Military tales narrated by a lute priest (blind traveling monks who played the biwa) during the Kamakura period (1185-1333).
It depicts various stories centering on the glory and decline of the Heike clan, and had a great influence on subsequent noh songs and literature.
Among them, the eleventh volume, the sword volume, contains the legend of Watanabe no Tsuna and his treasured swords "Higekiri" and "Hizamaru", the legend of the extermination of the Tsuchigumo (a spider yokai and the name given to those who weren't under the Yamato court's rule), other legends concerning treasured swords, and the legend of "The Bridge Maiden of Uji (Uji no Hashi-hime)", which is also used as the basis for the Noh play "Kanawa" and the Hour of the Ox Pilgrimage ritual.
The original Tale of the Heike is said to have been completed between the early 13th and mid-14th centuries and produced several variants, including a six-volume work, a 20-volume work, a 48-volume work, and the "Record of the Rise and Fall of Genji and Heike", among many others.
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