Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/160

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144
JAPANESE LITERATURE

no doubt to be attributed a certain miraculous element in the latter part of the history.

The Midzu-Kagami is an obvious imitation of the Ō-Kagami. The language is comparatively free from Chinese admixture, and from the point of view of style the work is to be classed with the literature of the Heian period.

The authorship of the Hōgen Monogatari and Heiji Monogatari is attributed to Hamuro Tokinaga, who lived towards the end of the twelfth century. The former contains an account of the civil disturbances in Kiōto in the year 1157, arising out of a dispute respecting the succession to the throne; the latter is a record of the renewal of the conflict in 1159. The result of this fighting was the downfall for a time of the power of the great Minamoto (Gen) family, and the establishment of the Taira (Hei) family in power.