The Tale of the Heike

 
It is always interesting to me that things happen all in a piece, for instance a couple of weeks ago I had discovered a yellowing copy of Eiji Yoshikawa's Tale of the Heike in my grandfather's house. None of my immediate family members claimed that it was theirs so I put it to some long gone house guest. The book was first translated by Fuki Wooyenaka Uramatsu in 1956 and the book I own was the tenth printing in 1971, costing 540 yen or $1.50.

First some background about why this book was an interesting find. Eiji Yoshikawa 吉川 英治 is a very famous Japan historical novelist, and had been awarded the Cultural Order of Merit in 1960 (the highest award in Japan for a man of letters) and he has written famous works such as Taiko (the life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi) and Musashi (the life of Miyamoto Musashi of which countless novels, TV drama and manga are based). Both works have been translated into English. His status is probably comparable to Louis Cha in the Chinese world and thus it was a real suprise for me to find such a thing in my Grandfather's house. At some stage I hope to write a more detailed post on him.

The Tale of the Heike is a 12th Century Epic about the feud between two warrior clans the Taira (Heike) and the Minamoto (Genji) vying for dominace in a society where the Emperor was greatly weakened and controlled by his court. The Epic has been compared by some to be Japan's Iliad and contains many stirring battle scenes and many of the protagonists have become well known folk heroes in Japan and like Miyamoto Musashi have spawned countless novels, TV, film and manga adaptations.

However, the original, like the Iliad was probably meant to be performed rather than read and is long and involved with a cast of thousands, where periods of tedium are punctuated by interesting battle scenes and intrigue. I had originally purchased a copy of the translation by Helen Craig McCullough in the 1990s but found it rather tedious and lost track of the key protagonists with similar names about 40-50 pages into the book and gave up.

Picking up Yoshikawa's version was like the Rosetta stone, in that it was translated into clean and easily understood English, and being in novel format kept me in suspense, the novel revolves around the life of Kiyomori the Heike warrior from his rise from penury to the pinacle of power. Yoshikawa's descriptions and atmosphere bring many of the key actors and the glittering Heian period to life.However the Uramatsu translation is an abridged version of Yoshikawa's work, and many parts which the author deemed unsuitable or boring for foreign audiences was excised and the translation only covered 2/3 of the work as serialization was still ongoing when the book was translated in 1956. Thus I was keen to tackle the original epic.

Having finished the book, I discovered quite by chance that Royall Tyler had put out a new translation that had extensive reviews (even the New York Times had one) and I finally felt that I could tackle the book at this stage in my life. The book was available at my local bookstore (Kelly and Walsh) for HK$500 which translates to about US$40.

Professor Tyler has attempted to hew as closely and accurately to the original as possible and has made the impressive decision of translating the text into rhythmic lines which is sure to have its share of admirors and detractors. Unfortunately, however, Professor Tyler is no Robert Fitzgerald or Robert Fagles  (Illiad) or Seamus Heany (Beowulf) and my own personal opinion is that often the verse slides into the banal and the overall pathos and Buddhist feeling of impermance is lost.

Comparing the justly famous opening lines:

Helen Craig McCullough :

The sound of the Gion Shoja bells echoes the impermanence of all things;

the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline.

The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night;

the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.‎

Royall Tyler:

The Jetavana Temple bells

ring the passing of all things,

Twinned sal trees, white in full flower,

declare the Great Man's certain fall.

The arrogant do not long endure:

They are like a dream one night in spring.

The bold and brave perish in the end: They are as dust before the wind

Fuki Wooyenaka Uramatsu: (my personal favourite)

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.

Uramatsu only translated the opening lines in his short essay on the historical background of the novel. But I liked his somewhat old fashioned turns of phrase such as the "mighty are cast down" versus "the bold and brave perish in the end" (the three words "in the end" are to me a redundancy) and sometimes the Tyler version has too much information - as in the "Jevatana bells" versus simply "the temple bells". Don't get me wrong I am throughly enjoying his version, as I labor my way through it, but a general reader may be better served by a freer translation (perhaps in the lines of Waley's translation of Genji). So my recommendation is to do as I did - read Yoshikawa first or watch Mizoguchi's movies on the Heike, then you will get a lot more out of this translation.

       

The Tale of the Heike (Penguin Hardback Classics)