659. Dawn of the Samurai: Bloodbath at the Bridge (Part 2)

The Gion shoja bells ring the passing of all things. Twin sal trees white in full flower declare the great man's certain fall. The arrogant do not long endure. They are like a dream one night in spring. The bold and brave perish in the end.

They are as dust before the wind. So those are perhaps the most celebrated lines in all of Japanese literature. They will strike a chord surely with all of our listeners. They are the classic evocation of the Buddhist teaching that all things will and must pass. And today on the rest is history many things will be as dust before the wind, the lives of formidable and brave warriors, the power of mighty dynasties, and the peace and prosperity and security that for many years had reigned in Kyoto, the great imperial capital of Japan.

And Tom, these events we know about them because they're described in the book of the Heke, which is the great war epic, the Iliad of medieval Japan, isn't it? Yes, and um those lines you quoted are are from its opening, and it's in the translation by Royal Tyler for Penguin classics, uh, and it's a tremendous read. So, Dominic, we met the uh the hike or the tyra, as they are better known in the first episode of this, our epic series on the rise of the samurai. And just to remind listeners about who the hike or the tyra, as we'll be calling them, who they are.

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