The Way of The Warrior in The Tale of The Heike

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The Way of The Warrior in The Tale of The Heike

Heike Monogatari, with its multitude of battles and skirmishes, provides a wonderful chance to analyze the way of the warrior in ancient Japan. There aren't a great number of surviving works from this period that show in such great detail both the brute and the compassion of the Japanese warriors. They followed carefully a distinct set of principles which made up the well-rounded warrior. Loyalty to one's master, bravery and glory in any situation, strength, martial skills, compassion, and interest in the arts were all held with the highest esteem. Few warriors could become well known without possessing each of these skills. Religious beliefs shaped a warrior's behavior tremendously. Most warriors were heartfelt believers of both Shinto and Buddhism, and followed the ideas of karmic retribution, the four noble truths, the six realms, and the sacred rituals of battle and death. Examples of these, and many other religious ideas abound in Heike.

Even before entering battle, warriors prepared mentally. "In the past, three commitments ha been required of a Commander who went forth from the capital to destroy an aenemy of the court. On the day when he received the Sword of Commision, he forgot his lineage; when he prepared to leave his home, he forgot his wife and children; when he engaged the foe on the battlefield, he forgot his life. Most lovingly, those same resolves must have been in the minds of the Heike leaders, Koremori and Tadanori.(p.186)" Formal battles often followed a standard procedure. First off, battles were typically planned with both sides knowing when the time of battle would be. This differs greatly from more strategic methods of battle such as surprise attack...

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...g to their religious beliefs. When the Genji warrior Yorimasa suffered a grievous would to his knee, he asked his retainer Watanabe no Chojitsu Tono to cut off his head. Tono, Yorimasa's retainer, refused to do so until Yorimasa had killed himself. Whereafter "Yorimasa turned toward the west, chanted ten Buddha-invocations in a loud voice, and spoke his last sad words: 'No flower of fortune has blessed a life resembling a long-buried tree--yet how bitter is the thought that all should end like this.' Without another word, he thrust the tip of his sword into his belly and fell forward, his vitals pierced.(p.157)" Tono took his head, fastened it to a rock and sank it in the Uji River. Like Yorimasa does, it is imperitive at the moment of death if one wants to reach the Pure Land, that he completely forget his current life and pray towards the Amida Buddha in the west.

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