Taiheiki - God in a Box - Or the Only Semi-Horror Taiga Drama of Japan
Or How Taiheki of 1991 went from history drama to Horror-History Drama
Japan has a great many traditions; from bushido, to the Imperial family, to 7-11 to failed English education, to also some of the greatest history dramas in all of history. This last one began with Kurosawa Akira one of the finest directors in history (seriously check out Ran if you haven’t already), but what evolved from his history movies were a series of jidaegeki doramas that have stood the test of time (and are still running to-day). My favourite of these dramas was 2012’s Matsuken Taira no Kiyomori, itself a remake of one of the 80s’ tv series (and an improvement on it if I may say so).
But in the year of my birth 1991 another of the greatest Taiga dramas came out, it was called Taiheiki and was about one of Japan’s most violent eras as Japan moved from the Hojo clan as the dominant family in Japan to that of the Ashikaga Muromachi Bakufu (Shogunnate).
The star was a then young Sanada Hiroyuki, a seriously talented actor who has recently appeared in the deconstruction-heavy story of Shogun (spun from a novel meant to deconstruct England and Japan both in one fell swoop). But in this earlier drama, which puts Sanada and the character he portrays, the incredibly fascinating and mysterious (and brilliant) Ashikaga Takauji.
Takauji in history is one of Japan’s great mysteries. A man who was descended from the Minamoto, a vassal of the Hojo who married into their family, he however revolted in the name of the Emperor, seized Kyoto for him became close to the Emperor then was spurned by him, changed sides against him, and then established himself as the top man in the nation.
On the face of it Takauji seems like a treacherous snake. But there’s hints in some literature and sources of there being more to the man. For one thing; Go-Daigo the Emperor was insane, and was a man who over-bureaucratized, who over-taxed the people and who hated the Bushi and sought to destroy them. He used them then attempted to throw them away without even having a plan B. He revoked all their rights, and was apparently SHOCKED when they rebelled and selected their own man in his place to run the government.
The man selected was Takauji, who had been taking care of their needs while Go-Daigo partied and wasted untold amounts of wealth on his palaces (while peasants starved and suffered to plague and war). Takauji for his part was a cultivated individual, who faced a great deal of personal difficulty along with conflict within his own family.
His brother Tadayoshi was one of the most effect politicians and insane men in Japanese history. A man who made Commodus look stable, he was to murder an Imperial Prince (a crime that offended all and was the root cause for why Go-Daigo turned on Takauji, when he failed to produce Tadayoshi fast enough). Given command of Kanto, Tadayoshi had apparently convinced himself that this meant that Takauji had signalled he should be his heir despite Takauji having many sons and making it clear that his highly successful son Yoshiakira was to be the next head of the Ashikaga Bakufu.
There was also conflict between Takauji’s foster-brothers and favourites the Kono brothers (Moronao & Moroyasu) a pair of brutes who in spite of their brutality and thuggish ways were immensely loyal to Takauji) and Tadayoshi. Tadayoshi launched a political coup, then Takauji gathered 50,000 with the aid of Moronao to retake control of the government, then a war broke out which Tadayoshi won. The Kono brothers who had served so ably, agreed to quit politics and renounced the world, and apparently truly meant it only for Tadayoshi to butcher them and their clan anyways.
This last act so shocked and offended Takauji and many of his brother’s supporters that they banded together in a new war against Tadayoshi, who was in the end at LAST poisoned by Takauji who finally retook control of the government.
The tragedy is that Takauji was by then sick, and had to hand control over to his capable sons who proceeded to fend off his illegitimate son (the adopted heir of Tadayoshi) Tadafuyu, who carried on for a time the feud, before he retired to a monastery which he may have passed away in, around the 1390s (1398 is the favourite date). Takauji for his part was to spend his remaining years all but in retirement while the sons saw to affairs, notably his heir Yoshiakira who tragically only enjoyed a 9 year reign until he passed away in 1367. Yoshiakira was to father though Yoshimitsu, and select a regent more than capable and loyal enough to see Yoshimitsu through his minority and pass on the skills necessary for the young prince to become one of the greatest of all the Sei-tai Shoguns in history.
Now, what does this have to do with Taiheiki? Everything. Taiheiki as a drama starts just before Takauji’s birth, his mother is a concubine and his father is head of the Ashikaga family. In the drama where Takauji is a passionate, hot-headed and righteous man his father is a timid coward, who could never bring himself to do anything let alone rebel.
That said, his father prepared the way for the son to take over, and become the most powerful and capable provincial lord in the land. Takauji in the drama will encounter all the dramas and tragedies of real life, and also find himself divided in his love life between his concubine Fujiyasha (a dancer girl he meets in Kyoto, who introduces him to his love for Kyoto and to the culture there), and his beloved wife Hojo (later Ashikaga) Toko (mother of Yoshiakira).
Takauji not having much of a father figure comes to look on Kusunoki and Go-Daigo as such, but they themselves though initially fond of him soon betray him.
The question of why must be asked; the reason is quite simple Tadayoshi kills Prince Moriyoshi. This angers and wounds Go-Daigo, who is counselled to destroy Takauji through Lawfare by the likes of Kusunoki and the Court, Tadayoshi and Moronao conspire and force Takauji to stay in Kamakura (this being after the destruction of the Hojo).
After this Fujiyasha is killed partly because of her brother’s stupidity, and partly due to her brother Ishi’s feud with a nobleman (Ishi was initially favoured by Go-Daigo but then tossed aside when he was promoted to Bushi (he was born a farmer) and Go-Daigo allowed the local noble to persecute him and otherwise tried to give only nobles land just like in history). The trouble after this is that Takauji when forced to dethrone Go-Daigo does it reluctantly tries to reason with him, fails and before he could end the wars has power usurped by Tadayoshi who sabotages the efforts of the Kyoto-Northern Court set up by Takauji.
A coup proves necessary, then Tadayoshi effects a counter-counter-coup, and then war. The drama does a great job showing the dramas, the pains and the sorrows of all the heroes and villains of the series and portrays them all as highly complex, deeply flawed individuals.
But why do so many things go wrong? This is another question. Historically it just happened; people reacted impulsively to one another as they do in the show. But there is a ‘secret’ in the show that hints at the truth.
In his childhood at 9 years old, Takauji took his younger brother and a group of friends into the mountains, where they found the shrine of the War-God Hachiman. There they broke the box open, found there not to be a god but an ugly block of wood. This they mocked and passed around among themselves before putting it back and praying.
Throughout the story Takauji reflects back on this moment and mocks it, but then in the last episode as he poisons his brother Tadayoshi, he confesses he’s been seeing that moment again his dreams.
His fear is that maybe it wasn’t just a block of wood but an actual god. The last words of Tadayoshi in the series, also hint at this. As he mocked Takauji at one point earlier in the episode saying that ‘only a great shogun could kill his own brother’, and when Takauji does, Tadayoshi tells him, ‘Now I have made you a great shogun!’ This is one translation.
What is frightening and disturbing about this possibility is that it would turn the series from a normal history series and into a horror-slasher series as Dan noted. It means that the War-God Hachiman not only broke loose, but showed his displeasure by possessing Tadayoshi, and from there went on to wreak bloody murder across the land until the human avatar was stopped. It would also show that though Hachiman wished to ‘reward’ Takauji by making him a Shogun, it was in actuality a curse meant to punish a 9 year old boy for his ignorant and irreverent behaviour.
This you see is common in old Shinto folktales from Japan, and it makes this Taiga one of the most terrifying series of all times in some ways.
Tadayoshi also LOOKS like an angry war-god from one of those old Japanese paintings which doesn’t help matters either. This only serves to make the series even more awesome and something of a rush as far as horror stories go.
I think Japanese horror has something distinctive. They have their own way of experiencing fear (the kyōfu, right?). But you’re better at explaining it than I am. :D
A great post! Thanks.
Interesting will have a look at this show