{ "id": "ep82b0x3mp", "slug": "tales-of-the-taira-clan", "title": "Tales of the Taira Clan", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics", "label": "Historical dramas and epics", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z", "label": "Titles M to Z", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z.alpha-sc-to-z", "label": "Titles Sc to Z", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z.alpha-sc-to-z" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Tales of the Taira Clan (新・平家物語, Shin Heike monogatari; Taira Clan Saga) is Kenji Mizoguchi's 1955 Daiei color film adapting Eiji Yoshikawa's novel, starring Raizo Ichikawa as young Taira no Kiyomori in 1137 Kyoto.", "snippet": "Tales of the Taira Clan (新・平家物語, Shin Heike monogatari; Taira Clan Saga) is Kenji Mizoguchi's 1955 Daiei color film adapting Eiji Yoshikawa's novel, starring Raizo Ichikawa as young Taira no Kiyomori in 1137 Kyoto.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z.alpha-sc-to-z", "markdown": "# Tales of the Taira Clan\n\n*Tales of the Taira Clan* (新・平家物語, *Shin Heike monogatari*, also released as *[New Tales of the Taira Clan](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-tales-of-the-taira-clan)* or *Taira Clan Saga*) is a 1955 Japanese color historical film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi for Daiei Kyoto, adapted from Eiji Yoshikawa's novel serialized in *The Asahi Weekly*. It portrays the youth and rise of the samurai leader [Taira no Kiyomori](https://www.edgepedia.org/taira-no-kiyomori), played by Raizo Ichikawa, at the end of the [Heian period](https://www.edgepedia.org/heian-period), when power was shifting from court nobles and Buddhist clergy to the warrior class.[1](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-11/) • [2](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/37307/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | September 21, 1955, Daiei; 107 minutes, color (some sources list 108 minutes)[2](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/37307/) • [3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/4269?locale=en) |\n| Director / producer | Kenji Mizoguchi; produced by Masaichi Nagata at Daiei Kyoto[4](https://www.raizofan.net/eng/emovie1/emovie12.htm) |\n| Source | Eiji Yoshikawa's novel *Shin Heike monogatari*, serialized in *The Asahi Weekly*[1](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-11/) |\n| Lead cast | Raizo Ichikawa as Taira no Kiyomori, with Yoshiko Kuga, Naritoshi Hayashi, Michiyo Kogure, Eitaro Shindo, and Eijiro Yanagi[1](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-11/) • [4](https://www.raizofan.net/eng/emovie1/emovie12.htm) |\n| Key crew | Screenplay Yoshikata Yoda, Masashige Narusawa, and Kyuichi Tsuji; cinematography Kazuo Miyagawa; music Fumio Hayasaka; art direction Hiroshi Mizutani[4](https://www.raizofan.net/eng/emovie1/emovie12.htm) |\n| Place in Mizoguchi's career | One of only two films he shot in color and his last jidai-geki (period film); his penultimate film[5](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/115725--shin-heike-monogatari-tales-of-the-taira/) • [3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/4269?locale=en) |\n| Setting | Kyoto in 1137, amid struggles between land-owning nobles and the Buddhist clergy[5](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/115725--shin-heike-monogatari-tales-of-the-taira/) |\n| Restoration | Digitally restored in 2004 by the National Film Center (now the National Film Archive of Japan) and Kadokawa Pictures[1](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-11/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and historical setting\n\nThe film opens in early summer of the third year of Hōen (1137), on the eve of the collapse of the Fujiwara family's aristocratic government. At the Kyoto residence of [Taira no Tadamori](https://www.edgepedia.org/taira-no-tadamori), the household is so impoverished after years of hardship that it must sell horses to fund a feast for retainers returning from the suppression of pirates in the western sea. The drama follows the young Kiyomori, who learns from the merchant Banboku that his father may in fact be the retired [Emperor Shirakawa](https://www.edgepedia.org/emperor-shirakawa), and who becomes entangled in court intrigue, a planned ambush against his father, and his wish to marry Tokiko, daughter of the noble Fujiwara Tokinobu. It ends with Kiyomori firing an arrow into a portable shrine carried by monks of [Mount Hiei](https://www.edgepedia.org/mount-hiei).[2](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/37307/)\n\nThe Museum of the Moving Image synopsis describes the same arc: after returning to Kyoto from military success, Captain Tadamori is snubbed by courtiers, and the family's hopes fall on his son, who may or may not be the former Emperor's child, against a backdrop of struggle between a decadent aristocracy and insurgent monks roving the countryside.[6](https://movingimage.org/archived-events/tales-of-the-taira-clan-shin-heike-monogatari/) According to the Karlovy Vary Film Festival synopsis, the story centers on a young samurai whose rise to power amid 12th-century conflicts between noble landowners and the Buddhist clergy ends when his own arrogance and vanity bring about his downfall.[7](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/48/22138-new-tales-ofthetaira-clan)\n\nThe film is a retelling at more than one remove of the medieval epic *Heike monogatari*, which relates the decline and fall of the [Taira clan](https://www.edgepedia.org/taira-clan); Yoshikawa's novel covers events before the old epic begins. In place of the medieval original's emphasis on impermanence and karmic retribution, the Bologna festival's note states, Mizoguchi brought the confident rationalism of the early postwar era.[8](https://ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/shin-heike-monogatari/)\n\n## Production\n\nDaiei intended the film to launch a series adaptation of Yoshikawa's long novel. This first installment was followed by a second directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa and a third by Koji Shima.[1](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-11/) The film covers roughly the opening portion of the novel, centered on Kiyomori's early years.[2](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/37307/)\n\n**Color design.** Along with *Princess Yang Kwei-fei*, made the same year, it is one of only two films Mizoguchi's cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa shot for him in Daiei Color Process, and one of only two Mizoguchi films shot in color at all.[9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-films-set-classical-japan) • [5](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/115725--shin-heike-monogatari-tales-of-the-taira/) The painter Wada Sanzo supervised the color.[2](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/37307/) According to Miyagawa, Mizoguchi used color as an element of overall design: when the angry Kiyomori prepares to leave for battle, the gate behind him is a ferocious red, because red was the color for anger, and blue stood for sadness as much as black.[8](https://ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/shin-heike-monogatari/) MoMA's note adds that Miyagawa and Mizoguchi used color to give symbolic and emotional depth to the conflict that ended the Heian era of peace and cultural florescence.[3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/4269?locale=en) Mizoguchi's only regret, according to Tony Rayns's festival note, was that he could not shoot the film in [CinemaScope](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinemascope).[7](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/48/22138-new-tales-ofthetaira-clan)\n\n**Casting.** Raizo Ichikawa, then at the start of his career, won the lead role of Kiyomori over many rival candidates; the film marked a deliberate break from his previous white-faced romantic-lead image, presenting him as a thick-browed young warrior. It was his second film and helped launch him toward stardom at Daiei; he remained a leading Japanese star until his death in 1969 at 37.[10](https://kyoto.uplink.co.jp/movie/2025/20641) • [8](https://ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/shin-heike-monogatari/)\n\n## Reception and place in Mizoguchi's work\n\nThe film was Mizoguchi's penultimate feature, followed by *[Street of Shame](https://www.edgepedia.org/street-of-shame)* (1956).[3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/4269?locale=en) It is atypical in his filmography: unlike the female-centered dramas for which he is known, it is a samurai film without a leading female character, which the BFI describes as a conversational epic of courtly intrigue.[9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-films-set-classical-japan) • [11](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/tales-of-the-taira-clan-2014-06/1) The Harvard Film Archive notes that Mizoguchi nonetheless imbued the young warrior's struggle with the emotional power of his great melodramas, and that the film's burnished colors contrast ironically with its depiction of medieval Kyoto as brutal and frenzied.[11](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/tales-of-the-taira-clan-2014-06/1)\n\nWhen the film was screened in the United States, New York Times critic Eugene Arthur praised its \"lyrical pastel compositions\" and observed that the cruel bald monks, the violent warriors, and the weak and frightened ruling aristocrats were differentiated by the shades of their costumes as much as by their behavior.[8](https://ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/shin-heike-monogatari/) The Karlovy Vary note judges it the better of Mizoguchi's two color films, crediting its control of color, scrupulously researched design, and vivid ensemble performances.[7](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/48/22138-new-tales-ofthetaira-clan)\n\nThe 2004 digital restoration by the National Film Center and Kadokawa Pictures has kept the film in circulation; MoMA screened a 4K restoration in 2018, and the National Film Archive of Japan scheduled a digital-restoration screening for October 2026.[1](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-11/) • [3](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/4269?locale=en)\n\n## References\n\n1. [新・平家物語［デジタル復元版］New Tales of the Taira Clan [Digital Restoration], National Film Archive of Japan](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-11/)\n2. [新・平家物語 : 作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/37307/)\n3. [Shin Heike monogatari (Tales of the Taira Clan). 1955. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/4269?locale=en)\n4. [New Tales of the Taira Clan, Raizofan.net filmography](https://www.raizofan.net/eng/emovie1/emovie12.htm)\n5. [Shin heike Monogatari = Tales of the Taira, ACMI collection](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/115725--shin-heike-monogatari-tales-of-the-taira/)\n6. [Tales of the Taira Clan (Shin Heike Monogatari), Museum of the Moving Image](https://movingimage.org/archived-events/tales-of-the-taira-clan-shin-heike-monogatari/)\n7. [New Tales of the Taira Clan, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Tony Rayns)](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/48/22138-new-tales-ofthetaira-clan)\n8. [SHIN HEIKE MONOGATARI, Festival Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna](https://ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/shin-heike-monogatari/)\n9. [10 great films set in classical Japan, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-films-set-classical-japan)\n10. [新・平家物語〖市川雷蔵映画祭 刹那のきらめき〗, UPLINK Kyoto](https://kyoto.uplink.co.jp/movie/2025/20641)\n11. [Tales of the Taira Clan, Harvard Film Archive](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/tales-of-the-taira-clan-2014-06/1)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › Historical dramas and epics › Titles M to Z › Titles Sc to Z*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tales-of-the-taira-clan", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tales-of-the-taira-clan.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Tales of the Taira Clan\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tales-of-the-taira-clan. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Tales of the Taira Clan](https://www.edgepedia.org/tales-of-the-taira-clan)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/tales-of-the-taira-clan](https://www.edgepedia.org/tales-of-the-taira-clan). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Tales of the Taira Clan\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tales-of-the-taira-clan. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Tales of the Taira Clan is Kenji Mizoguchi's 1955 Daiei color film adapting Eiji Yoshikawa's novel, starring Raizo Ichikawa as young Taira no Kiyomori in 1137 Kyoto." }