# The Heike Story (平家物語)
**The Heike Story** (平家物語, *Heike Monogatari*) is a Japanese television anime series directed by Naoko Yamada and produced by the studio Science SARU, adapting [Hideo Furukawa](https://www.edgepedia.org/hideo-furukawa)'s 2016 modern-Japanese translation of the medieval epic *The Tale of the Heike*. It is the first consecutive TV series adaptation of the classic tale.[1](https://www.fujitv.com/animation/the_heike_story/) • [2](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/464808) The story follows the rise and fall of the [Taira clan](https://www.edgepedia.org/taira-clan) (the Heike) in the late [Heian period](https://www.edgepedia.org/heian-period), seen through the eyes of a young biwa-playing storyteller named Biwa who can see the future.[1](https://www.fujitv.com/animation/the_heike_story/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 平家物語 (*Heike Monogatari*)[3](https://animecorner.me/db/anime/the-heike-story) |
| Studio / director | Science SARU; directed by Naoko Yamada[1](https://www.fujitv.com/animation/the_heike_story/) |
| Source text | Hideo Furukawa's modern translation, published 2016 by Kawade Shobo Shinsha in the Ikezawa Natsuki-edited *Nihon Bungaku Zenshu* vol. 9[4](https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/20863223/) |
| Episodes | 11, aired January 13 to March 24, 2022 (streamed on FOD from September 15, 2021)[3](https://animecorner.me/db/anime/the-heike-story) • [1](https://www.fujitv.com/animation/the_heike_story/) |
| Main cast | Aoi Yuki (Biwa), Takahiro Sakurai (Taira no Shigemori), Saori Hayami (Taira no Tokuko), Tessho Genda (Taira no Kiyomori)[5](https://filmarks.com/animes/3155/3979) |
| Music | Kensuke Ushio; opening theme "Hikaru Toki" by Hitsujibungaku, ending theme "unified perspective" by agraph feat. ANI[6](https://www.asmik-ace.co.jp/works/lineup/7351/) |
| Streaming | Crunchyroll (23-minute episodes, TV-14, English and Japanese audio)[7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-heike-story) |
## Spoilers
### Story and characters
The series opens with the famous lines on impermanence: "The sound of the Gion Shoja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline."[1](https://www.fujitv.com/animation/the_heike_story/) In the late Heian period, the Taira clan approaches the peak of its power, military might, and wealth. [Taira no Shigemori](https://www.edgepedia.org/taira-no-shigemori), who has eyes that can see the dead, meets Biwa, a young biwa hoshi (a blind itinerant priest who recites the tale while playing the biwa lute) who can see the future, and she tells him "you will all perish soon." The story then covers the fifteen turbulent years in which Japan moved from aristocratic rule to samurai rule.[1](https://www.fujitv.com/animation/the_heike_story/)
Biwa is an original character created for the anime, not present in the classical text. Scriptwriter Reiko Yoshida described her as a figure with modern thoughts and feelings who speaks for the viewer and watches the story alongside the audience.[11](https://bunshun.jp/articles/-/56730) The plot begins when Biwa's father is killed by a Taira warrior; she visits Shigemori and prophesies the clan's eventual ruin.[8](https://cinema.ne.jp/article/detail/47728) The narrative follows the clan's internal politics, including the incident in which Taira no Sukemori offended the Emperor's regent and Kiyomori retaliated, drawing public criticism that Shigemori tried to contain by disciplining his son and resigning his posts.[5](https://filmarks.com/animes/3155/3979)
## Production
The series was a collaboration between director Naoko Yamada, known for *[A Silent Voice](https://www.edgepedia.org/a-silent-voice-film)* (2016) and *Liz and the Blue Bird* (2018), and Science SARU, and it was her first work with a studio other than [Kyoto Animation](https://www.edgepedia.org/kyoto-animation).[8](https://cinema.ne.jp/article/detail/47728) Reiko Yoshida served as series composer, Fumiko Takano provided the original character concepts, Takashige Kojima designed the characters, and [Kensuke Ushio](https://www.edgepedia.org/kensuke-ushio) composed the music. Historical supervision was by Yoshihiko Sata and biwa supervision by Yukihiro Goto.[6](https://www.asmik-ace.co.jp/works/lineup/7351/)
The anime takes as its source not the medieval original but Furukawa's contemporary translation, which itself uses the most widely circulated text of the tale, the Kakuichi-bon, as its base.[4](https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/20863223/) • [9](https://macc.bunka.go.jp/5216/) Furukawa commented that the adaptation does something no previous reading had done: it treats *The Tale of the Heike* as a story of women.[10](https://realsound.jp/movie/2021/11/post-896859_2.html)
## Reception
The series ran for 11 episodes with a total viewing time of about 4 hours 14 minutes. Viewer ratings rose toward the end: episodes 9 ("The Heike Fall" / 平家流るる) and 11 ("Impermanence" / 諸行無常) were rated highest in both Japanese and overseas scores, at 91.0 and 92.5 and 92.3 and 92.3 respectively on a 100-point scale, while episode 3 ("The Shishigatani Conspiracy") scored 89.0 in Japan.[12](https://kamikai.fourgetkun.com/anime/49738) On the Japanese review site Filmarks it holds a 4.2 average from 10,096 user reviews.[5](https://filmarks.com/animes/3155/3979)
The series was distributed internationally on [Funimation](https://www.edgepedia.org/funimation) and bilibili during its original run[1](https://www.fujitv.com/animation/the_heike_story/) and later streamed on [Crunchyroll](https://www.edgepedia.org/crunchyroll), where episodes run 23 minutes with a TV-14 rating and both English and Japanese audio.[7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-heike-story)
## Context: the 2022 Heike boom
The anime arrived in a period of renewed popular interest in medieval Japan. In the same year, the film *Inu-Oh*, based on Furukawa's *Heike Monogatari: Inu-oh no Maki* and directed by [Masaaki Yuasa](https://www.edgepedia.org/masaaki-yuasa), was also released, so two anime adaptations drawing on the same author's Heike work appeared in one year. Commentators linked this to a broader medieval boom, recalling earlier waves driven by historians such as Yoshihiko Amino and Kinya Abe in the late 1970s and 1980s, and by *Princess Mononoke* and international-relations scholar Akira Tanaka's *The New Middle Ages* in the 1990s and 2000s.[13](https://books.j-cast.com/topics/2022/06/02018241.html) Compared with the contemporary [Taiga drama](https://www.edgepedia.org/taiga-drama) *The 13 Lords of the Shogun*, which used modern expression to portray Kamakura-period figures realistically, Yamada's *The Heike Story* was described as markedly darker and lower in narrative tension, aiming to depict the late Heian period as it was handed down as a tale of a turbulent age.[13](https://books.j-cast.com/topics/2022/06/02018241.html)
An official animation guide book covering the making of the series was published on April 28, 2022, and a further book of essays and conversations with Yamada and Takano followed in March of the following year.[14](https://www.kadokawa.co.jp/topics/7398/) • [2](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/464808)
## References
1. [The Heike Story, Fuji Television Network](https://www.fujitv.com/animation/the_heike_story/)
2. [Yamada Naoko and Takano Fumiko discuss the anime "Heike Monogatari", Comic Natalie](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/464808)
3. [The Heike Story, Anime Corner database](https://animecorner.me/db/anime/the-heike-story)
4. [TV anime "Heike Monogatari": how well do you know anime adaptations of classics?, Livedoor News](https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/20863223/)
5. [平家物語, Filmarks Anime](https://filmarks.com/animes/3155/3979)
6. [平家物語, Asmik Ace](https://www.asmik-ace.co.jp/works/lineup/7351/)
7. [The Heike Story, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-heike-story)
8. [Anime "Heike Monogatari": Yamada Naoko and Yoshida Reiko's arrangement is bold yet faithful to the original's essence, CINEMAS+](https://cinema.ne.jp/article/detail/47728)
9. [Heike Monogatari, Media Arts Current Contents (MACC)](https://macc.bunka.go.jp/5216/)
10. [The story of women that director Naoko Yamada depicted, Real Sound](https://realsound.jp/movie/2021/11/post-896859_2.html)
11. ["We wanted a story that stays close to the people of the Heike": scriptwriter interview, Bungeishunju Online](https://bunshun.jp/articles/-/56730)
12. [Which episodes of Heike Monogatari are the best? Full episode ratings](https://kamikai.fourgetkun.com/anime/49738)
13. [Why did a 2022 "Heike Monogatari" boom happen? BOOK Watch](https://books.j-cast.com/topics/2022/06/02018241.html)
14. [Animation guide tracing the making of the TV anime "Heike Monogatari", KADOKAWA](https://www.kadokawa.co.jp/topics/7398/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Anime and manga › Anime series, episodes, and franchises › Anime television series, 2020s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license