De-mystifying Taira-no-Tomomori : The (Im-)possibility of Reading Heike-monogatari in Class

DOI Web Site

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 知盛<神話>解体 : 教室で『平家物語』を読むことの(不)可能性
  • 知盛〈神話〉解体--教室で『平家物語』を読むことの(不)可能性
  • トモモリ シンワ カイタイ キョウシツ デ ヘイケモノガタリ オ ヨム コト ノ フ カノウセイ

Search this article

Description

In studying Heike-monogatari or in teaching it in class, most scholars and teachers praise Taira-no-Tomomori as a tragic hero. But his image was quite different, far from being heroic, during the medieval and the early modern periods, when he was very often represented as a cruel egoist who finally metamorphosed into a revengeful ghost. The heroic image of our days is constructed on the Enkei edition, but in the other editions Tomomori appears as an egoistic idealist who, when he realizes his defeat by Awa-no-Tamibe's betrayal, can cold-bloodedly urge his women to commit suicide before the vanquishers would rape them. Then is it not highly political to repress such a dark aspect of the historical figure and to fabricate a myth of the tragic hero out of one version of representation? It also serves the ideological purpose of aestheticizing death.

Journal

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top