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How do you describe a book like Shogun? It's a huge best seller, it's been made into two television series. It seems like it's one of those books that everyone read when I was younger, and a lot of people still read. It sparked a huge interest in Japanese culture when I was younger, so much so that I had Anglo friends who became obsessed with Japan and the Japanese. In a way, I'm surprised I never read it before now.
It's hard to provide a synopsis of such a rich and detailed book. Basically, the book follows an English pilot (in the nautical sense; i.e. a navigator) of a Dutch ship, the Erasmus, that makes landfall in Japan in 1600. The ship is all that remains of five that left the Netherlands years earlier, and the ship and skeleton crew are driven by a storm into a Japanese village. The pilot, one John Blackthorne, and his crew find that the only Europeans in Japan are Portuguese, that most are Jesuits, and as allies of Spain and Catholics to boot they are at war with the Protestant English and Dutch.
Initially reliant on the Portuguese Jesuits to interpret, Blackthorne still manages to play on the Japanese distrust of all foreigners to eventually win the trust of one of the major daimyos (literally "large private land" or the most powerful feudal lords), Yoshi Toranaga. Since Toranaga wants to make sure what he says, and Blackthorne's answers, are being interpreted correctly he assigns Toda Mariko, a beautiful Japanese Christian woman who speaks fluent Portuguese, to interpret and teach Blackthorne to speak Japanese. Blackthorne becomes involved in the intricate power plays between the Japanese daimyos, the Portuguese merchants, and the Jesuits. He and Mariko also fall in love and begin an illicit affair.
Although based loosely on history, Shogun is not historical fiction. You might call it "historically based" fiction. The names that Clavell uses are fictional but are stand-ins for real historical figures. Blackthorne is based on William Adams, the first Englishman to reach Japan at the helm of a Dutch ship. Toranaga is based on Tokugawa Ieyasu who was the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate which ushered in the Japanese Edo period. And Mariko is based on Hosokawa Gracia, a Japanese noble woman who converted to Catholicism. Many of the events appear to have actually happened, though of course Clavell takes great license with the events to tell a good story.
At first Shogun is very much a "stranger in a strange land" tale in the vein of many great adventure stories. I kept thinking of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars and the Green Martians because of not just how alien the Japanese seem to Blackthorne, but also because they seem to him so incredibly cruel. Over time, however, the book shifts to become an almost medieval romance, a la Tristan and Isolde, of a forbidden love forsaken for duty. All of this is happening against the tense backdrop of life-and-death power struggles between the ruling council of daimyos and their vying for supremacy. Much of this scheming takes place in meetings, both formal and informal, between various characters. In fact, there actually isn't a whole lot of action in the book; most of it is people talking, scheming, conniving, sending messages, and trying to win someone's support or outwit them. When there is action, Clavell handles it well, particularly the nautical scenes. So the book rarely has any dull moments.
The best parts of the books are actually in the dialogues, both between Blackthorne and the various samurai he has to deal with as well as the dialogues between the Toranaga and his allies and enemies. There is always the threat of immediate and devastating violence behind these conversations that comes from Clavell's portrayal of Japanese feudal society. Homicide and suicide are presented as common place and no cause for grief, even by the one who dies and their family.
Blackthorne witnesses this casual cruelty soon after making landfall:
"Omi disdainfully waved them away. They all bowed low. Except one man who rose deliberately, without bowing.
"With blinding speed the killing sword made a hissing silver arc and the man's head toppled off his shoulders and a fountain of blood sprayed the earth. The body rippled a few times and was still. Involuntarily, the priest backed off a pace. No one else in the street had moved a muscle. Their heads remained low and motionless. Blackthorne was rigid, in shock."
Later, after Omi orders everyone off:
"Omi began to laugh uproariously. The street was empty now. When his laughter was exhausted, he grasped his sword with both hands and began to hack the body methodically into small pieces."
I can't vouch for its authenticity in describing Japanese culture of this period in history, but it does seem to be overtly cruel and inhumane. I really did find myself wondering if it was really that murderous. Yet it also increases the stakes of every conversation and every interaction with the feudal daimyos, and even equals, because they quite literally have the power of life and death over their subordinates. This goes hand in hand with the incredibly pro-aristocratic, bloodline is everything, might makes right attitude not just of the Japanese but of the Europeans. As an American raised to despise position based on birth and not ability I have to say this glorification of aristocrats rankled. It's hard for me to know how much of this was done by Clavell for effect, how much was what he thought was historically accurate (for both the Europeans of the time as well as the Japanese), and how much was because, well, Clavell was British. Probably a little of all those things. A different reader might not be bothered as much as I was, though, and as I said it certainly makes every dialogue fraught with enormous tension.
Some of the best scenes in the book are those where some sort of murderous confrontation is anticipated, but what actually happens is completely the opposite of what you expect. An example is when the husband of Mariko, the samurai Buntaro, has beaten Mariko in a drunken rage in Blackthorne's house.
Blackthorne arms himself with pistols and goes after Buntaro:
"To hell with cover, he thought through the haze of his blood lust, knowing at the same time that what he was doing was insane, that he had no chance against the two samurai or the long-range bow, that he had no rights whatsoever to interfere. And then, when he was still out of pistol range, Buntaro bowed low, and so did the guard. Blackthorne stopped, sensing a trap. He looked all around but there was no one near. As though in a dream, he saw Buntaro sink heavily onto his knees, put his bow aside, his hands flat on the ground, and bow to him as a peasant would bow to his lord. The guard did likewise."
It turns out that Buntaro is ashamed for disturbing the wa, or peace and serenity, of Blackthorne's household! The combination of cultural differences, the threat of deadly violence, and the underlying intrigues of everyone in the story makes every confrontation riveting.
In terms of flaws, Clavell over uses (in my opinion) a narrative device of starting a scene or chapter by leaping ahead in the timeline of the novel, then having the character remember the events from the last scene or chapter up to the present moment. It becomes a bit annoying after a while; if it was used occasionally I might not have noticed but a majority of new scenes or chapters used this device and it created some narrative confusion for me. Additionally, there are some serious anachronisms that those who know the history of that period (remember, the year is 1600) will find amusing to annoying. These include flintlock muskets and pistols (in this period there were only matchlock muskets and most pistols were wheel locks), bayonets, and referring to Blackthorne's ship as a "frigate" (the frigate as a warship was an 18th century vessel; in 1600 the state-of-the art warship was the galleon. Blackthorne's ship, if it was Dutch, might have been a fluyt but not a frigate!). I was more amused by these things than annoyed and they didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. Lastly, the book is so long (1,150 pages) it does become a bit of a chore to finish. I always found myself absorbed once I started reading, but after a few days I kind of wanted to move on to another book and so getting started kind of took some effort. Some might not find the length a problem, but I did.
All in all, Shogun is an amazing novel and an absolute masterpiece. I'm amazed that Clavell was able to put this novel together in the way he did. It is entertaining, thought provoking, and provides a window into a historical culture that few books, history or fiction, provide. So at the end of the day, I would have to recommend this book that continues to persist in the Anglo-sphere’s culture as it is one of the greatest epics of the 20th century.
Don’t Miss Out On The Adventures of Salvatore Cartwright by D.W. Dixon
The story begins on May 3rd, 1850;
Salvatore Cartwright has never been content to stand still. A restless soul, he left his quiet life behind to chase the horizon aboard a clipper ship, searching for adventure on the high seas. But after years of charting new waters, the world has grown smaller, and the thrill of ocean life no longer quenches his thirst for the extraordinary. Now, Salvatore has set his sights on a new frontier: the skies. With airships emerging as the next marvel of the modern age, he is determined to sail higher than ever before, where the clouds hold mysteries untold and danger is only a gust of wind away. The seas may have taught him how to survive, but the skies will show him how to truly soar.
Salvatore Cartwright’s Journal:
Make sure to check Montag Publishing House’s community chat each Monday to read Salvatore Cartwright’s journal entries where his character is fleshed out and he talks about the previous chapter’s story.
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The Adventures of Salvatore Cartwright:
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Very nice! Have you seen either of the series? If so, how do they compare to the story in the book?