Historical Background and Aspects of Japanese Culture that Are Portrayed
This takes a story line that is written in 12 chapters of which each discusses a certain issue in an interesting manner. It discusses the stories of 12th century and the main focus is the transition of Chinese and the Japanese. The setting of the story portrays the Japanese as people with honor, deceit, and brave.
It is a war set book that gives the tale of decline and tragic downfall of Taira clan, which according to the standards of the time was a mighty clan during the fateful five years after 1180. There were also individuals that did not have these characters but there were mechanism that was set to discipline them. This is the initial stage that the belief of the Japanese (of being brave and adventurous) is portrayed.
Taira had risen as a result of great leadership of Kiyomori after the Hogen and Heiji disturbances. This portrays the value that the Japanese had placed on their leader. He is seen to be the most successful leader and after the success he aimed at dominating other clans politically. This is the greed of power that has existed in the country even today.
After gaining power, there was a lot of concentration in art, a feature that have prevailed even presently, this however made the leader to forget about the warriors. They were (after two decades) defeated and the clan failed. In the story there is a direct reinforcing of a Japanese notion that everything has an end however long it seems to stay, there comes a day and it comes to an end. The story also reinforces the Buddhist notion of karma.
This is when they portray that everybody is haunted by the sins that he committed yesterday. However prosperous he may be, he eventually will have to regret the ills that he did. This is portrayed where before killings soldiers are supposed to seek for divine intervention.
The religion and the belief of superstitions are portrayed in the story. There is the belief that there is a super power that exist in the universe that human beings are mandated to respect. The sense of humor that is portrayed in the book is a model of the normal life that the Japanese existence generally has.
The Image of the Area as Well as the Authority Setting
The story line is centered in the life of a clan called the Taira that had emerged to great heights after a good leadership. During that time the society lived as clans and the clan that dominated in the area was the one that ruled the others. This is through the wars that they had in the time. There were various ambushes that each clan made to the other. After an attack had been done the victorious people would move with properties that they were able to carry from the other clan.
The chiefdom of the area was hereditary; a son could take over from the father. There was a council that was supposed to assist the chief in making various decisions in the kingdom. A victorious chief’s measure was the wealth that he was able to accumulate from the concurred clans.
Reference List
DeBARY, Theodore et al. Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol. 1: From Earliest Times to 1600. New York. Columbia University Press, 2001, pp. 276-280.