The Genpei War (1180-1185 CE) is one of the most important socio-political events in Japanese history. It brought an end to Japan’s Heian Era of classical antiquity and ushered in a new, feudalistic age in which Japan’s warrior families, known to us today as the samurai, began to take political control of the country. Beyond that, it left a massive cultural impact on the country’s society, with its colorful characters and dramatic events being immortalized in theater, literature, and artwork for centuries to come, with many of them remaining household names even today. This video is a long-form, documentary-style deep dive into this epic conflict, covering the historical lead-up, the war itself, and the half-dozen-or-so years of its immediate aftermath. I highly recommend watching it as the grand finale of my four-part series of videos on the history of the Heian Period!
Support the channel with a t-shirt purchase: https://buyuuden-japanese-history.creator-spring.com/
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Prologue
0:49 Intro
3:44 ACT ONE: Taira no Kiyomori
11:21 Stormclouds
14:19 The Shishigatani Incident
17:24 Taira Takeover
21:10 Prince Mochihito’s Uprising
24:56 Capital Transfer
26:39 ACT TWO: Minamoto no Yoritomo
29:31 Yoritomo’s Rebellion
33:59 The Embarrassment at the Fuji River
38:15 Goodbye, Kiyomori
43:49 Hell on Earth
46:15 ACT THREE: Kiso Yoshinaka
51:37 Yoshinaka Triumphant
56:41 The Unraveling
59:32 ACT FOUR: Minamoto no Yoshitsune
1:02:56 Ichi no Tani
1:06:49 Yashima
1:10:30 Dan no Ura
1:16:32 Brothers’ War
1:25:26 Aftermath
1:28:52 Outro
Main Information Sources:
図説：平清盛 (樋口 州男・鈴木彰・錦昭江・野口華世)
源頼朝：東国を選んだ武家の貴公子（高橋 典幸）
京・鎌倉 ふたつの王権 (本郷 恵子)
武士の成長と院政（下向井龍彦）
歴史・文化ガイド：源義経の時代（奥富敬之）
平清盛：悪人か英雄か (Gakken Mook)
源平争乱：群雄ビジュアル百科（ポプラ社）
１日で読める平家物語（吉野敬介）
鎌倉幕府開幕：源頼朝（朝日カルチャーシリーズ）
図説：源平合戦人物伝（歴史群像シリーズ）
８００年の時を経て蘇る鴨長明「方丈記」時代の事件簿（Town Mook)
Intro Monologue stitched together from Tale of the Heike translations by Burton Watson, Royall Tyler, and A.L. Sadler
Music:
Dova Syndrome (https://dova-s.jp/) (Artists: Fuuka and Habane (風可＆葉羽), Yoshinori Tanaka (田中芳典), MAKOOTO, Koorogi (こおろぎ), lei, Maniira (マニーラ), Make a field Music, Hata Akira (秦暁), ilodolly, Itou Keisuke (伊藤ケイスケ))
Amacha Ongaku Kôbô (http://amachamusic.chagasi.com/index.html)
Peritune (https://peritune.com)
Oto no Sono (http://oto-no-sono.com）
Intro/Outro beat produced by Buyuuden (me) using samples from “Tetegobashi” from Lone Wolf and Cub
Images from:
The National Diet Library Digital Collections (https://dl.ndl.go.jp/)
The Waseda University Library (https://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/index.html)
The Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive (https://rmda.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/)
The British Museum (https://www.britishmuseum.org)
Meisei University (http://ehon-emaki.meisei-u.ac.jp/)
The Tokyo Metropolitan Library (https://archive.library.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/da/top)
Ritsumeikan University (https://www.dh-jac.net/)
Touken World (https://www.touken-world.jp)
The Hayashibara Museum of Art’s Heike Monogatari Picture Scroll
The Umi-Mori Art Museum’s Hogen-Heiji Monogatari Picture Scroll
The Okada Museum of Art’s Heike Monogatari Folding Screen (One picture)
Colbase (https://colbase.nich.go.jp/?locale=ja)
Penn Libraries (http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/fish...)
Photo AC (https://www.photo-ac.com/)
Illust AC (https://www.ac-illust.com/)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Google Earth
Some photos of out-of-copyright artwork from books I own
Public Domain Photos:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jetavana.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Renge_Uji,_Uji-shi,_Ky%C5%8Dto-fu_611-0021,_Japan_-_panoramio_(3).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kanmon_Straits_Aerial_photograph.2009.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Genghis_Khan_(20373865590).jpg
Graphics:
“Close up, The orange flame was burning. The strength of the fire was moving and burning” by Vecteezy (https://www.vecteezy.com/video/5312390-close-up-the-orange-flame-was-burning-the-strength-of-the-fire-was-moving-and-burning)
Banquet sounds: unfa (https://freesound.org/people/unfa/sounds/209313/)