Home of the Heike

The ancestors of the people living in Iya today were Japan's leaders some 900 years ago. Then they were forced to flee for their lives.

In the 12th century, the Genji and Heike families were amongst the most powerful in the land. The Heike had replaced many nobles from other influential clans in important offices, while the Genji had gained military experience in campaigns in northern Japan late in the 11th century.

The struggle for power between the two families came to a head during the Heiji Rising of 1159, from which Taira Kiyomori of the Heike emerged as the leader of Japan, ruling the country from 1168 to 1178 through the emperor. He was largely able to deal with threats from the rivaling Genji and also from increasingly militant Buddhist monasteries, but Kiyamori's death was the catalyst for open war between the Genji and Heike clans.

The Gempei War lasted from 1180 to 1185, by which time the Heike had been cornered in an apparently unassailable fortress. Close to the sea, the castle had walls on three sides and a steep cliff on the fourth, but a daring horseback assault down this cliff routed the Heike and forced them to swim for their very lives. The Heike that made it their boats fled to Shikoku and elsewhere - nowadays, all over Japan there are communities which claim to be descended from Heike fugitives, popularly known as Heike valleys. With the end of the war, Minamoto Yoritomo of the Genji succeeded as the leader of Japan. After eliminating all of his enemies, including close family members, he was appointed Shogun (highest military officer) and established a new government in his home city near modern Tokyo.

The Genji pursued the Heike, but in the case of Iya, their quarry fled to such a remote place that returning from the pursuit was difficult. Some gave up the chase. The rest ended up living side by side with the Heike - hunter and hunted in the same home.

Of the relics and traditions of the Heike that survive to this day, one is the Jindai Odori of Nishiiya. A rain dance said to have its origins in the four centuries before the Heike were defeated, Jindai Odori retains references to the flight of the Heike in 1185. The name of the dance means "dance of the age of the gods". Truly, the time of the Heike clan's rise and fall is so long past that their descendants only remember it in stories and legends.