Camui Gackpo, Vocaloid as samurai hero
In the late twelfth century, fighting broke out between two powerful military clans, the Genji (MINAMOTO) and the Heike (TAIRA). The war ended in 1185 with the annihilation of the Heike in the great sea battle at Dan no Ura, a cataclysmic event that brought Japan's classical age, the Heian period, to a close. The war, with its cast of thousands, heroes and villains, and acts of bravery and betrayal, inspired medieval minstrels to compose an epic ballad known as the Heike Monogatari (Tales of the Heike).
The minstrels who recited the Heike Monogatari were the biwa hōshi, blind mendicant monks who sang to the plaintive twangs of a lute called the biwa. This music evolved from Buddhist liturgical music. The opening lines of the Heike Monogatari resound with Buddhist themes of impermanence and the passing of glory:
The sound of the bell of Jetavana echoes the impermanence of all things. The hue of the flowers of the teak tree declares that they who flourish must be brought low. Yea, the proud ones are but for a moment, like an evening dream in springtime. The mighty are destroyed at the last, they are but as the dust before the wind. (Trans. A. L. Sadler)
If the Genji had crushed the Heike from the start, there would be no epic. But in the first round it was the Heike who won, and their patriarch, KIYOMORI, arranged for his daughter to marry the emperor. She bore a son, who became the child-emperor Antoku. By maneuvering this grandson onto the throne, Kiyomori succeeded in becoming the de facto ruler of Japan.
Kiyomori was not noted for his magnanimity, yet for some reason, he spared three sons of his vanquished rival. The eldest, YORITOMO, then thirteen, was exiled to the eastern provinces, while his half-brother YOSHITSUNE, then an infant, was put in the care of Kurama Temple, north of Kyoto. Yoritomo and Yoshitsune grew up to avenge their clan and utterly annihilate the Heike.
In history books, Yoritomo ranks among Japan's towering political figures. But in literature and drama, it is Yoshitsune who achieves immortality. No other figure appears in as many legends, ballads, poems and scenarios as he does. The Yoshitsune of legend is a rather exotic hero. In appearance he is a refined aristocrat, with white skin, blackened teeth and a delicate physique. He plays the flute. He is also a consummate military genius.
In Gateway to Japan, we unspool the Yoshitsune legend through the plays based on pivotal moments in his life, as well as the innumerable historical sites associated with this quintessential Japanese romantic hero. The Minamoto Yoshitsune mystique continues to the present day, even in video games (see video below), and the popular Vocaloid Camui Gackpo (shown above) is a perfect exemplar of the Yoshitsune archetype.
Intrigued? It's all in Gateway to Japan, Digital Edition.
