These are the results of a search in 6/98 for
the Japanese phrase HEIKE MONOGATARI to see how well various search
engines perform.
Kensaku desk (υfXNjis handy for comparisons: http://www.bekkoame.or.jp/~asaisan/
Mr. Tanaka's
Heike page (c»v) [1 of 3]
(from www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~watson/heike/heike.html)
- Every now and then I do a search on the Web for HEIKE. Search
in Japanese still finds few academic sites (literary scholars
have been slow to make use of the Web in Japan). Instead there
are hits on many PR home page of towns across the country that
claim some connection with the story, historic or legendary.
The use of the name HEIKE to attract tourists shows the continuing
popular appeal of the story. [Examples: (1) site of battle of
Yashimain
Shikoku, (2) Shimozeki City, Yamaguchi-ken: Hikoshima
near site of Dan-no-ura]
- The Hikoshima site has now grown into a whole web of pages
devoted to history and legends of the Heike--see Mr Nakanishi's
index
page. Many photographs. (J)
- Photographs of Yashima
in Shikoku today: Shido, Antoku Shrine the tomb of Kikuomaru,
the place (now land) where Yoshitsune dropped his bow (J). Text
reference: Heike monogatari, book 11.
- A more recent hunt for "Heike monogatari" using
the excellent search engine called "goo"
produced many more hits. Few are "Heike pages", most
are from university course listings and bookstore catalogues.
Pages that are of interest include the Takamatsu
Heike museum. When I have a moment I'll sort out the better ones
and add links here. (4/98)
- Lafcadio Hearn's story of "Miminashi Hoichi" or
"Earless Hoichi" is a famous example of the popular
reception of the Heike story. Thanks to the Gutenberg project,
you can now download a textfile of this story and others in his
"Kwaidan"
(=Kaidan, ghost story) collection. Professor Negishi in Gifu
gives the original Japanese
story.
- All over Japan there are communities which claim to be descended
from fugitives of the Taira warriors defeated in the war of 1181-5.
They are popularly known as Heike-dani or "Heike
valleys"--see the study by the scholar Carmen Blacker, "The
Exiled Warrior and the Hidden Village," Folklore 95:ii (1985),
pp. 139-150. Heike-dani are now on the Web. [Shikoku]
- Not to be confused with Heike-gani which are a type
of crab traditionally thought to represent the Taira warriors,
women and children who drowned at Dan-no-ura. Must find a good
photo.
- As university catalogues appear on the Web, one discovers
that HEIKE is widely taught on American campuses, not just in
survey courses of Japanese literature but also in broader studies
of comparative or world literature. [Examples]
- I'd be grateful to know of any links. Look for "Tale
of the Heike" to avoid the common German name HEIKE! (Hotbot will narrow down the
search to .edu domain, for example)
- Many sites have related visual material. Here's a nice reproduction
of the famous Jingoji portrait of Minamoto no Yoritomo,
victor in the Genpei war (1181-5) and the first shogun [I've
told them already about the typo!] (E)