竜馬がゆく 一 by Ryōtarō Shiba

竜馬がゆく 一 Reviews

• 
  Caroline

  Delightful.
  
  No wonder this has sold over 24 million copies in Japan since the 1960s. (It was first published serially in newspapers.) Also that it’s been the basis of TV serials, movies and video games. Swashbuckling right left and center. Swordfights in every chapter (only a slight exaggeration). Beautiful girls in every other chapter. Some of them just as revolutionary as the men.
  
  But also an easy way to grasp the essence (and the details, if you’re so inclined) of the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate. History with sugar sprinkles on top--it goes down so easily.
  
  And yet the information sticks with you. I finally understand a lot more about Japanese geography and somewhat more about the levels of shogunate society. Ryotaro spent years on his research, so his rollicking hero frequently has to sit out for a few paragraphs while the author fills us in on the family and political position of a new character. These are succinct and gradually fill in the various interests and parties that Ryoma will move among in his efforts to restore imperial primacy, widen political participation, and strengthen Japan for a new role in the world.
  
  The two main factions are:
  
  1) the vast majority of the daimyo or regional rulers who owed their land and income to the Tokugawa who came to power in 1603. Some, as in the Tosa domain that Ryoma came from on Shikoku island, displaced former rulers who had supported the army defeated by the Tokugawa. They concurred with the Shogunate’s decision to cede during the 1850s to the demands of the US and other countries for more access to Japanese ports and trade, because they had a sense of the military weakness of the isolated country.
  
  2) the younger samurai, mostly from the secondary level of samurai scorned by the upper level, who had a romantic and mostly uninformed view of Japan’s situation, who resented their treatment and wanted to expel the outsiders by returning power to the Emperor and his advisors.
  
  Ryoma, by the end of this first of five volumes of the story, has come to a middle position. He wants to end the Shogunate, but also to open Japan to the West and take the best it offers. The value of the book is that you understand in more depth the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments and the players on both sides of the question.
  
  Ryoma himself is a most unusual hero. He could be described as lazy and uncouth, but also very original in his thinking. A very large man, he was a legendary sword fighter. This first volume develops his character, kendo training, and the background of his naval knowledge, because later he went on to build a major naval force for Japan. It also contrasts his approach to conflict, which is to use his charm to defuse tense situations and find solutions, to the combative stance of many of the other major players in the drama to come.
  
  I will admit that the Japanese names are a stumbling block. But persist. The important ones recur. And, because Ryotaro was writing newspaper columns, he often reintroduces a character we haven’t seen in a while to refresh your memory. There is a short glossary in the back of the book.
  
  Two comments: at present this is only available as a Kindle book. Presumably as part of Amazon’s commitment to more translation. I commend them on this one. I hope they are going to bring out the whole series.
  
  Two, if you can find it at the library or on line, there is a book that helped me stay afloat:Biographical Dictionary of Japanese History, by Seiichi Iwao and translated by Burton Watson, published by Kodansha International Limited. Many of the characters in Ryoma have entries, or are identified in the thumbnail biographies of those who do have entries. (Comprehensive index) This covers all of Japanese history, so no matter what period you’re reading about in the future, this will be a useful reference.
• 
  Ming Wei

  A masterclass of a book.
• 
  Koit

  I have been a fan of the writings of Mr Shiba for nearly a decade now -- and I was overjoyed when I saw that yet another of his books had been translated into English (or, well, the first volume of one of his books...). That was the beginning of my story of reading 'Ryoma!', the first volume of which details the early years of a figure who was to feature very strongly in the politics of 1860's -- the end of the first volume sees the reader through to that decade in a very colourful description of Sakamoto Ryoma's formative years.
  
  The first item to note is that Mr Shiba's writings very clearly show his journalistic origins. The style is short and to the point; descriptions of past events detail everything one could hope to know. This story, however, is occasionally enlivened by a digression into the life or doings of a character we come across. No doubt the Japanese reader finds some of these more interesting, especially as many of the folks that walk past us in the story ended up serving as various cabinet ministers, but there is something for everyone in these little tidbits. One of my favourite tangents in this volume was the story of the founder of the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, Iwasaki Yataro and his inspiration for going into business.
  
  The other part that is thrilling to note is the thorough background that we are provided for the whole of Japan in that time. No doubt even in the 1960's when Mr Shiba was writing in his native land knowledge of a century ago was not sufficient to jump into that time and place without an introduction. For a reader even further apart in space and time, these descriptions of every aspect of life make this into a beautiful story that is yet self-contained. 
  
  The last part which I adore about the author's style has to do with the first point I raised -- the journalistic quality also forced Mr Shiba to devote some time to understanding the basic principles of life. Though in the words of Akiyama Saneyuki -- another of the important 19th century people Mr Shiba brought to life in his works --  all principles need to be worked out by people on their own, the thrilling summations that Mr Shiba peppers the text with give the work a philosophical quality that should not be underestimated. 
  
  Go on and read this!
  
  
  This review was originally posted on my blog.
• 
  Stefan Andrei

  What a wonderful read this is, given that it has only been translated recently I hope it gets the worldwide attention it deserves. It has been a huge success in Japan, selling over 24 million copies there alone, with numerous movie, tv series and manga adaptions and even being the basis of a video game (Yakuza Ishin).
  
  It has everything you would want in a good novel. I would have expected it to be a lot slower paced given that its historical literature but I was in for a surprise. It is set in the tumultuous Meiji Restoration period, a time of great upheaval in Japan, it features rich historical accounts (the author takes time to thoroughly explain the history & destiny of each character, and there are many), romance, coming-of-age antics, samurai fights, intrigue, drama, humor, and an incredibly inspiring main character: Sakamoto Ryoma.
  
  It read a lot like
  Shōgun and
  Musashi. Highly recommend this and I look forward to the 2nd volume.
• 
  Angel 一匹狼

  It is not that this first volume of "竜馬がゆく" is bad, it is that Shiba tries to fit so much into it (vengeance, the 'black ships', samurai training, fights, spying, chance encounters...) that the story feels all over the place. Compared with some of his other books there is no clear focus even if Ryuma is front and center all throughout its pages. However, all the historical explanations, the need to dedicate two, three or four pages to give a historical context to a more or less random encounter, stops the action and makes the book overstuffed. I felt that, for a first volume, it felt as if Shiba couldn't cut anything he had written out as if afraid he wouldn't be able to continue with the series.
  
  And there are eight volumes. Eight!
  
  PS: I can't get into the 'truth' behind the story (I know there are a lot of famous figures appearing here, like Ryuma, but I don't know how much Shiba is following known facts and how much is he embellishing them.
  
  The best: the world it is set in
  
  The worst: too many things going on; does it reek of nationalism?
  
  Alternatives: other Shiba samurai books are more fun than this, in my opinion
  
  5.5/10
  
  (Japanese, original)
• 
  Masatoshi Nishimura

  It is a great historical book combined with novel style writing. Shiba Ryotaro did a great job building up Ryoma character while telling the reader the chaotic environment all Japanese people faced during the era of Western arrivals.
• 
  Ad

  As I prefer the Genji Monogatari to the Heike Monogatari and the courtly Heian period to the savage age of the samurai that followed it, I also have never been very enthusiastic about the Bakumatsu period, the violent last years of the Tokugawa Shogunate which lasted from the arrival of Perry's Black Ships in 1853 to the end of the regime in 1868. Moreover, this was a period of extreme nationalism (another phenomenon I despise) and anti-Western hatred - it was a dangerous time to be in Japan as several murders of Westerners demonstrate. I also was not so enthusiastic about Sakamoto Ryoma, for I had read the study by Marius Jansen (
  Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration) which shows him to have been a bit player and someone in the background rather than a leader.
  
  But now I have read the first part of the translation of Shiba Ryotaro's huge novel Ryoma! and I have changed my mind. In the first place, Shiba has deeply studied this period and his facts are all correct. He is also a great author who knows how to bring this period to life by a judicious addition of fiction. There is a lot of history in his novel (so much, that In the U.S. it could be classified as "non-fiction" - American non-fiction, about for example books about WWII, often has a much larger addition of fictional elements, such as showing us what leaders were thinking etc). There are also authorial intrusions, but I like that, it has something post-modern about it.
  
  Another thing I learned from this novel is the feeling for the period in which is is set, and how large the transformation of Japan from a feudal to a modern society was. For example, in the Edo period Japan was divided into more than 200 feudal domains (besides some territory governed directly by the shogunate), the personal property of the daimyo, who were vassals of the Tokugawa Shogun - and for the inhabitants of those domains, these were almost like modern countries which defined their identity. Rules were different between different domains, and culture was also different, but one thing all had in common: the almost absolute power of the domain lord, the daimyo. From this situation it was a huge step to the creation of one, undivided modern nation...
  
  Shiba Ryotaro (1923-1996) started writing historical novels after World War II. The pen name "Shiba" he selected is suggestive: it is the name of the famous Chinese historian Sima Qian, who lived 2,000 years ago. Shiba won the prestigious Naoki Prize for his 1959 novel, Fukuro no Shiro (Owl Castle). Better known are his long novels Ryoma ga Yuku ("Ryoma!"), about the life of Sakamoto Ryoma, and Sakanoue no Kumo (
  Clouds Above the Hill: A Historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War, Volume 1), another novel about the turbulent times around the end of the shogunate and beginning of modern Japan. Another series that won him fame were his travel essays, 1,146 installments in all, printed first in the Shukan Asahi magazine and then issued as a series of books called Kaido wo Yuku (“Going along the Highways”). These were also made into a documentary series by NHK. In fact, many of Shiba's 500 books were filmed or made into TV dramas, especially the NHK historical “Taiga” dramas broadcast on Sunday evening. Even in his novels, many parts read like essays - the story leans on the historical sources and Shiba's interpretation of them.
  
  Ryoma!, arguably Shiba's greatest novel, was serialized from 1962 to 1966 in the national newspaper Sankei Shinbun, and tells the epic life of Sakamoto Ryoma - a low ranking samurai of the Tosa domain (now Kochi Prefecture). Shiba depicts the life of Sakamoto Ryoma against the background of historical events as the 1866 formation of a military alliance between the two powerful domains, Satsuma and Choshu, which led to the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the formation of the new Meiji government the next year.
  
  But more than that, Ryoma! is a riveting and vivid story about the life of a brilliant young man in turbulent times. Sakamoto Ryoma starts life as an apolitical, low-ranking samurai from the countryside, who is only interested in improving his sword fighting skills in Edo - until he gradually realizes that Japan was almost powerless in the face of the technology and well-developed industry of the Western powers, and that it was his duty to help it adopt elements of Western culture to develop into a strong country. Ryoma has been heavily romanticized in Japanese popular culture, something which was helped by the fact that he died a tragic death at a very young age: in 1867 he was assassinated in Kyoto. Although now considered as a romantic hero and great leader, Sakamoto Ryoma was not well known in Japan prior to the publication of Shiba's novel, which became a great bestseller and sold 24 million copies.
  
  The excellent translation (by Paul McCarthy and Juliet Winters Carpenter, with Phyllis Birnbaum as editor) is prefaced by a historical introduction by Henry D. Smith II.
  
  Also read my website about Japanese culture at
  https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/
• 
  TG Lin

  沒想到在廿年前（1997）就有這個十分精緻的「萬象」中譯版本，有書前的照片彩頁與書中的附圖。後來在 2000 年附近這個譯版又有「成陽」重出……
• 
  Henry

  8.5/10
• 
  Borislav Itskov

  Great for learning history and having a laugh.
• 
  Richard

  Although there are now plans to release this and subsequent volumes in hard copy, currently Ryoma! is available only in a Kindle version. One quirk of an older Kindle is that there is no option to tap on the bottom of the screen to change the "percentage" display to "page number" or "minutes left in the chapter." Reading progress is marked solely by percentage. So, if you're in that position, be sure that you have the determination to get through to 8% when the extra-lengthy introduction by a scholar on Japanese history ends and the fun begins. (I suppose it could be skipped and returned to, though it does turn out to be useful for understanding the historical framework.)
  
  Getting through the scholarly introduction and allowing the explanation of the different levels of "goshi" to sink in really does make the entire rest of the book a breeze -- not at all onerous, as you might imagine if you never thought of yourself as a reader of historical fiction, as in my case. Now I look forward to reading the rest. As of this writing, the second in the series is out on Kindle, while the rest is still being translated into English.
  
  I am thankful to Juliet Winters Carpenter for giving a talk in Kyoto in October 2018 on this team project to translate this book. The team consists of the best literary translators working with a top editor in the business. Knowing that, the reader can relax and have confidence that well-considered choices have been made to convey the original Japanese text in a way that both stimulates the imagination and supports us with just the right amount of background knowledge to help us glide forward through the story.
  
  I am waiting with sword in sheath to learn about the Meiji Restoration through Ryoma the man by Shiba Ryotaro the writer and the awesome team translating the series!
• 
  Kiyoshi Sakata

  竜馬の生き方はかっこいいです
  司馬遼太郎
• 
  MameYakko

  It's a shame that most of Ryotaro Shiba's works are not translated into English.
  This is one of my favorite novels.
• 
  Ian Josh

  Wonderful beginning to an epic story.
  
  For a full review check out the Writer In Kyoto website.