Heike monogatari

In the year 1185,,April 25, Near the straits of Agame no seki,after a fierce sea battle the samurai and courtiers of the Heike Empire threw themselves into the sea and drowned in a mass suicide. Historically this brought the Gempei war to an end and began the era of the powerful military Shoguns. The Tragic tale of the Taira clans demise which has since been immortalized in the Tale Heike monogatari or The Tale of the Heike. The Taira are the Heike clan and the Minamoto are the Genji clan.

This sinlge event in japanese historythe Battle of Dan-no-ura, is an inexaustable source of inspiration for the japanese cultures art from the very time of tragic fall of the Taira clan right in to the modern era.

This time the Minamato troops outnumbered the Taira warriors by one to three. The Battle of Dan-no-ura proved a bitter struggle. The Taira had nothing to lose and so fought with an élan that recalled their glory days. The Taira ships off the coast of Dannoura ( Dan-no-ura ).Measured by the number of ships engaged, the Battle of Dan-no-ura, was probably the greatest naval battle of all time and most famous sea battle in pre-modern Japanese that put an end to the Gempei War. The naval battle at Dan-no-Ura, is thought to be the last time Grasscutter was seen The boy-Emperor Antoku Tenno wore Grasscutter into battle at Dan-no-Ura.Liquidating his rival cousins and finally defeating the Taira at the Battle of Dan no Ura in 1185, Yoritomo established the supremacy of the warrior samurai established firmly the Age of the Shoguns in Japan

When the battle was lost for the Taira, many Taira noblemen and thier Samurai committed suicide by jumping into the sea and drowning themselves. Among them was also Kiyomori's widow and grandmother of the child emperor Antoku , Emperor of Japan 7 years old . She grabbed and Said to the child Emperor "We go to a kingdom ,Your kingdom and the Lord of the Sea ,The Dragon King will recieve You , Antoku as the king and prince you are! See the Sword at your side? The Sacred "The Mower of Grass" a gift from Amaterasu herself the Sword of the Dragon King , and well he will receive us!!" Taking her grandchild in her arms and leaped into the sea. Both drowned. The suicide attempt by Antoku's mother, Tokuko, was unsuccessful one of the archers shot arrows and pinned her gown to the side of the ship that she leapt from. She was pulled out of the sea by Minamato warriors. Tokuko was brought to Kyoto and became a nun of the Jakkoin Temple. She took the name Kenreimon-in and died in 1191 at the age of thirty-six. But this is not the End of the Hieke Clans fame.......

The Blind Biwa player intones biwa hoshi or a blind biwa - playing bard who traveled around chanting The Tale of the Taira Family even before it was written down in the first half of the 13th century.It is thought that the telling of the Heike monogatari< appeased the Hieke clans ghosts. Its opening passage is especially famous for its Buddhist idea of impermanence that goes as follows:

battle of Dan-no-ura Ghost story........The Blind Biwa Player Hoichi

An interesting point is in the concept of the afterlife. The metaphysics of The Tale of the Heike are strictly Buddhist, specifically of the Pure Land sect. By that doctrine, the dying Heike would have passed at once to a Buddhist paradise. The concept of lingering spirits who must be placated belongs rather to Shinto, the great rival of Buddhism in Japan. But this concept is of course central to the tale.

Near the straits of Agame no seki there is a species of crab called the "heike" crab and also called the Mask crab. The Heike crabs have on their bellies ridges and bumps that perfectly form the face of a scowling samurai! They are considered sacred and never eaten. These Heike Crabs are considered the reincarnation of the Taira clans noble and loyal samurai. Even now you can see a fisherman bow to a Hieke crab as he pulls him from his crab traps to release the Samurai crab back to the straits of Agame no seki.

Here is a link that shows the the Heike Link to Samurai Hieki Crab picture Large enough to actualy See

~***~ Art of the Hieke Mask crabs and the Taira at the Bottom of the Sea

Geographic position of Battle of Dannoura and the home of the "Hieke" Mask crabs

Also just as a added side note the Plateau The site of the pivotal Battle of Dan-no-ura (1185); also a source of high-quality granite and home to the studios of two world-famous sculptors.

Map Where the Battle of Dan-no-ura (1185) took place and home of the "Hieke" mask crabs ........http://www.hikyaku.com/cgi-bin/mainmap?okjapan+Battle-of-Dannoura+p(131,34)+english