Customer Reviews

Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike

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This is one of *the* classic books of Japanese folk-lore.

Ten Foot Square Hut is a short(ish) philosophical piece. Personally, I found it harder to read, but I can see the value in it, and admit that it is probably my understanding that is limited rather than the piece itself.

The Tales of the Heike, on the other hand, I have to rave about. Also known as the Heike Monogatori, this epic poem is basically just an account of the great war between the Heike and Genji clans occurring in approximately the 12th Century. These two opposing clans were locked in a major war for the control of Japan, which would culminate in the destruction of one of the clans and the national dominance of the other. However, this is an account written in the Homerian style, with lyric, flowing poetry which works to heighten the whole experience.

Tales of the Heike is one of the first military tales of Japan, which is not particualrly surprising, as the war between the Heike and Genji was formative in Japan's history: it was a time when the Samurai code, Bushido, was still developing and when the Samurai tradition was still in its infancy.

This is a great book and well worth reading, both in its own right, and also for the background it provides for other works on Japanese history and for understanding the evolution of Japanese culture in feudal times.

For an interesting tale in a different medium that draws upon Tales of the Heike, check out the comic Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai, and the 'Grasscutter' storyline in particular.

"Ten Foot Square Hut" is an unforgettable, true, and brief memoire by a Heian-era court noble who gives up city life to live in the wooded hills outside of the city. One of his most memorable observations about Kyoto life at the time is that following fashion will exhaust you, but failing to follow fashion will make people think you're crazy. He walks away from what we might call the "rat race" of the time as well as a series of natural calamities (fires, storms and earthquakes) in Kyoto. In building his movable hut, he has chosen "like a hermit crab" a shell only as big as his basic needs.

If this sounds a bit like Thoreau, it is. Like Thoreau, the writer's a bit of a curmudgeon. Better than Thoreau, he's elegantly brief. The piece can very easily be read in one short sitting, and is enjoyable to re-visit over and over.