Michael Watson, of Meiji Gakuin University, has a long interest in The Tale of Heike and maintains a website with various things on it. Go to Michael Watson's Site.

Here is a source for an online version of Heike monogatari in its original Japanese, provided by the E-Text Initiative at the University of Virginia: virginia-heike.html

Here are some comments and links maintained by the University of California at Berkeley Office of Resources for International and Area Studies: ORIAS Links .

For the academically minded, here are some abstracts of a panel on The Tale of Heike presented at a 1996 conference (AAS-Association for Asian Studies): AAS 1996 Heike Abstracts .

Three sites on the historical background of The Tale of Heike. These are not as detailed as McCullough's description, but they are fairly good. For information leading up to the decisive upheavals of the 12th century go to Heian Background. For specifics on the Heiji Disturbance, go to Heiji Details. For an overview of the final, decisive Gempei War (1180-85) go to Gempei War. There is considerable historical information in English on the web . Try searching with terms like "Gempei War" or "Hôgen Disturbance," or many of the specific personal names and place names that appear in the text.

Some interesting links

Here is an unusual site. Scenes from The Tale of Heike done in something like paper mache (?), then photographed and set to music. It's in Japanese, but it is an interesting little trip to make anyway. Go to Moody Heike .