The tale of the Heike

In late 12th Century Japan, one noble house (the Heike, or Taira, clan) attempts to sieze the throne, only to be defeated by another (the Minamoto clan).

This fictionalized oral history of the Genpei war became the foundation myth of the Kamakura shogunate. It stands as Japan's equivalent to the Illiad, or the Morte d'Arthur.