How to Research the Heian Era the Wine and Savages Way
What do you mean “No, I’m not?”
What?! No, seriously, dude. It’s awesome!
Yes, it is! There’s the glamour and grace of the imperial
court contrasted with the poverty of the commoners, the brutality of the
emerging samurai class, and the decadence and decay of Heian-Kyo itself. The
capital is practically a “points of light” setting in miniature; the imperial
palace and the eastern half of the city flourish, but the western half of this
same, small city is full of abandoned mansions haunted by bandits, fallen
nobles, and worse. Have you even read “Rashōmon?”
Fine, you haven’t
read it. Whatever, dude…
So you’re thinking about running a game set in Heian Japan
and you have not spent half your life enamored with Japanese culture – or
perhaps you’re going to be running such a game for a bunch of players who have
not spent half their lives watching anime and reading Japanese ghost stories –
or perhaps both. What do you do?
You watch some movies.
While I don’t quite subscribe to Jack
Shear’s Edgar Allan Poe-derived “setting as short story” theory, I do
believe in leveraging fiction as an entry point to game settings. I rave about
the Forgotten Realms gray box, but my first introduction to the Realms was the
novel Streams of Silver. The
King is Dead – my revolutionary-era Gothic setting – relies heavily on “Hollywood
History” to set the stage. Thankfully, the Heian period has been pretty
popular in Japanese pop culture over the last couple of decades, and there’s
some great movies you can use to paint the scene.
Onmyōji (陰陽師) (2001)
If you can watch
only one movie on this list, watch this. Sure, some purists and snobs will
insist on watching a film version of The Tale of Genji (源氏物語 Genji
monogatari?), but ask yourself “Are my players going
to want to swan about languorously seducing noblewomen, or are they going to
want to fight monsters?”
(I must admit
that if the player was me, then the answer would be “seducing noblewomen.”)
Onmyōji is
based on a series of novels and their manga adaptations (both of which I would
pay big bucks to see translated into English) revolving around the historical
figure Abe no Seimei (b. 921 – d. 1005). Seimei was – like Elizabeth I’s
astrologer, John Dee – an honest-to-goodness real-life dude who was believed to
be a wizard by his contemporaries; however, Abe no Seimei’s place in Japanese
pop culture is closer to Merlin, being regarded as the premier magician (or “onmyōji”) of his land. He appears
frequently in anime and manga, including such disparate titles as Magical
Shopping Arcade Abenobashi and Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan.
Onmyōji is
a beautiful, weird movie. The androgynously handsome actor Nomura Mansai plays Seimei
with an impish humor that makes the onmyōji both
approachable and fey, Ito Hideaki brings a likeable earnestness to Seimei’s
bromantic comic relief Minamoto no Hiromasa, and Sanada Hiroyuki (seen
stateside in such films as The Last Samurai and The Wolverine) is
his typically awesome, intense self as a villainous rival wizard. The
production design was by Amano Yoshitaka, the artist whose ethereal work adorns
Vampire Hunter D novels and Final Fantasy posters, supported by a
relatively lavish budget that brings Heian-Kyo’s grandeur to life. The plot
presents a perfect example of the political maneuvering that marked the age
while also remaining relatively simple (what with all of the ghosts and
monsters and spell-slinging).
In other words, it is the perfect introduction
to the Heian period for a typical group of gamers. There’s also an
equally-enjoyable sequel, but you’re going to want different viewpoints in
order to get a more panoramic view of the Heian era. Thankfully, my next
recommendation flips Onmyōji on its head.
My second-highest
recommendation is the first half of an anime series by Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex,
the animated bit in Kill Bill). I say
the first half because the series is split into two different eras; the first
thirteen episodes are set in the Heian period while the second half is about the
same characters reincarnated into modern Tokyo. Telling a story of Minamoto no Raikō (more or less the Heian era’s
answer to King Arthur, except not a king – and in this case replaced by his kid
sister) and his her heroic companions, Otogi Zoshi’s “Heian
Chapter” presents the warrior (and rogue) side of the period amidst the kind of
artifact-retrieving quest familiar to tabletop gamers.
Otogi Zoshi
is worth watching for the opening theme – 漸 ZEN by techno band ATTACK HAUS –
alone, but that doesn’t help much with introducing players to the Heian era.
What does help is how the series shows the uneven relations between the samurai
class and their noble masters, how it contrasts the placidity of Heian-Kyo with
the poverty and violence of the countryside, and how the series directly
subverts Onmyōji by
turning Abe no Seimei into the villain.
Otogi Zoshi
“Heian Chapter” is far from perfect; the
plotting is occasionally muddy and the animation is sometimes clumsy. As a
thirteen episode series, it’s a much bigger time-sink than Onmyōji,
but Production I.G. also created a 45 minute OVA (original video animation)
called Kai Doh Maru (怪童丸 Kaidōmaru) that covers much of the same ground. (In
fact, I highly suspect Kai Doh Maru was produced as a proof of concept for Otogi
Zoshi.)
Kai Doh
Maru is about different versions of the same
characters who appear in Otogi Zoshi and indulges in some of the
same conceits (this time the gender-swapped member is the usually Hercules-like
Kintaro). It’s more
lavishly animated than the TV series, but it also relies much, much more
heavily on previous familiarity with the original folklore. Frankly, it’s a
beautiful mess and you’re better off watching the first two episodes of Otogi
Zoshi – or, if you like classic black-and-white cinema, going with my
next recommendation.
Kuroneko (藪の中の黒猫 Yabu no Naka
no Kuroneko?, "A Black Cat in a Bamboo
Grove") (1968)
This is unreservedly the best film on this list. It’s a shocking
and sensual horror film that’s also a sly social satire. It shows the poverty
of the commoners, the brutality and frustrating humiliation of the warriors,
and the condescending beauty of the nobility in equal measure. It’s great.
It’s also, of
course, a black-and-white movie that’s probably older than most of your players
so… umm… they may not be that keen on watching it. If your gaming group
includes true cineastes, though, forget what I said about Onmyōji
and
watch this first!
Raiko no Minamoto
– hero of Otogi Zoshi and Kai Doh Maru – returns to the
screen, but this time he’s a fatuous martinet who fobs off his monster-killing
duties on a subordinate. That subordinate, unfortunately, happens to be the
husband of one of the two vampire/cat women who are eating the samurai of
Heian-Kyo – and he’s the son of the other woman. This leads to haunting
man/ghost lovemaking, severed limbs, and twisted loyalties. It’s great.
No, seriously. It’s great.
(Going slightly off-track for a moment, I have
to say that people running Kindred of the East should just chuck out all
of the recommended movies in that game’s filmography and just watch Kuroneko
instead. Unlike The Bride with White Hair or Demon City
Shinjuku, Kuroneko is actually about the damned coming back
from hell to feast on the living. The fact that Kuroneko is not
included in KoTE’s recommended viewing almost makes me think that the writers
didn’t do a whole lot of research. Ha-ha-hah! Surely that couldn’t be true?)
Anyway, Onmyōji, Otogi Zoshi, and Kai Doh Maru can be found for reasonable prices
online (and rented from Netflix, I think). Kuroneko is part of
the Criterion Collection and so is readily available in finer stores and on Hulu. Watch ‘em.
…If you’re going to run or play in a Heian
game, of course.
Question for you, good sir: do you know of any movies or anime based on the Heike Monogatari? So far, I've turned up a 1955 movie directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, and a TV miniseries from the 70s. Anything else you're aware of?
ReplyDelete"Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle" is about Genji general Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his companion Benkei -- sort of. Saying's it's about the Heike Monogatari is like saying a Robin Hood movie is about the Crusades (especially if it was a grim 'n' gritty reboot where Robin and Little John are actually enemies).
DeleteThanks, I'll check it out! The trailer looks incredible.
DeleteI'm a little surprised there isn't more stuff out there on the Genpei Wars--such a rich period for storytelling, it would seem. But also kind of hugely depressing, so there's that...