Musashi

Eiji Yoshikawa (Translated by Charles S. Terry)

New York: Harper & Row, 1981 [1971]; Pages: 970

This is the epic novel that was responsible for me missing a two-days' worth of work. I could not put the book down despite having seen one of the adaptation and knowing the basic outline and the ending. Yoshikawa's narrative is so vivid and engaging that it manages to keep up the suspense despite my foreknowledge. I am ashamed to admit that even I turned several pages forward to find out if Otsu was really dead after her fateful meeting with Osugi, and that's knowing full well about the beach scene at the very end. And that was not the only place.

To say that this novel is superior to "Shogun" would give much too credit to Clavell's implausible work. Stylistically, they are very close: both fast-paced, involved, and highly entertaining. In terms of conveying what Japanese life was like during the beginning of the Tokugawa period, I think "Musashi" outperforms the other by a substantial margin. Everything to it has a distinct and truthful ring: from the incessant search for the Way of the Sword and its gradual transformation into a search for The Way, to the delicate love story, which is as beautiful as it is exasperating to a Western reader, to the bloody bouts, skirmishes, and battles; everything is convincing and quite successful in taking the reader to a time long gone.

I am somewhat of a sucker for this type of adventure, but the novel also has a deeper philosophical content. The transformation of Takezo into Musashi, and then of the fighting Musashi into the painting Musashi is profound and yet believable. It is because of his stoicism combined with vulnerability (even helplessness when it concerns Otsu), that his character and his journey are immensely pleasing and admirable. The single-minded devotion and uncommon strength of Otsu is another point of great attraction to me. One may feel somewhat dejected about the unhappy fates of Akemi or Matahachi, but even they in the end seem to find their Way. The novel brims with memorable characters, of whom Sekishusai is perhaps the most noteworthy. Although he does not occupy a center place in the plot and is mostly spoken about indirectly, the little that is revealed of him, is intriguing. And he is not the only one.

It is pointless to even attempt to summarize a work of such mammoth dimensions, one should simply read it. As engrossing as it is, I strongly warn you against taking it up in the middle of important business. Your other work will inevitably suffer. If, when you are done, you do not feel the urge to read more books on the same period, I will commit a mental seppuku for having misjudged people's interest so badly. In any case, don't forget to check out one of the best adaptations of the novel to the silver screen, the SAMURAI TRILOGY directed by Hiroshi Inagaki.

March 28, 2001. BLS

@BOOK{yoshikawa-71:musashi,
    TITLE     = {Musashi},
    AUTHOR    = {Eiji Yoshikawa},
    YEAR      = {1981 [1971]},
    PUBLISHER = {Harper & Row},
    ADDRESS   = {New York},
    ISBN      = {0-06-859851-3},
    NOTE      = {Pp. 970}
}