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NOLA_Jay
09-08-2001, 23:30
Was wondering what everyones favorite samurai novels of all time were.

My top three are:

Musashi
Taiko
Shogun

Taiko is a definete must read for Total War: Shogun fans.

Koga No Goshi
09-08-2001, 23:34
You named the three pillars right there, Nola. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif Shogun and Taiko are definitely must-reads for anyone who is interested in the time period Shogun Total War takes place in. Musashi is an excellent epic also, but since it takes place after the battle of Sekigahara it still mentions some of the major players (Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Takeda Shingen, etc.) but it's all in the past by the time the story takes place around 1600. Still, it gives a lot of insight into samurai culture (particularly, the stagnation of it with the rise of the merchant class) and Japanese culture.



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Koga no Goshi

"Hokusai"
Now as a spirit
I shall roam
the summer fields.

jskirwin@yahoo.com
09-11-2001, 02:08
1. Musashi Novels - Eiji Yoshikawa opened my eyes to Bushido and the history of an extraordinary nation.

2. Shogun - of course. Anybody old enough to remember the mini-series? Sure it sucked compared to the book but it beat dang near anything else put out about Japan at the time by Hollywood.

3. Shinju/Bundori - The only two novels I've read by Laura Joh Rowland so far. Discovering her this year has rekindled my interest in fiction lost when Ann Rice stopped being edited (after Queen of the Damned). Her first novel Shinju is one of the best first novels I've ever read in my life. Filled with tension and a high body count it nevertheless conveys what early Edo must have been like - down to crunching of soybeans underfoot during Setsubun.

Evidently I'm not the only one who likes her. Her earlier novels are being reprinted. If you haven't read her, do so NOW.

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The Buddha is a gyoza. If you find the Buddha, eat him.

Hosakawa Tito
09-11-2001, 04:47
I would also recommend "Genpei" by Kara Dalkey.It is a fantasy tale about the 12th century struggle between the Minomoto and Taira clans for supremacy in Imperial Japan.
It's a fascinating look into the legends of Japan in that era,with enough truth mixed in to make for a very entertaining story.I personally think it would make a great movie.

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Diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to hell so that they look forward to making the trip.

ishikawa2
09-11-2001, 04:50
WRT the old Shogun mini-series: Amazon says they are (perhaps) going to release it on DVD.
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JKHJ/ref=ed_oe_dvd/103-0214525-4286260
and you can "vote" for it. (Hopefully, it will be MUCH cheaper than the staggering price of the "complete epic" on VHS.)

[This message has been edited by ishikawa2 (edited 09-10-2001).]

NOLA_Jay
09-12-2001, 06:07
I've reading Laura Joh Rowland's first book Shinju, and it is pretty good. She is a local author.
In case anyone is looking for Musashi some quick info.
The book was released as 5 seperate paperback novels in English and as a huge hardcover. The hardcover contins all 5 of the paperbacks in it and is still in print, the paperbacks are out of print, but the hardcover I have is actually cheaper than getting all 5 of the paperbacks.

Yoshitsune
09-13-2001, 01:52
And here's another vote for Kara Dalkey's 'Genpei'. Brings the 'Heike Monogatari' chronicle to life with her take on the main characters (thanks for the original heads-up, Ii Naomasa-san).

Some other novels I enjoyed which deal with the same period:
'The Heike Story' - Eiji Yoshikawa
'Children of Hachiman' - Lynn Guest
Finally for a real mixture of fantasy and history - the two 'Shike' books by Robert Shea; 'Time of the Dragons' and 'Last of the Zinja'. Actually a lot better than they first look http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Yoshitsune (edited 09-12-2001).]

The Scourge
09-17-2001, 04:45
Where am i?
Oh yeah,Im reading an interesting novella called The Secret history of the lord of Musashi,by Junichiro Tanizaki.
Should appeal to anyone into all things samurai ,not to mention necrophilia.
Anyone heard of it?
Its a sicky.

Winkel
09-18-2001, 16:24
I also liked "The Samurai" from Shusaku Endo. It plays in early Edo-times. I like it, because it describes how the Japanese perceived the Europeans at that time (a bit like Shogun but from the other perspective).

NZ Tanuki
10-02-2001, 07:26
I see that no one has mentioned Kunio Tsuji's _The Signore: Shogun of the Warring States_, a very interesting take (from the Portuguese pov) on Oda Nobunaga. Highly recommended.

And, of course, there's Erik Christian Haugaard's _The Samurai's Tale_, about an orphan taken into the Takeda household. It's a young adult's book, but it's a good read, nonetheless.

Regards,

NZ Tanuki

To keep silent and act wise/ Still not as good as drinking sake/ Getting drunk and weeping. - Otomo no Tabito (665-731)


[This message has been edited by NZ Tanuki (edited 10-02-2001).]

NZ Tanuki
10-02-2001, 07:35
Quote The Scourge writes:
Im reading an interesting novella called The Secret history of the lord of Musashi,by Junichiro Tanizaki.
Anyone heard of it?
[/QUOTE]

A really great conceit ... a long hidden document unearthed revealing the dark secret(s) of a young daimyo. One of Tanizaki's greatest novellas. Loved it. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

Regards,
NZ Tanuki

To keep silent and act wise/ Still not as good as drinking sake/ Getting drunk and weeping. - Otomo no Tabito (665-731)

[This message has been edited by NZ Tanuki (edited 10-02-2001).]

[This message has been edited by NZ Tanuki (edited 10-02-2001).]

jskirwin@yahoo.com
10-02-2001, 21:00
This is kind of a stretch for the Samurai topic, but anything by Yukio Mishima is worth reading.

My personal fave is the novella "Patriotism" about a young officer and his wife circa 1935 who must "do the honourable thing" after the Prime Minister is assassinated. While gruesome in spots, it's very well written.

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I take refuge in the Buddha.

ishikawa2
10-03-2001, 04:29
James, I am glad I took your earlier advice about Ms. Rowland's books: I am now over halfway through the 3rd book, The Way of the Traitor and I am thoroughly enjoying them.

However... since I still remember the TV coverage of Mishima's seppuku, I am more than a little put off. I think his stuff may be just a bit too bizarre for me.
A quick Google search resulted in an interesting quote: "...And certainly Mishima's carefully premeditated death is part of his work." (Mishima: A Vision of the Void by Marguerite Yourcenar, 1985)

and from http://www.vill.yamanakako.yamanashi.jp/bungaku/mishima/nenpu/his65_70.html
Nov 25 1970:
Early in the morning, Mishima addresses the envelope containing the final installment of "The Decay of the Angel" the final volume of his life-work "The Sea of Fertility" (which had taken him six years to write) to his publisher and places it on a table in his foyer. At 10 a.m. he phones a couple of reporter friends and asks them to come to Ichigaya. At 11 a.m. Mishima and his four cadets arrive at the Ichigaya Headquarters of the Eastern Army. He steps onto the balcony and reads his "Manifesto" trying to rouse the soldiers to take action and rise up to save Japan, but is mostly unheard and jeered. After shouting "Long Live His Majesty the Emperor!" three times, Mishima commits seppuku (ritual disembowelment) in the office of General Kanetoshi Mashita at 12:15 p.m. Morita tries three times to ritually behead Mishima but fails; the head is finally severed by Hiroyasu Koga. Morita (25 years old), then tries to follow Mishima in committing seppuku; although the cut is much too shallow to be fatal, he gives the signal, upon which Koga also ritually beheads Morita. The Mishima Incident is over.


Methinks that takes "performance art" to a level I don't want to go!

cheers,


[This message has been edited by ishikawa2 (edited 10-02-2001).]