Home

  FAQ

  The Book

  Articles

  Links

  Contact

Deep Ancestry: How a Man in 12th Century Japan Created Star Wars

I've been doing some deep digging here. I think I might have been inspired by reading the book Deep Ancestry, about the Genographic Project that has charted human migration through our DNA all the way back to 60,000 years ago and beyond to show how we are all distantly related to each other (pretty interesting stuff actually). But how deep does the Star Wars ancestry go? Try this one:

Ever heard of Minamoto Yoshitsune? He was a famous warrior in 12th century Japan, and was one of the most legendary figures in Japanese folklore.

Minamoto Yoshitsune lived from 1159 to 1189, and is one of more popular characters in Japanese history, often portrayed as a tragic hero. His older brother was Minamoto Yorimoto, who created Japan’s first military administration, or shogunate. Yoshitsune’s father, Minamoto Yoshitomo, and two of his brothers were killed in an unsuccessful uprising in 1160 when they attempted to usurp the rival Taira (or Heike) clan in what is known as The Heiji Rebellion. During the Siege of Sanjo Palace, the Minamoto clan and its allies (a force of roughly five-hundred men) kidnapped the Emperor and sacked the palace, but after much fighting the Taira clan defeated them. Young Minamoto Yoshitsune, only an infant, was decreed banished by the Taira clan, and was imprisoned in a monastery. In 1180, now a young man, he escaped and joined a rebellion that his brother Yorimoto, now head of the clan, had organized. Prince Mochihoto, the son of the Emperor that the Minamoto clan had captured in the Heiji Rebellion, had turned against the Taira clan because he believed they were attempting to take the throne, and supplied the Minamoto clan with an army, beginning the Genpei wars. Over the next several years, Yoshitsune became a great warrior and led the Minamoto army to victory in many battles, defeating the Taira clan. Eventually, tensions developed between Yoshitsune and his brother Yorimoto, and they fought at the Battle of Koromogawa, where Yoshitsune was defeated and his retainer Benkei was killed heroically defending him. Fleeing north, Yoshitsune and his family committed suppuku, or ritual suicide.

Would you believe that, if we follow the rabbit hole deep enough, this man is in some distant way responsible for Star Wars existing as it does?

The life of Yoshitsune and the Genpei War became part of Japanese folklore, and the story was told orally in song by travelling monks. Around 1220 it was set down in writing, though it was completed by many authors in episodic fashion over a period of a hundred years or so. This resulted in the Japanese literary epic The Tale of the Heike (or the Heike monogatari), which Enclopedia Brittanica says “is to the Japanese what The Illiad is to the western world.”

Two hundred years after Yoshitsune had been dead--and already mythologized--Kanze Kojiro Nobumitsu, who lived from 1435-1516, wrote a play for the Noh style of theater about him called Ataka. Ataka was remade hundreds of years later as the Kabuki play Kanjincho. Kanjincho was one of the most famous kabuki plays and was first performed in 1845. It is about two famous warriors (Benkei and Yoshitsune) disguised as priests in medieval Japan who attempt to pass through an enemy border crossing (the Ataka gate) being guarded by a soldier named Togashi. The play's title comes from a famous moment in the play where Benkei and Yoshitsune, in order to pass through the Ataka gate, claim they are monks collecting donations for a Buddhist temple, and the guard Togashi demands they show him the kanjincho, or subscription list of those who have donated.

Another hundred years later, Ataka/Kanjincho was remade again--this time as a motion picture. It was Akira Kurosawa's They Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail. It was one of his first films, and thus had a limited budget and scope. A decade later, Kurosawa was one of the most popular directors in the world and decided to redo it with the scale and grandeur he had wanted. The result was The Hidden Fortress .

When George Lucas was searching for ideas for this space adventure thing, he saw Hidden Fortress and decided to adapt it as a sci-fi adventure. This resulted in the 1973 treatment called The Star Wars . Though he ultimately moved away from it, Hidden Fortress still formed the basis for many of the characters and plot points of the final film, from Princess Leia and her being persued and captured, to Obi Wan and he being charged with her protection, to the duel between him and Vader, to the hunt for the death star plans, to R2D2 and C3P0. Phantom Menace is an even closer remake of Hidden Fortress than Star Wars .

It all goes back to Minamoto Yoshitsune, and the drama he was involved in during the 12th century Japanese wars. If he had never lived, there would be no Hidden Fortress, and Star Wars would not exist (at least with the story and characters it ended up with).

Thats some pretty deep ancestry there, isn't it?

The internet is actually somewhat scarce on info, at least compared to the amount of books written about this whole history. Wikipedia offers a decent overview of the life of Yashitsune and the various dramas connected to him and his family. Some info on the Heike monogatari and the original text of the book can be found on sites like this.

 Web site and all contents © Copyright Michael Kaminski 2007-2008, All rights reserved.