The written language being thus enriched by a multitude of phrases and expressions which had received the indorsement of scholars, the vocabulary and literature of the era exhibit marked evidences of change. Not only the manner of expression, but also the taste of the people, had undergone a decisive change since the close of the Hei-an epoch, and this difference naturally manifested itself in the kind of literature affected. Men no longer took pleasure in books treating of the lives and adventures of beautiful women or the mental feats of renowned scholars. Such studies seemed incongruous amid the clash of arms and under the shadow of the sword and spear. Striking vicissitudes in martial careers, the intrepid deaths or life-long separations of warriors, the rise and fall of principalities--these were the themes of which the Kamakura _samurai_ loved to read. Of the prose compositions expressive of this sentiment, the most noted were the "_Hōgen_" and the "_Heiji Monogatari_," stories, respectively of the insurrections of those eras; and the "_Heike Monogatari_," the pathetic epic of the fate of the great Taira clan, and the "_Gempei Seisuiki_," the stirring tale of the rise and fall of the families of Taira and Minamoto. Other famous productions of the period were the "_Hōjō-ki_," and the "_Shiki Monogatari_." In these works one finds a skillful blending of graceful Japanese phrases, strong Chinese expressions, and lofty Buddhist terms. At times the style has all the ring of martial onset; at times, it is plaintive and moving; now it abounds in graces of diction, and then its transitions from passion to deliberation, from swift terseness to smooth tranquillity, are full of force and sentiment. Between the emotional effect of such writings and the gently flowing phraseology and uneventful paragraphs of works like the "_Genji Monogatari_" of the preceding period, there is a wide interval. Running through the pages of the "_Hōjō-ki_" the reader also detects a current of discontent and disgust for the transient world and its vanity that reflects the growing tendency of educated minds at that epoch. So deeply had the Buddhistic pessimism entered the heart of the people.