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By the 1200s, [[Kyoto]] was home to a great many ''biwa hôshi'', as was the area in and around [[Enryaku-ji]] on [[Mt. Hiei]]. The [[Genpei War]] ended in [[1185]], and the political after-effects were still being felt, and so, it has been suggested, there were many stories about the conflict circulating, as well as much demand for such stories. And so, the earliest versions of the tradition of reciting ''The Tale of the Heike'' were born. There is most likely no singular original version, but in the 1330s, [[Yoshida Kenko|Yoshida Kenkô]] related in his ''[[Tsurezuregusa]]'' that a former [[Shinano province]] official by the name of Yukinaga composed the ''Tale'' and taught it to a blind man named Shôbutsu to tell; further, he suggested that the performance tradition of the ''Tale'' incorporated an emulation of Shôbutsu's own vocal characteristics.
By the 1200s, [[Kyoto]] was home to a great many ''biwa hôshi'', as was the area in and around [[Enryaku-ji]] on [[Mt. Hiei]]. The [[Genpei War]] ended in [[1185]], and the political after-effects were still being felt, and so, it has been suggested, there were many stories about the conflict circulating, as well as much demand for such stories. And so, the earliest versions of the tradition of reciting ''The Tale of the Heike'' were born. There is most likely no singular original version, but in the 1330s, [[Yoshida Kenko|Yoshida Kenkô]] related in his ''[[Tsurezuregusa]]'' that a former [[Shinano province]] official by the name of Yukinaga composed the ''Tale'' and taught it to a blind man named Shôbutsu to tell; further, he suggested that the performance tradition of the ''Tale'' incorporated an emulation of Shôbutsu's own vocal characteristics.
The ''Tale of the Heike'' became so prominent in the ''biwa hôshi'' repertoire that by the early 14th century, their entire performance tradition came to be known as ''heikyoku'', or "Hei[ke] songs." Those storytellers based in Kyoto also formed a guild around this time, called the Tôdôza, and patronized by an aristocratic family. The Tôdôza later split in two, between the Yasaka-ryû, who refused to incorporate the unique style of a ''biwa hôshi'' named [[Kakuichi]], and the Ichikata-ryû, who embraced Kakuichi's style; both continued to flourish for roughly 100 years, the real high point of the ''biwa hôshi'' tradition, until the [[Onin War|Ônin War]] broke out in the 1460s. The Yasaka-ryû then fell into decline, and the tradition based on Kakuichi's text and style then went on to become the standard form of performance of the ''Tale of the Heike''.
Roughly 500-600 ''biwa hôshi'' are believed to have been active in Kyoto around 1462, with most of them in the service of a single aristocratic family or individual. Following the Ônin War, however, the ''biwa hôshi'' and the Heike recitation tradition began to be eclipsed by [[Noh]], ''[[kyogen|kyôgen]]'', and the narrative-monks known as ''[[katariso|katarisô]]'', whose chief tale was the ''[[Taiheiki]]''.
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==References==
==References==
*Helen McCullough trans., ''The Tale of the Heike'', Stanford University Press (1990), 6-8.
*Helen McCullough trans., ''The Tale of the Heike'', Stanford University Press (1990), 6-9.
[[Category:Kamakura Period]]
[[Category:Kamakura Period]]
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]
[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]