Tag Archives: Samurai

Shogun by James Clavell

31 Saturday Oct 2009

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It has taken me a long time to write this blog. Not that I haven’t tried a few times. I have. I’ve tried just about every day over the last two weeks. I just don’t know how to do justice to this book. Should I give an overview of the story? To do it right would take me thirty pages.
Should I give an overview of the characters? There are many, and each is fully realized with their own ambitions, strengths, and weaknesses. I couldn’t possibly do it right.

I think it comes down to this. I can either write a fifty page book report detailing out the story and my love for it. Or I can just try and tell you what I love about it, without really telling you what it’s about. I think I’m going to go that way. Let me give it a try now.

I love watching the discovery that takes place as the main character sheds his English prejudices and discovers the subtleties of the Japanese culture.

I thoroughly enjoy the depth and magnitude of the plans and treachery set in motion by the Japanese lords.

For a book without a lot of action scenes, I always feel like I’m on the edge of my seat. The possibility of death exists on every page.

The action scenes that are in the book are excellent. They aren’t overly detailed, which I often prefer, but you can’t beat samurai swords. You just can’t. And when the book tosses in a large scale ninja attack, I’m hooked.

I love learning about Japanese culture. The book goes deep into the Japanese code of Bushido, their religious views, and why life and death are so lightly regarded. It’s fascinating. It certainly has the ring of truth. If there are any Japanese readers of this book, how do you feel about it? Does it capture the milieu correctly? Does it still apply in some ways?

The love that blossoms between two of the main characters is artfully presented.

I love that I feel like I can speak Japanese when I finished with this book.

I love that I get so completely lost in the story and the setting that I have a hard time leaving it and not bringing it with me back into my world.

If there’s anything I don’t like, it’s the ignorant Dutchmen in this book that refuse to accept that the Japanese way is the only way to behave when in Japan. I don’t like it because my heritage is Dutch, and also because they are really annoying! I’m pretty sure they are supposed to be, so that goal was accomplished.

This is a book about discovery, survival, death, shame, joy and ambition. It is a book about watching rocks grow, wakarimasu, seppuku, kinjiru, samurai, daimayos, and a thousand other intricate details.

I’d be hard pressed to say there is any book I enjoy more.

I would recommend the rest of James Clavell’s Asian Saga. They are all very good, although none reach the heights that Shogun rests upon.

Rating: 5 out of 5  (What’s this?)

By the Sword by Richard Cohen

26 Thursday Mar 2009

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The subtitle of this book is A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers and Olympic Champions.  In the time honored tradition of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Cohen could have said Or How I’ll use a Couple of Interesting Chapters in Order to Make You Read a History of Fencing (citing the obscure reference).

This first few chapters of this book were really excellent.  Perhaps I should say that the Prologue was outstanding, and it slowly lost its momentum from there.  Cohen expertly describes one of his fencing meets. I was drawn in and brought the book home from the store.  I soon learned a bevy of interesting facts.

We shake hands to show that we are not reaching for our swords; a gentleman offers a lady his right arm because at one time his sword was at his left hip; a man’s coat buttons left over right, so that a duelist may unbutton it with his left, unarmed hand.

The culture of the sword, its history and evolution follow for the next few chapters.  My favorite was Chapter 7, Where the Soul is the Sword.  The history of the sword in Japan was explored and has always piqued my interest. Japan took it beyond honor, justice, and chivalry and made it a religion and way of life. 

Cohen does an admirable job of tracing the evolution of the sword.  He discusses the changes in technology, in use, in art, and in the settling of disputes through the years.  For the first two hundred pages, it is an expertly researched and written historical account of one of the oldest tools of war.  The change from historical novel to a book about fencing is subtle. As it begins to change, he draws you in to the history of sword play in movies.  For a while, it’s still interesting that it isn’t the sword we’re talking about, but rather what was being done with the sword outside of war and duels.  By the three hundred page mark, I was fully suspicious of what was going on.  I just didn’t care about the French school of fencing and how it differed from the Italians.  Or that the Hungarians became unbeatable in saber, but their top master was an Italian.  Fencing is interesting, but it should have been a chapter, not the second half of the book in my opinion.

I definitely recommend Part 1, From Egypt to Waterloo and Part 2, The Search for Perfection.  Part 3, The Duel’s High Noon and Part 4, Wounded Warriors were still pretty interesting. However, unless you are a true fencing aficionado, stop there.  Part 5, Great Powers, and Part 6, Faustian Pacts (cool name) are duds. I skipped through most of it.

Rating  2.5 out of 5 (Can I do that? I think I can, after all I made up the system.  A two star is wishing I’d given up at page 100. But I wish I had given up at page 300. I found parts of it pretty entertaining, which is close to a three….so 2.5. That just happened.)

By the way, I hope you like the new name of the blog.  Libzig may be a great site I built (shamless plug) for keeping track of your Library, but it doesn’t tell you much about the blog.  I think Judging a Book by its Cover is pretty appropriate.