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Wanted to see if anybody out there knew of some *good* historical fiction set in 'medieval japan'. Aside from the obligatory "Shogun" by Clavell, has anybody found much good stuff out there?
I've recently read some books by Laura J. Rowland, but they aren't particularly good in my mind. A rather cheesy take on the whole time period.
The name is "Waves".
That's all I can remember- it has two short stories in it. I will find it at home and post again soon.
Waves: A War Diary
http://www.columbia.edu/~dbl11/mainichi.html
There isn't much out there aside from the typical Clavell and Yoshikawa fare. There is the book 'Across the Nightingale Floor' which is only loosley based on the Sengoku, the writing style is a bit cheesy in my opinion, but the story is somewhat interesting. Here is an example:
Kaede felt her heart twist in sympathy. "Why do women have to suffer this way? Why don't we have the freedom men have?"
"It's the way the world is," Shizuka replied "men are stronger and not held back by feelings of tenderness and mercy. Women fall in love with them, but they do not return that love."
"I will never fall in love" Kaede said.
A long time ago, I also translated a few pages of some Japanese historical fiction (A story of Hideyoshi and a story of Takeda Shingen, http://www.samurai-archives.com/fictrans.html although I just noticed a typo in one spot that I'll have to fix (calling Nobutora Nobunaga at one spot). It was pretty interesting doing the translation, but since it is a literal translation as opposed to a flowing narrative it is a bit choppy. Some day I'd like to translate a more 'hard core' Japanese fiction (If only I had the time!) - my goal is 'Nobunaga Shisezu', a book about 'what if Nobunaga survived the attack on Honnoji by Mitsuhide. I've only got about 70 pages in, but it is pretty interesting, although a pretty tough read because the reader is assumed to be familiar with most of the characters and places.
[This message has been edited by CEWest (edited 10-02-2002).]
Have to put a word in for the classic 'Tale of Genji' written around 1000 years ago by Shikibu Murasaki (real name unknown). It is the inverse side of Japan to the warring and the fighting we are used to, and is thereby an interesting counterpoint to the Gempei conflicts. Basically it is the story of interweaving love affairs and the ephemerality of desire- provincal warriors certainly don't get much of a look in! Or of course there's Vanya's 'arquebusier' saga which should be in the files section of the .org, and claims to tell the REAL story of Sengoku times. Bring a pinch of salt.
"Musashi" and "Taiko" by Yoshikawa Eiji....... yoshikawa was mentioned in this thread but no titles.... They are good books.
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