Biwa Hōshi - Development of The Heike Style

Development of The Heike Style

The present trend of scholarly analysis is to consider the Heike’s origin as having arisen first as a biwa recitation for the purpose of spreading Buddhism. According to the Tsurezuregusa, the Essays in Idleness, Yukinaga of the Gotaba-in reign, in charge of the household of Fujiwara Kanezane, the chief advisor to the Emperor, Yukinaga had often exchanged poems with the imperial court. He was invited to an imperial discourse on poems, and unable to recall two of the seven virtues, was thus named the Jack of Five Virtues. Embarrassed, he gave up on learning poetry and took the tonsure, and became a monk under Jichin Jaso of the Tendai sect. Jichin was known to gather talent at Shorenin on Higashiyama in Kyoto to discuss ways of spreading the Tendai faith. Many here were biwa-hoshi. It is in this way that Yukinaga legendarily wrote the script of the Tale of the Heike, and taught it to a mosobiwa from eastern Japan, named Shobutsu, renowned for his impressive narrative delivery and extensive knowledge of warriors, bows, and horses.

According to George Gish, there were five essential ingredients for the development of the Heike:

1. Chinese popular sermons designed to appeal to the masses known as zokko
2. epic ballad narration entitled wasan, later revised by into a new style of shomyo called Rokudo-koshiki, which refers to six worlds of Buddhism (Heaven through Hell); it was the chief model for the singing
3. shodo style of Buddhist preaching with melody, a style favored by Jichin
4. Moso-biwa influence from the Kyoto-moso school from which idea of accompanying narration with biwa derives
5. the Heike story itself chronicling the Taira/Genji Heian period, oft interpreted as one phase of Buddhism’s six worlds. The story is treated as a shodo, or sermon with the purpose of enlightenment.

Heikoyu musically is influenced by Buddhist chant, and the koshiki and shomyo traditions of the biwa from the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Indeed, it is a combination of the monogatari style practiced by gakybiwa mosobiwa and somyo narrative. Author Yukinaga brought elements of the court tradition, while Jichin offered shomyo aspects (Gish 139). Shobutsu as a kyotomoso and a biwa hoshi brought unique perspectives as well.

The Heike biwa instrument itself is a combination of gaku and moso biwa predecessors. Indeed, the relative average distance between the frets is equal to that of heike biwa, as are the relative height of the frets. From Shobutsu, two schools emerged, the Yasaka-ryu School, led by Jogen, and Ichikata-ryu School, headed by Nyoichi. Askahi Kakuichi was Nyoichi’s disciple and a favorite of shogun Ashikaga Takauji, possibly due to blood relations. Kakuichi soon gained the rank of kengyo, the head of guild for the blind, which was known as the shoku-yashiki; he died in 1371, the peak of heike-biwa.

Musically, development continued with the Ichikata-ryu, with it spreading into four separate branches. Now, during the Edo period, the main branches spilt further with the influence by shamisen style. The main schools were Hatano-ryu and Maeda-ryu,named after their respective founders; intense rivalry between the schools, compounded by changes in music world at large, contributed to the decline of the Heike tradition.

The growing utilization of the shamisen by the mid 16th century had precipitated new innovations for popular music. Some of the earliest innovations were carried out by some Heike-players during this musical tradition. They would use a biwa type plectrum on the shamisen to emulate the biwa buzzing effect and sounds.

Yet, the shamisen resulted in alluring new creative opportunities, attracting musicians, and their patrons and listeners along with them. The new idiom of song made the old styles of heikoyu antiquated, especially with the koto as new instrument.