Another 'Tale of the Heike': An examination of the Engyobon 'Heike monogatari'

In this dissertation, I translate and examine selected narratives found in the Engyo variant (Engyobon) of the Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari). I then compare these narratives to their counterparts in the canonical Kakuichi variant (Kakuichibon). My analyses yield the following conclusions: (1) The Engyobon is in many ways representative of the processes, functions and techniques of medieval Japanese literature in general. Its textual aspects and construction exemplify many ontological aspects of this literature, such as textual incompleteness, narrative openness, non-linearity, varied language, and collective authorship. Seen as a rough-hewn, less polished version of Heike, the Engyobon possesses a certain structural transparency; thus, we are better able to observe the processes by which one Heike monogatari was constructed, as a collection of tales rather than a singular tale, one whose stories are assembled from a number of different sources, and over a significant amount of time. One such feature is the Engyobon's transparent use of earlier literature---individual narratives often take the form of already well-known stories. These antecedents are as significant to the narratives as the "historical" events that they recount. (2) The very act of reading "another Heike" highlights another important, yet underemphasized feature of the work---that of variance. I argue that seeing these narratives as variable and changing both enhances and complicates our understanding of what the Heike is. Using the Kakuichi Heike (one specific variant) as the sole representative of the work (which includes hundreds of variants) invariably leads to a overly simplified view of the work. Currently, English-language translations of Heike rely primarily on the Kakuichibon. Misconceptions about Heike persist partly because much modern English-language scholarship has viewed the work as monolithic, as a tale possessing only one text.;Finally, I argue that the work of translating Heike variants is a fundamental first step for widening scholarly perspectives on the Genpei War; such an endeavor will allow English-language readers and students to address the critical issues surrounding Heike monogatari and its place in both Japanese and world history and literature.