Gunki Monogatari (martial tales) (軍記物語)

Gunki monogatari (martial tales) refers to literary works written during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods whose subjects are taken from historical battles. Although they are called gunki (literally, "military chronicles"), they are not documents that faithfully record the facts, but rather, fictional stories to pass down heroic episodes and love stories for posterity. They are exaggerated, but useful as reference when exploring the historical background of when a battle occurred. They are also called gunkimono (war tales or warrior tales) and senki monogatari (battle tales).

These works have aspects of katarimono (narrative recitations) and there are some works such as the "Heike Monogatari" (The Tale of the Heike) that were recited by people like biwa-playing minstrels.

[Original Japanese]