Tom Holland

So let's start with the Taira.

They appear to be in the ascendant, don't they?

You already said that they control Kyoto, which is the imperial capital.

They control the emperor, who is a puppet or a cipher, who is two years old and he is called Antoku.

And he is the grandson of Kiyomori.

Right.

And they also control the plain, the Kansai, on which Kyoto stands.

So if you think of Japan, archipelago, the single biggest island in the middle is Honshu, and they control the west of Honshu, right?

And then what about their rivals, the Minamoto?

So as I recall from last time, their heartland was the other great plain of Honshu, which is what's it called?

The Kanto.

And that surrounds what's now Tokyo, which doesn't exist at this point.

Right.

But at first, they don't actually launch a great war of aggression, do they?

Because Yoritomo, his priority is to consolidate his base because he knows that the Tyra won't attack him.

Why won't they attack him, the Tyra, when they control the waves and stuff?

Right.

But then, natural disaster, or…

Well, you might seem a natural disaster.

So we have plague and famine, don't we?