"The Tale of the Heike" depicts an idealized story of the Genpei War (1180–1185) with a struggle between two powerful samurai clans, the Minamoto and the Taira. Clearly depicted throughout the epic is the ideal of the cultivated warrior. During the early modern era, these ideals were vigorously pursued in the upper echelons of warrior society and recommended as the proper form of the Japanese man of arms. The influence of Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism on bushido's early development instilled among those who live by the code a religious respect for it.