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The Tale of the Heike (Penguin Classics)
The Tale of the Heike <> Paperback <> RoyallTyler <> PenguinBooks
Unknown Binding
About the author
Royall Tyler
28 books47 followersBorn in England in 1936, I was educated in the US and France. During my academic career I specialized in Japanese literature. My last teaching position, after stints in Canada, the US, and Norway, was at the Australian National University in Canberra. After that I retired with my wife to a farm in in New South Wales. We've bred alpacas here for over twenty years, although our herd is smaller than it used to be. And I've continued to publish books. In summer we see blue-tongue skinks--a big, slow lizard that really does have a blue tongue. So I named my own book imprint (Blue-Tongue Books) after one that scrabbled at my window, wanting to come in.
I'm descended from two other authors named Royall Tyler, both listed on Goodreads and Amazon. The first (1757-1826) was the American jurist and playwright best known as the author of The Contrast. The second (1884-1953) was my grandfather.
I'm descended from two other authors named Royall Tyler, both listed on Goodreads and Amazon. The first (1757-1826) was the American jurist and playwright best known as the author of The Contrast. The second (1884-1953) was my grandfather.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 20, 2026
antiquated language
August 11, 2026
An excellent piece of history and well translated. It gives you a great understanding of not just the Genpei war but Heian period culture as well.
The Book includes a great introduction setting you up with all extra info needed to enjoy the book, as well as maps and lineages for the major clans and line of emperors, which is very handy.
Often compared to The Iliad, it shares similarities in that details of battles and strategy are juxtaposed with social and domestic stories off the battlefield.
The epic covers a good 70 years of history from the rise and fall of the Taira clan, and often references events and people from much further back in history too. A lot of these references are explained in footnotes (of which there are 315 in total) but can still be confusing at times.
As an epic, the book contains a compilation of stories, poems and accounts and jumps around in the timeline and follows different characters. Because of this, I found it hard to keep track of the main flow of events and had to supplement my knowledge by reading up on certain events outside of this book.
Overall, definitely a must read for any Japanese history buff, but unless you have the interest and drive to get through it, it'll be tough.
The Book includes a great introduction setting you up with all extra info needed to enjoy the book, as well as maps and lineages for the major clans and line of emperors, which is very handy.
Often compared to The Iliad, it shares similarities in that details of battles and strategy are juxtaposed with social and domestic stories off the battlefield.
The epic covers a good 70 years of history from the rise and fall of the Taira clan, and often references events and people from much further back in history too. A lot of these references are explained in footnotes (of which there are 315 in total) but can still be confusing at times.
As an epic, the book contains a compilation of stories, poems and accounts and jumps around in the timeline and follows different characters. Because of this, I found it hard to keep track of the main flow of events and had to supplement my knowledge by reading up on certain events outside of this book.
Overall, definitely a must read for any Japanese history buff, but unless you have the interest and drive to get through it, it'll be tough.
January 19, 2026
At something like 700 pages, I admit that I read some sections, and merely perused others.
I just wanted to get a feeling for it. This edition is really good. The way that it is typeset on the page makes for dynamic reading. There is a huge cast of characters and clans to keep straight. I suspect, for Japanese literature, this probably reads like The Iliad which is also a lot of loosely arranged sections which often deal with bloody violence.
I'm a novice at this sort of stuff and feel ill-equipped to really judge it. You can seemingly, kind of pick it up anywhere, and just read.
I just wanted to get a feeling for it. This edition is really good. The way that it is typeset on the page makes for dynamic reading. There is a huge cast of characters and clans to keep straight. I suspect, for Japanese literature, this probably reads like The Iliad which is also a lot of loosely arranged sections which often deal with bloody violence.
I'm a novice at this sort of stuff and feel ill-equipped to really judge it. You can seemingly, kind of pick it up anywhere, and just read.
May 27, 2026
To describe this book in a single word..."painful". I don't know who the author of the book is, so this very well could be a translation issue and not a problem with the tale itself. Eji Yoshikawa also has a rendition of this tale. Perhaps one day I will read his version, but for now, I'm simply glad it's over.
Additional comment 26 May 26. While looking at some other books I was surprised to see this book boasts a 4.1 rating! So I clicked on the book to look at the reviews. An interesting observation is that as of today, all reviews of the book are actually negative, even the only 4 star review. So why would a book receive such high ratings when the written reviews are so bad? After all, this book has a higher rating than most on GoodReads. My conclusion? It's two fold. 1. This book is listed as a classic and is long. So who wants to say that a classic is a horrible book? Heaven forbid! 2. This book is about Japanese culture and when coupled with the length of the book and the "classic" status, who want's to appear dismissive of another culture?
Read the reviews, not just the ratings folks!
Additional comment 26 May 26. While looking at some other books I was surprised to see this book boasts a 4.1 rating! So I clicked on the book to look at the reviews. An interesting observation is that as of today, all reviews of the book are actually negative, even the only 4 star review. So why would a book receive such high ratings when the written reviews are so bad? After all, this book has a higher rating than most on GoodReads. My conclusion? It's two fold. 1. This book is listed as a classic and is long. So who wants to say that a classic is a horrible book? Heaven forbid! 2. This book is about Japanese culture and when coupled with the length of the book and the "classic" status, who want's to appear dismissive of another culture?
Read the reviews, not just the ratings folks!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews