| SHŌGUN: A Novel of Japan James Clavell New York: Dell, November 1986 (© 1975 James Clavell) |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-0-440-17800-2 | ||||
| ISBN 0-440-17800-2 | 1152pp. | SC | $7.99 | |
It started with William Adams, an English navigator who served under Francis Drake. After service against the Spanish Armada in 1588 and a voyage to the Arctic in search of a northeast passage above Siberia, he signed on as master pilot with a five-ship fleet dispatched to the Far East by a company of Netherlands merchants.
Adams set sail from Rotterdam in June 1598 aboard the Hoop ("hope") but later transferred to the De Leifde ("love" or "charity"), as second in command under Simon de Cordes. The De Liefde had originally been named Erasmus; she was renamed to accord with the Catholic underwriting of the fleet. Only the De Liefde survived to reach Japan, arriving at Kyushu in April in the year of Adams's Lord 1600. The De Liefde's crew was much reduced in number, and those remaining were sick — mainly of scurvy, after 19 months without landfall. The other ships had either sunk or been captured.
Ieyasu was protector of the son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the late Taikō, and became Shōgun after a great battle at Sekigahara.
From the novel:
The village was neat in the lowering sun, the Anjin-san still at his table, samurai training, smoke rising from the cooking fires. Acoss the bay, twenty ri or so, was Yedo. Forty ri southeast was Anjiro. Two hundred and ninety ri westward was Osaka and north from there, barely thirty ri, was Kyoto. "That's where the main battle should be," he thought. "Near the capital. Northward, up around Gifu or Ogaki or Hashima, astride the Nakasendō, the Great North Road. Perhaps where the road turns south for the capital, near the little village of Sekigahara in the mountains. Somewhere there. Oh, I'd be safe for years behind my mountains, but this is the chance I've waited for; Ishido's jugular is unprotected." – Page 1151 |
The De Liefde, rotting and unrepairable, sank in Edo harbor, but Adams and his crewmates taught the Japanese how to build western-style ships. This was greatly opposed by the Portuguese, whose Jesuit priests had great influence over the daimyos,1 or warlords. He became a favorite of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who refused their request to kill Adams. Like Blackthorne, he was given swords and became samurai; unlike Blackthorne, he was permitted to sail the Pacific on trade missions. However, he never returned home to his wife in England. He died in Japan at age 55.
Shogun seamlessly interweaves vivid characters and complex intrigues with the real history of the medieval world. It is truly a riveting novel, as irresistible as the New York Times Book Review says. It is a genuine tour de force, presenting a panoply of vividly drawn characters and incandescent battle scenes — 264 scheming daimyos (warlords) and other nobility emmeshed in interlocking intrigues that they hope will gain them riches, or power, or honor. These conflicts are set against the panorama of medieval Japanese culture with its confusing customs and exquisite scenery. The feudal rulers of Japan at this time (circa A.D. 1600) do not understand the power of the Catholic faith, or know that its Pope has partitioned the globe between Spain and Portugal in order to end their disputes. As a result of this politically-motivated division, Portugal has obtained Papally authorized jurisdiction over Japan, in order that its priests may spread the word of God to the heathen — a fact that does not please its contending daimyos, once they learn of it from John Blackthorne, the shipwrecked English pilot of the Dutch caravelle Erasmus.
Gomen nasai, nipon go ga hanase-masen. Tsuyaku ga imasu ka? |
In fact, despite its length2 and a smattering of Japanese phrases, Shogun is as irresistible as the New York Times claims. It was the basis of one of the first miniseries to be televised. (That form began with the 1976 broadcast of Rich Man, Poor Man,3 based on Irwin Shaw's 1970 novel, and was followed by Arthur Haley's Roots.) Shogun's miniseries aired in September 1980.4
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.