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  Tale of the Heike, a song written by a blind monk about this epic war begins like this: The sound of the Gion Shōja bell echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sāla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.

Photography by Hajime Kimura