Taiheiki Modern Japanese Translation 1-7 Overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate Project
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This modern translation is not faithful to the original text. Various embellishments and the like have been applied.
It is unclear whether the events described in the Taiheiki are historical facts. It would likely be a dangerous act to consider what is written in the Taiheiki as historical fact without careful verification.
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Here were two residents of Mino Province (southern Gifu Prefecture), Toki Yorisada and Tajimi Kuninaga.
Hearing the reputation that "both are from the Seiwa Genji lineage and are excellent in martial arts," Hino Suketomo approached them through various connections and formed a bond of friendship.
Hino Suketomo (to himself): I've become quite close with those two now, and I'd like to find a way to bring them into the [Overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate Project]...
Hino Suketomo (to himself): But still, I can't just casually talk about such a huge, important matter (Note 1)... hmm, what should I do...
Hino Suketomo (to himself): Yeah... I suppose I have no choice but to settle down a bit more and probe their true intentions.
So, Suketomo began hosting parties under the name of "Bureiko," with the intention of "forgetting status and rank and interacting with each other as equals."
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(Translator's Note 1) Refers to the [Overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate Project].
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The participants of the party were,
Kazan-in Morokata, Shijo Takasuke, Toin Saneyo, Hino Toshimoto, Date Yuga, Shogoin Genki, Asuke Shigenori, Tajimi Kuninaga, etc.
and so on.
The state of the party was truly something that would shock the eyes and ears of the world.
The order of serving drinks was completely unrelated to social status; men took off their eboshi hats, let their hair down over their shoulders, and the monks did not wear their robes, appearing only in white undergarments.
They had over 20 beautiful, fair-skinned women aged around 17 or 18 attend the banquet, wearing only a single layer of clothing to serve drinks... their snowy skin was visible through the fabric, like lotus flowers in the ponds of ancient Chinese palaces just emerging from the water.
All kinds of delicacies from mountains and seas were lined up, and fine sake flowed like a fountain... they did nothing but play, frolic, dance, and sing.
Hidden in the shadows, the members were fully focused on nothing but refining the plan to destroy the Kamakura Shogunate.
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However...
Member A: If we just say, 'We're just hanging out and having fun,' won't that just end up raising suspicions from the public?
Member B: I see... well then, how about we put on the mask of a 'Literature Seminar'?
Member C: That's a great idea. How about we invite Hoin Gen'e as a lecturer? He has a reputation for having the best academic talent around right now.
Member D: No matter what anyone says, there's no one better than him when it comes to Confucianism, so wouldn't that be perfect?
Member E: Let's go with the 'Changli Collected Works Research Seminar featuring Hoin Gen'e'.
All Members: That's perfect, let's do it, let's do it!
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Without ever suspecting that it was a front for a plot to overthrow the shogunate, Hoin Gen'e would come on the days the seminar was held, give a profound lecture, and then leave.
However, among the texts used, there was a long piece titled 'Changli Goes to Chaozhou'.
When the lecture progressed to that text, a member raised an issue.
Member A: Isn't this text a bit of a bad omen?
Member B: It's a terrible omen!
Member C: After all, wouldn't it be better to study things written by military analysts, like the Wu Zi, Sun Tzu, Six Secret Teachings, or Three Strategies?
Member D: I see... for our purposes, that might be more practical.
And so, the seminar was canceled. (Note 2)
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(Translator's Note 2) Thinking that some readers might not understand what this is all about, the author of the Taiheiki proceeds to provide the following explanation.
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The author of this 'problematic textbook,' Han Changli, was a man of great literary talent who appeared during the decline of the Tang Dynasty in China.
In poetry, he stood shoulder to shoulder with Du Fu and Li Bai, and his writing skills were outstanding even when evaluated across the entire span of the Han, Wei, Jin, and Song dynasties.
He had a nephew named Han Xiang.
This nephew had nothing to do with literature or poetry; he was a man who devoted himself entirely to the study of Taoism and the arts of the immortals, making inaction his profession and living a life free from worldly concerns.
Once, Han Changli attempted to give Han Xiang a "sermon."
Han Changli: You, having been born into this world between heaven and earth and allowed to grow up, are wandering aimlessly through a world devoid of benevolence and righteousness, aren't you?
Han Xiang: ...
Han Changli: Such a way of life is something a gentleman would be ashamed of, and a state of being that only a petty person would favor.
Han Changli: Whenever I see you like this, I feel so pathetic and heartbroken... oh, good grief!
Han Xiang: Hahaha...
Han Changli: What is that! What is that attitude!
Han Xiang: Uncle, you see, things like "benevolence and righteousness" are ideologies that only appear when the Great Way has fallen into decay. Scholarship and education are things that flourish only when great hypocrisy arises.
Han Changli: ...
Han Xiang: I am leisurely enjoying the state of non-action, and I have become completely free from concepts like right and wrong, good and evil.
Han Changli: ...
Han Xiang: Intervening in the universe, deforming its structure, trapping heaven and earth inside a pot... interfering with the forces of nature to create mountains and rivers inside a tangerine... I can do things like that, you know.
Han Changli: ...
Han Xiang: The one who is truly sad is you, Uncle. You are just parasitizing the dregs of what the ancients left behind, living a hollow life, bit by bit.
Han Changli: Hmph! Who would believe such delusional nonsense? Very well, if you're going to go that far, then prove this "interference with natural forces" of yours right here and now!
Han Xiang did not answer, but placed an empty lapis lazuli bowl that had been in front of him face down, and immediately turned it over again.
To his surprise, inside the bowl, a single flower was blooming on a jasper peony branch!
Han Changli: (Greatly shocked) W-what!
When he looked closely, the following was written in gold letters inside the flower:
Clouds lie across the Qin Mountains, where is my home? Snow blocks the Lan Pass, the horse will not move forward. And so on...
Han Changli (to himself): Hmm... I can only say that this is truly mysterious...
Reading that poem and sighing in admiration, it is a poetic style endowed with an inexhaustible elegance, but,
Han Changli (to himself): 'Clouds lie across the Qinling Mountains'... what on earth does this mean? What exactly is it signifying?
Just as I thought to take it in my hand and read it more carefully, the flower suddenly vanished.
As a result of this incident, it became known throughout the world that Han Xiang had mastered the arts of the immortals.
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After that, Han Changli was demoted to Chaozhou for the offense of submitting a memorial to the Emperor stating that 'Buddhism should be abolished and Confucianism should be revered.'
What follows is an account of the events that occurred on the way to that place.
The sun sets, the horse will not move forward, and the journey ahead is long. Looking back toward my distant hometown, clouds lie across the Qinling Mountains, and I can see nothing of the path I have traveled.
In my sorrow, as I try to climb the steep mountain path, snow piles up at the Lan Pass, and the road ahead is unclear.
As I stood there, at my wit's end, looking around, Han Xiang suddenly appeared from nowhere and was standing right beside me!
Overcome with joy, Han Changli got off his horse, took hold of Han Xiang's sleeve, and said,
Han Changli (tears): Xiang... that day, the series of lines I saw within that jade-green flower... I finally understand their meaning now.
Han Xiang: Uncle...
Han Changli (tears): Clouds lie across the Qinling Mountains, where is my home? Snow blocks the Lan Pass, the horse will not move forward.
That was your prophetic poem, wasn't it... You had already foretold this sorrow of my demotion today back on that day.
Han Xiang (tears): ...
Han Changli (tears): Now, I also understand the reason you have come here. Is it not because you foresaw that I would meet my end in despair at the place of my demotion and would never be able to return to my hometown? Is that not so?
Han Xiang (tears): ...
Han Changli (tears): We can no longer hope for a reunion... This moment now will be our eternal farewell... Ah, what... unbearable sorrow...
Han Xiang (tears) ...
Han Changli completed the poem by adding lines to the aforementioned verse to make it a single eight-line poem, and gave it to Han Xiang.
In the morning, I submitted a letter to the nine-fold heavens,
By evening, I was demoted and sent on a road eight thousand li away to Chaoyang.
From the beginning, it was for the sake of the Emperor to remove harmful things,
I have no desire to cling to my decaying, aged remaining years.
Clouds lie across the Qinling Mountains, where is my home?
Snow blocks the Lankuan Pass, and my horse cannot move forward.
Now that I truly understand the intent behind your long journey here,
I only wish that you will collect my bones on the banks of that river filled with poisonous vapors.
(Original Text)
一封朝奏九重天
夕貶潮陽路八千
欲為聖明除弊事
豈将衰朽惜残年
雲横秦嶺家何在
雪擁藍関馬不前
知汝遠来須有意
好収吾骨瘴江邊
Han Xiang put this poem into his sleeve, and the two parted ways to the east and west, weeping.
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There is a saying, 'Do not talk about dreams in front of foolish people,' and I completely agree. Such people will assign some meaning even to a simple dream, saying things like 'That's a bad omen!' and often fall into irrational thinking.
The members attending the aforementioned 'Literary Seminar' are the same as the above in terms of irrational thinking. Calling the use of Han Changli's anthology as a textbook ominous (a bad omen) is truly laughable.
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