Japanese Historical Fiction

I'm working out my book list for 2007, and wanted to start on Japanese Historical Fiction. While many authors were listed in our main message thread it's a bit overwhelming to choose from. So I started this topic for discussion of Japanese Historical Fiction. So give me your opinions, about which author & book to start with, and where to go from there for someone hasn't read ANY. And we'll keep this thread open for the general discussion of this topic.

that sounds VERY interesting, Opinicus....:-)

Well, my introduction to Japanese historical fiction was/is Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki. (I'm not sure I even have any more historical fiction from Japan.) I read an abridged copy of this -- it was only 190 pages. The one on my Amazon wish list is 1118 pages.

I really liked Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. I heard it described as "Japan's Gone With the Wind" and it did not disappoint.

-G.

Wow, I don't think anyone has mentioned that author in the group before. Japan's Gone with the Wind, eh? THAT sounds interesting!

I think Eiji Yoshilawa's TAIKO may be the volume best described as Japan's GWTW. One of my favorite volumes, it describes the struggles of the leaders of Japanese uniifcation in the 1500s: Oda Nobunga, Hideyoshi & Ieyasu Tokogawa. I find it superior to MUSASHI. Highly recommended...

I have the full Tale of Genji, though with that one I highly doubt I'll finish it anytime soon.

Thanks for the recommendations for Taiko and Musashi - getting Taiko as soon as I can get my hands on it, am so obsessed with the Sengoku period.

Have you read THE GINGER TREE by Oswald Wynd?

I absolutely loved The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd...great read. What is something like it that I can read next?

I would have to agree that Musashi is a good place to start. While I haven't read Taiko I have generally heard that Mushashi is somewhat better. Another favorite is An Artist of the Floating World by Ishiguro. Also by Ishiguro is When We Were Orphans which takes place in Shanghai but concerns the Japanese invasion of China.

Laura Joh Rowland, I. J. Parker and Dale Furutani all have excellent historical mystery fiction series (the Furutani is amazing; hopefully you can find it because it's out of print). There's also a book called Cloud of Sparrows, and if you are looking for something different try Across the Nightingale Floor. It's an alternative ancient Japan with elements of the fantastic.

Although not written by a Japanese author, Shogun by James Clavell and other works by Clavell are among my favorites of Japanese historical fiction. I find his books to be very well written, and they're deliciously long - I hate a book that ends too quickly.

I also read The Tale of Genji or Genji Monogatari in the Royall Tyler translation. The translations do vary quite a bit from one to another. I can also recommend it but it does take some patience and doesn't have the pace of Musashi. I found that The World of the Shining Prince by Ivan Morris was a good accompaniment to Genji.

Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner is another good book set in Japan.

Some of the books I have:

The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby
Genpei by Kara Dalkey

The whole Lian Hearn series Tales of the Otori

Across the Nightingale Floor
Grass For His Pillow
Brilliance of the Moon
The Harsh Cry of the Heron

Cloud of Sparrows and Autumn Bridge by Takashi Matsuoka
Daimyo by William Morell
Tokaido by Lucia St. Clair Robson

The Laura Joh Rowland Sano Ichiro series

Shinju
Bundori
The Way of the Traitor
The Concubine's Tattoo
The Samurai's Wife
Black Lotus
The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria
The Dragon King's Palace
The Perfumed Sleeve
Assassin's Touch

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

I am still tracking down the rest of the books in this series:
The Fall of the Shogun by Dov Silverman
Tairo by Dov Silverman

The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd
Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon by Ivan Morris
The Pillow Boy of the Lady Onogoro by Alison Fell

Blue Bamboo by Osamu Dazai (Short Stories)

Two novels set in Heian Japan that I loved were The tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby and The Book of Loss by Julith Jedamus. Both cover similar territory as they are fictional diaries of court ladies but the styles are quite different. Murasaki is a lot meatier and includes a lot of japanese poems with very thorough explanations on their double meanings. The Book of Loss centres more on the rivalry between two women and their love lives.

A beautiful diary worth reading is The Gossamer Years Its the real life diary of a japanese noble woman and I found it very touching in places. It focuses on the relationship with her husband who has more than one wife. There are a few infuriating unfinished bits where the text has been obscured though.

A book I haven't read but one thats been highly recommended and turned into a oscar winning film is The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Not actually about japan but written by a japanese author and has an historical setting so don't know if that counts!

Oh yes of course Arthur Golden Memoirs of a geisha took me a while to get into it but after the first few chapters I was hooked. I know its a cliche but its much better than the film!

I'd recommend checking out "Kokoro" by Natsume Soseki and "The Waiting Years" by Fumiko Enchi. The former is set in pre-War Japan and follows the life of two men during the country's transition to modernity, while the latter deals with the plight of several women in a family in WWII-era Japan. The English translations of both are surprisingly good.

They may or may not be "true" historical fiction (in that they were both written around the same time period as the events they describe, not after the fact), but they offer great insights into Japanese society in the early- and mid-twentieth century. Plus, they're excellent stories in their own right.

Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe: a post-WWII novel about a group of schoolkids coming to grips with Japan's defeat, the realization that the Emperor is not a god but a flawed man, and the villagers' rejection of the kids. His other novels, though not necessarily historical fiction, are also wonderful.

Just added Nip the buds, shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe to my library because of LT.

I can heartily reccomend Memoirs of the Warrior Kumagai by Donald Richie

He takes one of the famous incidents of the Gempei Wars and tells the story from the point of view of an old Samurai, now retired to a monastery who found himself caught up in events swept up as a legend was created around him that bore little resemblance to what really happened.

Cheers

Hi!

I recommend
1)Awa Maru- Titanic of Japan
2) Butterfly In the Wind
3) Aum Shinrikyo-Japan's Unholy Sect

by Rei Kimura available on www.amazon.com

For those who read Kindle or e books the following are very gripping books
1) Japanese Magnolia
2)Japanese Rose
3)Like A Willow Tree
4)A Note From ichiyo
5)Japanese Orchid

also by Rei Kimura

available on www.amazon.com or www.bangkokbooks.com

Junichiro Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters is an excellent evocation of pre-war Japanese society and the changes wrought by the Pacific War, as experienced by one Japanese family.