The Heike Story (88 page)

Mr. Yoshikawa began writing The Heike Story soon after the end of the Pacific War, when the tragic aftermath was a powerful reminder of what the Heike Monogatari had related seven centuries before, and his theme is the futility and degradation of war, the fatuity of the lust for power. The author makes Kiyomori one of the principal actors, but The Heike Story, unlike its prototype, is more than a chronicle of the deeds of warriors and princes, for the story is carried beyond the events recorded in the medieval epic, and the defeat of the Heike is made to take place after Kiyomori's death, when a Genji chieftain, Yoritomo, appears on the stage to play an important role as he once did in history.

The author introduces a host of historical figures as well as imaginary ones in his novel, but none of them is the hero in the ordinary sense. History, or the irresistible cycle of events, is the real protagonist of The Heike Story, sweeping everything before it, and the greatest men are but figures rescued for a short space from the vast stream of time, and Mr. Yoshikawa writes in the strain of those lines with which the ancient epic begins: "The temple bell echoes the impermanence of all things. The colors of the flowers testify to the truth that those who flourish must decay. Pride lasts but a little while, like a dream on a spring night. Before long the mighty are cast down, and they are as dust before the wind."

For his particular interpretation of history in The Heike Story, Mr. Yoshikawa studied not only the literature of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries but diaries, letters, chronicles, and picture scrolls, which provided him with a rich source of material and authentic detail in the telling of his story.

The author occupies a unique position among Japanese novelists writing today. Where most, if not all, have at some time in their careers come under the influence of European literature, particularly of Russian and French writers, Mr. Yoshikawa, because of the circumstances of his early life, had no opportunity for becoming acquainted with the literature of the West even in translations. His reading in youth—and he read voluminously—was confined to the classics of Japan, ancient and medieval, which he found in lending libraries. Consequently his background and technique as a writer have been shaped exclusively by the traditions of Japanese classical literature on which he draws entirely for his models and sources.

The Heike Story, which Mr. Yoshikawa began writing in 1951, is not yet finished, but more than two thirds of this monumental work has been completed and has appeared in book form. It is now a best-seller, with an ever-widening circle of readers, and is acclaimed by critics as a landmark in modern Japanese literature.

A few words, need to be added here regarding the translation. It would be more accurate to call it an English version, since with the author's generous consent The Heike Story has been modified considerably for Western readers. Much that is significant and of great interest to a Japanese audience familiar with the historical setting has been omitted in translation; entire chapters have been condensed and a large number of sub-plots and subsidiary characters entirely left out. This translation is therefore only a partial one and fails to do justice to the complexity and diversity of the original. None the less, it is the translator's fervent wish that The Heike Story will give Western readers an opportunity to share some of the delight that it gives readers here and also provide a diverting introduction to Japan and the Japanese.