9 Japan – "The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan" – Yasushi Inoue, March 2014 (Score 7.88)

This book is set in the time of the Warring States in Japan, and tells the true story of an early stage in the eventual unification of the country. The banner of “the title shows the four Japanese Kanji for “wind” (fu), “forest“ (rin), “fire” (ka) and “mountain” (san). The last two, read together, can be “kazan” or “volcano” (fire-mountain).

 The protagonist, Yamamoto Kansuke, is a ronin, or masterless samurai. Ronin means “Man of the waves”. Eighteen months after the story opens, Kansuke receives an invitation from the Takeda clan to enter their service. The head of the Takeda is Harunobu who, as a method of honouring Kansuke, gives him the additional name of Hariyuki (part of Harunobu’s name) to add to his (Kansuke’s) own name. This was a common practice.

 Warriors, and other people, frequently changed their names at various stages of their lives, or when great things happened to them. Harunobu became Takeda Shingen. Kansuke became Doki when he became a priest along with Harunobu.

 After the construction of Kaizu castle opposite the future battlefield of Kawanakajima (the island in the middle of the river) Shingen suggested that it should be used for a tsukimi, or moon-viewing, platform. Moon viewing is an integral part of Japanese culture, along with cherry blossom viewing in spring, and maple leaf viewing in autumn. These traditions are very much alive in Japan.

Before the final battle, when Kansuke was in the mist, he was approached by a horseman who called out “Fu”. Kansuke answered “Zan”. These passwords are the first and last syllables of the samurai banner of Shingen. Kansuke died in the battle in which Shingen was triumphant. Takeda Shingen died later in 1573, without achieving his dream of uniting Japan. Takeda Katsuyori, Shingen’s son, became clan leader and committed seppuku when he was betrayed in battle against Oda Nobunaga.

 Nobunaga’s ally, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, continued the dream which was finally realised in 1600 by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan in peace until the attack by the American navy, aided by the British and French, in 1868.

 There is a Japanese saying –

 Nobunaga mixed the dough,

Hideyoshi baked the cake,

Ieyasu ate it.

 Because this story stuck so closely to the history of the time, and dealt well with various aspects of the associated Japanese customs, I scored it at 8.0.