. In addition, the rise in popularity of the shamisen , which accompanied contemporary songs and narratives, made the ancient tales of the Heike appear antiquated. By
5214-474: The post-war era, these traditions were considered "refined classical pursuits", resulting in their popularity beyond heike-biwa . The biwa itself is also depicted with the image of goddess Benzaiten at her shrines, and in images of the Seven Lucky Gods ( 七福神 , Shichi Fukujin ) "in homes, shops, and offices". The biwa ... is tied forever to the world of the Tale of the Heike ;
5293-427: The professions available to all of similar rank, within the constraints of their visual impairment", while those in agrarian households were expected to contribute to the payment of land taxes via any means of labor possible. However, the most common professions for all such peoples included music, massage, acupuncture and moxa therapy, while ritual work was common in specialized locations. As for itinerant performers,
5372-421: The sacred associations of the biwa instrument. Despite the depiction of Benzaiten , the patron deity of music revered by biwa hōshi and mōsō , as a female entity and the existence of highly celebrated female biwa players in 20th century, with the "exception of avocational performance by women in the court music tradition", professional biwa players were men until the shamisen 's use in
5451-588: The samurai class" in Satsuma Province , starting a period of popularity for "modern biwa " until the 1930s, while the chikuzen-biwa had its origin in the 1890s in the Chikuzen region of Kyushu, drawing upon aspects of mōsō music, shamisen , and the satsuma-biwa technique. These traditions enjoyed widespread appreciation during the early 20th century due to the "nationalist, militarist sentiments of late-Meiji imperialist ideology". In
5530-558: The stories entirely from start to end but instead edited and re-wrote them multiple times. There were two forms in which gunki monogatari were transmitted: through yomimono (written texts) and through recitation by blind priests known as biwa hōshi . The oral practices had a ritual component, as they were thought to restore order to society and pacify the angry souls of warriors killed in battle, but they also functioned as wayside entertainment. Historically, warrior tales have achieved much acclaim through their recitations accompanied by
5609-412: The texts are primarily written in prose, they also include occasional poems, usually waka . Another key difference between medieval war tales and their predecessors is that Heian literature takes the form of historical records while medieval tales truly fall under the category of monogatari . While both often focus around a sole warrior who caused a major societal disturbance, the medieval war tales have
5688-443: The warrior narrative usually consists of three parts, describing respectively the causes of the war, the battles themselves, and the war's aftermath. The texts are generally episodic, broken up into numerous small tales often focusing on select incidents or warriors. This is a result of the text's oral transmission. The battle scenes themselves also reflect a connection with oral practices. For example, if we examine different versions of
5767-451: The warrior tales are a mixture of historical fact and dramatic fiction . We can also draw links between the oral traditions and the manner in which these battle scenes are conducted. Battle scenes commonly include descriptions of the warrior's clothing and armor , which is used both as a means of identifying the warrior and as a means of describing the warrior's personality. These descriptions were formulaic, but still effectively described
5846-428: The warriors and battles of this period, and also documents elements of the fall of the powerful and historically important Hōjō clan . A line said by the pro-imperial samurai Kusunoki Masashige (regarding how "he wished that he would be reborn seven times to fight for the emperor" in an improved way) in the Taiheiki became well-known among Japanese nationalists and pro-imperialist in the 19th and 20th centuries and
5925-460: The wives of samurai and merchants". The former along with its wooden imitation, gottan were played for performance to procure alms, house to house; this was called kadozuke [ ja ] ( 門付 ) . In Kyushu, goze were not uncommon with such performers mentioned in the Tōdō's late-18th-century accounts. Although not bona fide members of the guild, goze held annual festivals, and this profession continued to be viable into
6004-406: The world experienced by others". Historically, the blind performed healing rituals for curing illness and exorcising spirits. For music, plucking or striking string instruments also have ritual meanings, and were tasks probably given to blind individuals to perform in belief of their shamanistic abilities. The Azusa Yumi was utilized for summoning deities in a pre-Buddhist ritual, likely involving
6083-479: Was Jōichi's disciple and a favorite of shōgun Ashikaga Takauji , possibly due to blood relations. Kakuichi soon gained the rank of kengyō , the head of guild for the blind, the Tōdō; he died in 1371 during the peak of the heike-biwa . Musically, development continued with the Ichikata-ryū, with it spreading into four separate branches. During the Edo period , the main branches split further with
6162-645: Was known to gather talent at the Shōren-in temple on Mount Hiei in Kyoto to discuss ways of spreading the Tendai faith. Many here were biwa hōshi . It is in this way that Yukinaga legendarily wrote the script of the Tale of the Heike , and taught it to a mōsō-biwa from eastern Japan named Shōbutsu, renowned for his impressive narrative delivery and extensive knowledge of warriors, bows, and horses. According to George Gish, there were five essential ingredients for
6241-536: Was probably because of their ritualistic duties that they became the caretakers of The Tale of the Heike ( 平家物語 , Heike Monogatari ) . The biwa hōshi are considered the first performers of the Tale of the Heike , which is one of Japan's most famous epics. It details battles between two powerful clans, the Minamoto and the Taira around the 12th century. The Taira (or Heike) were eventually annihilated by
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