Episode 3Our Coup Was a Pun. Someone Was Listening.The Shishigatani Plot
One night at a mountain villa in Shishigatani, a sake flask called a "heiji" tips over, and plotters laugh about toppling the Heike clan. But one of their own talks, and Kiyomori's revenge begins. Shunkan, the villa's owner, who laughed loudest of all, is about to lose everything. And when Kiyomori, clad in armor, goes too far, only one thing stops him: the tears of his son Shigemori, who arrives without armor. Episode 3.
The Shishigatani Plot Explained: The Tale of the Heike, Episode 3
The Shishigatani Plot in Brief
The Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) is Japan's great war epic. It tells how the Taira clan, also called the Heike, rose to power and then fell in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Before any battles, though, there is an early warning sign: a secret plot in Shishigatani, a valley in the eastern hills of Kyoto. The story starts at the end of Book 1 and runs into Book 2. This article follows the Kakuichi version, the standard text chanted by blind storytellers who played the biwa (a Japanese lute). Other versions, such as the Engyō text, differ in some details.
The ringleader is Fujiwara no Narichika, a high-ranking courtier. When the posts of Commander of the Left and Right Palace Guards opened up, he wanted the Left post so badly that he prayed for it at shrines. Instead, both posts went to sons of Taira no Kiyomori, the clan's all-powerful head: Shigemori and Munemori. Bitter, Narichika began meeting with other enemies of the Taira at the mountain villa of Shunkan, a priest who ran the temple Hosshōji. The villa was easy to defend, with hills behind it leading to Mii-dera temple.
The Night the Flask Fell
One evening Go-Shirakawa, the retired emperor, joined the gathering himself. Jōken, a monk and son of the court scholar Shinzei, listened to the scheming with alarm and warned that far too many people could hear. Then Narichika stood up, and his sleeve knocked over a heiji, a tall sake flask. When asked what had happened, he said the heiji had fallen. It was a pun: heiji sounds like Heishi, another name for the Taira.
Go-Shirakawa laughed and called for a comic act. Taira no Yasuyori joked that with so many heiji around, he had gotten drunk. Shunkan asked what they should do about them. Saikō, a monk and close aide of the retired emperor, said the best thing was to take off their heads. He snapped the neck off the flask and walked away. Jōken was too stunned to say a word.
Betrayal and Kiyomori's Revenge
Narichika asked Tada no Yukitsuna, a warrior from a branch of the Minamoto clan, to lead part of the force, and he sent him fifty rolls of white cloth for bow bags. Yukitsuna decided the plan was hopeless and chose to save himself. He had the cloth made into clothes for his men. Then, late one night in early summer 1177, he went to Kiyomori's mansion at Nishihachijō and told him everything. He played down his own part and blew up everyone else's.
Kiyomori was furious. He invited Narichika over on a pretext and locked him in a room, then had Shunkan, Yasuyori and others arrested. Saikō did not beg when he was dragged in. He sneered that Kiyomori, the son of a man the court had barely tolerated, had climbed all the way to Chancellor. Kiyomori stamped on his face and had him tortured until he signed a confession. Then Saikō's mouth was slit and he was beheaded. His sons were killed as well.
Kiyomori's men dragged Narichika into the garden and beat him. Shigemori, Kiyomori's eldest son and Narichika's brother-in-law, saved him. He arrived calmly in ordinary court dress and argued that the court had avoided executions for centuries, and that the man who brought them back had come to a bad end. Kiyomori spared Narichika, at least for the moment.
Shigemori's Tears: Loyalty Versus Filial Duty
Next Kiyomori decided to lock up Go-Shirakawa himself. He put on armor, and his clansmen gathered with their weapons. A retainer warned Shigemori, who came again with no armor. Ashamed in front of his son, Kiyomori kept tugging his monk's robe closed to hide the armor underneath. Weeping, Shigemori described what a person owes to his ruler and to his parents. He was trapped, he said: being loyal to the throne meant defying his father, and obeying his father meant betraying the throne. If Kiyomori was going to move against the retired emperor, he should cut off Shigemori's head first. Kiyomori backed down and claimed he had never meant to go that far.
The scene is built on two Confucian virtues that medieval Japanese audiences valued highly: loyalty to one's ruler and duty to one's parents. Shigemori becomes the conscience of the Taira, and readers are left to wonder what will happen once he is gone.
Then came the punishments. Narichika was exiled to Bizen province. A few months later, at a place called Ariki no Bessho, poisoned wine failed to kill him, so he was pushed off a cliff onto sharp spikes. Shunkan, Yasuyori and Narichika's son Naritsune were exiled to Kikai-ga-shima, a remote island off southern Kyushu described as a place of burning sulfur, endless thunder and little food. Historians still debate how dangerous the plot really was. Some suggest Kiyomori used it as an excuse to strike at the retired emperor's inner circle.
What the Manga Changes
The manga keeps the main events and fills in what the original leaves out. The original says almost nothing about appearance, so the characters' faces, ages and costume colors were designed for the manga. The original gives only the villa's location and the flask scene, so the villa's design, the food and most of the party talk are invented. The original also never says Shunkan laughed loudest. That detail is the manga's own take on him.
The manga turns Yukitsuna's inner struggle and his night journey to Kiyomori into full scenes, while the original explains his motive in a line or two. It shows the arrests as happening on a single night and shortens the timeline. In the original, about three months pass between the betrayal and Narichika's death. The original mentions Saikō's torture only briefly, so how it is shown is up to the manga. Shunkan's face and words on the ship to the island are also new. The original only says the three men were exiled and describes the island.
Where to Read It
You can read Episode 3 of THE TALE OF THE HEIKE: The Samurai War of Genpei here on Manga Portal. Every episode is free, and you don't need to sign up. It's an easy way to watch a joke about a sake flask turn into the first crack in the Taira clan's power. And if you want to know what becomes of Shunkan, his time on the island is one of the most moving stories in the whole Heike.
Characters in this episode
Fujiwara no Narichika
A powerful courtier who resents the Taira after losing a promotion, leads the plot, and makes the famous pun about the fallen flask.
Saikō
A bold monk and aide to the retired emperor who snaps the flask's neck and later insults Kiyomori to his face.
Shunkan
A priest who runs the temple Hosshōji and hosts the plotters at his Shishigatani villa, and is later exiled to a remote island.
Tada no Yukitsuna
A Minamoto warrior who joins the plot, decides it will fail, and reveals it to Kiyomori.
Taira no Kiyomori
The hot-tempered head of the Taira clan, who takes brutal revenge and nearly moves against the retired emperor himself.
Taira no Shigemori
Kiyomori's calm eldest son, who saves Narichika's life and, in tears, talks his father out of attacking the retired emperor.
FAQ
What was the Shishigatani Incident?
It was a plot against the Taira clan in 1177 by courtiers close to the retired emperor Go-Shirakawa, who met at Shunkan's villa in Shishigatani, near Kyoto. A member of the group revealed the plan to Kiyomori. The plotters were executed or exiled.
What does the fallen 'heiji' flask mean in The Tale of the Heike?
A heiji is a tall sake flask, and the word sounds like Heishi, another name for the Taira clan. When Narichika knocked one over, he joked that the Heishi had fallen. The plotters treated it as a sign that the Taira would fall too.
Who betrayed the Shishigatani plot?
Tada no Yukitsuna, a warrior Narichika had asked to lead troops. He thought the plan would fail and went to Kiyomori at night to tell him everything, playing down his own part.
What happened to Shunkan after the plot?
Shunkan was exiled to Kikai-ga-shima, a remote island off southern Kyushu, along with Taira no Yasuyori and Narichika's son Naritsune. His later fate on the island is one of the most famous episodes in the Heike.
Why did Shigemori weep in front of Kiyomori?
Kiyomori had put on armor to move against the retired emperor. Shigemori felt torn because staying loyal to the throne meant defying his father, while obeying his father meant betraying the throne. He asked Kiyomori to behead him first, and Kiyomori backed down.
