From the acclaimed translator of The Tale of Genji a groundbreaking rendering of Japan's great
martial epic The fourteenth-century Tale of the Heike is Japan's Iliad-a moving depiction of
the late twelfth-century wars between the Heike and Genji clans. No work has had a greater
impact on later Japanese literature theater music film and manga-indeed on the Japanese
people's sense of their own past. It has also been a major source for medieval-Japan-based
fantasy in English. With woodcuts by nineteenth-century artist Teisai Hokuba a major student
of the great Hokusai Royall Tyler's stunning presentation of this touchstone of Japanese
culture recreates the oral epic as it was actually performed and conveys the rich and vigorous
language of the original. For more than seventy years Penguin has been the leading publisher
of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1 700 titles Penguin
Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres
and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by
introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as
up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
