Antoku Becomes A Dragon (1/2)

One of the most famous scenes in the Tales of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) is when Taira no Kiyomori's widow, Lady Tokiko, jumps into the strait at Dannoura with her grandson, the deposed child emperor Antoku. It is one of the most harrowing and memorable depictions of the book's central theme of impermanence (mujou). English speakers will be familiar with the sayings, "Pride comes before the fall," "how the mighty have fallen," or "what goes up must come down." This is what is meant by mujou -- nothing lasts forever.

(In the NHK mini-series Yoshitsune, the story is altered to suggest that the emperor's half-brother is the one who died whereas the emperor, posing as his half-brother the Imperial Crown Prince, survived.)

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• dannoura
• drown
• antoku
• dragon

[bangleboi]

Those loose hairstyles are stunning.

[MrSTAlc]

坛之浦之战，二位尼携安德天皇投海，总让人想起近百年以后的崖山­之战，陆秀夫携赵昺投海。。。

btw, Keiko Matsuzaka is really a beauty :)

[pinz2022]

@cjdjtmwt

I love the savage look of your ladies with their hair unbound. Much preferable to the Tokugawa geisha hairstyles.

[pinz2022]

@Prissi20

I love those Japanese dramas set in the periods when the ladies' hairstyles have it hanging out all over. I prefer the savage look to that of the bound up geisha.

[cjdjtmwt]

安徳天皇かわいいのう…

[TheDarkCurrent]

She's become a Buddhist nun and has a shaved head

[annalee12345]

Heian empress wore funny-looking head scarves? How accurate is this?

[Prissi20]

yeah, nothing's last forever, even the battle-glorious Taira that established in one generation, nor Fujiwara that lasts for centuries by piggybacking the Imperial Court. Not even Yoshitsune himself... I remember the beautiful poems in that famous "Monogatari" book, depicting a dusts... and also Tokuko's poem (not so sure she did survived Dan-no-Ura or not) through the years since she took the tonsure, about how the moon feels more touchable. makes me cry