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Nurvingiel
The MSTer
Registered: 09-2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Reading and Books
Did James Clavell write "Shogun"? If you like that, maybe you'll also like "Musashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa. I love this book; it's one of my all-time favourites.
I haven't actually read Shogun, but that is neither here nor there.
I'm going to eventually start reading "An Unquiet Mind". I don't know the author, but maybe I will when I start reading it. Next on the list!
Last edited by Nurvingiel, 10/17/2005, 21:02
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10/17/2005, 21:02
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arcticwolf1
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Registered: 11-2004
Location: North-West Scania, Sweden
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Re: Reading and Books
quote:
Nurvingiel wrote:
Did James Clavell write "Shogun"? If you like that, maybe you'll also like "Musashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa. I love this book; it's one of my all-time favourites.
I haven't actually read Shogun, but that is neither here nor there.
Yes he did. He has also written these books:
King Rat (WWII-story, mostly about the fall of Singapore)
Taipan (Refers to the leader the company)
Whirlwind (about the Iranian 1979 revolution)
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Luminous Beings Are We, Not This Crude Matter
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10/17/2005, 21:38
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Seraphimlance
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Registered: 02-2005
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Re: Reading and Books
quote:
Nurvingiel wrote:
...maybe you'll also like "Musashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa. I love this book; it's one of my all-time favourites.
I think I may have read that one, but I have no memory for titles. What was the basic plot? That's how I remember books that I've read.
quote:
arcticwolf1 wrote:
Yes he did. He has also written these books:
King Rat (WWII-story, mostly about the fall of Singapore)
Taipan (Refers to the leader the company)
Whirlwind (about the Iranian 1979 revolution)
I've read his books placed in Japan. Those would be (Consults Google), WHAT!!!
He's dead!!!
No way!
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He worked on "The Fly"?
Well ,I've read Gai-Jin (Have it across the room, still borrowing it from my uncle), and loved, absoletly loved, Shogun.
I think I'm going to the library again tomorrow.
Last edited by Seraphimlance, 10/23/2005, 19:11
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Hope is the destination that we seek.
Love is the road that leads to hope.
Courage is the motor that drives us.
We travel out of darkness into faith.
------The Book of Counted Sorrows
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10/17/2005, 22:02
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Seraphimlance
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Re: Reading and Books
Yeah, I fixed it now. I accidently deleted the "[" at the front of one of the quotes.
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Hope is the destination that we seek.
Love is the road that leads to hope.
Courage is the motor that drives us.
We travel out of darkness into faith.
------The Book of Counted Sorrows
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10/23/2005, 19:14
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Nurvingiel
The MSTer
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Re: Reading and Books
No worries.
The basic plot of Musashi is this:
It starts at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 A.D. with Takezo and Matahatchi. These two young men have enlisted against Ieasu Tokugawa (IIRC), but their side loses, and all members of the army are declared traitors.
Takezo and Matahatchi are now running for their lives. They are given shelter by a young woman, Akemi, and her scheming mother. Akemi's mother makes her take valuables from the bodies of dead soldiers, and that's how they make a living.
Akemi falls in love with Takezo while the two men are staying with them, but he's not interested in her. He's preoccupied with getting back to their village, because Matahatchi is engaged to be married to a young woman called Otsu. Matahatchi, however, is more interested in staying with Akemi and her mother. Finally, Takezo goes home by himself, after Matahatchi's refusal to accompany him.
Now, Takezo is not a popular fellow back in the village. His father beats him, and Musashi bullies the other youths of the village. Everyone thinks he's a good-for-nothing ruffian, and now, he's also a fugitive of war. He tells Otsu's mother, a powerful matriarch called Osugi, that Matahatchi is alive but refused to return home. Osugi is convinced that her loyal son-in-law Matahatchi was led astray by Takezo. And she is pissed. She considers it quite a dishonour that her daughter was left like that, and plans to get revenge on Takezo. She considers Otsu and Matahatchi to be married anyway, and thinks of Matahatchi as her son-in-law.
She reports is whereabouts to Tokugawa's men, and sets up a situation where it would be easy for them to capture him. Takezo escapes, but barely, and hides out in the forest. Otsu is worried for her friend Takezo, so she goes to the monk Takuan Soho.
The two of them set out into the forest to find Takezo before Tokugawa's men do. Musashi eventually comes to them after three nights of searching, and Takuan tells him that he can save his life if he agrees to some terms.
Takezo, hungry and desparate, agrees. He's cruelly punished, but avoids being killed thanks to Takuan's intervention. Takuan takes responsibility for Takezo's life, and in return, Takezo studies in solitude at Himeji castle for three years.
After three years, Takezo is a changed man. He is no longer angry at the world and especially his father. He is polite, educated, and above all, determined to become the best swordsman in Japan. He takes the name Miyamoto Musashi and sets out to achieve his goal.
He travels around Japan to fight the most skilled people he can find, so that he can learn more and become the best swordsman.
Meanwhile, Osugi has been searching for him for the last three years and finally finds him. She is still mad and still wants revenge. Nothing will deter her from restoring her family's honour - it is her mission, along with her husband who is less hard core, to personally kill Musashi.
Matahatchi left Akemi and her mother after a while, and went to Edo to get a job (I think). What Osugi doesn't realize about her son-in-law is that he's actually a coward. Matahatchi gets in a great deal of trouble for pretending to be a samurai when he is not, and Musashi saves his old friend's life by chance when he is nearly put to death.
A huge amount of other stuff happens, all with the overarching plot that Musashi wants to learn to be the best swordsman in Japan.
Otsu falls in love with Musashi, and she follows him too. Musashi cares for Otsu, but only spends about two lines of the book thinking of her, because absolutely nothing is going to distract him from his goal. Otsu realizes this and seems content to follow him around Japan.
Musashi gets into a number of very serious and dangerous battles, where the odds were hugely stacked against him. He wins through sheer grit and a great deal of skill, and earns quite a reputation throughout Japan. Some people think he's a butcher, and others think he's the best swordsman. Musashi takes a lesson from every encounter he has. I skimmed a lot on the plot of the middle and end in case you haven't read it yet.
I love this book. That was all from memory, except I had to look up Osugi's name.
Last edited by Nurvingiel, 10/24/2005, 23:03
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10/24/2005, 22:58
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Seraphimlance
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Registered: 02-2005
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Re: Reading and Books
Sounds familiar, I've probably heard of it from a friend, but I don't think I've read it.
(Adds Musashi to his "To read" list)
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Hope is the destination that we seek.
Love is the road that leads to hope.
Courage is the motor that drives us.
We travel out of darkness into faith.
------The Book of Counted Sorrows
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10/24/2005, 23:06
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Nurvingiel
The MSTer
Registered: 09-2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Reading and Books
I should really read that book again, after "An Unquiet Mind", which I'm reading right now.
Also on my to read list is the fourth book in the Videssos Cycle, by Harry Turtledove "Swords of the Legion" (which I still need to obtain), "The Shipping News" by Amy Proloux, and the first four books in the Bandy series.
I wonder where Musashi will fit in.
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10/24/2005, 23:28
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Seraphimlance
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Re: Reading and Books
I ahve to read the nine bookd of the Death Gate cycle. And I have about 6-7 Terry Practhcet books waitning as well.
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Hope is the destination that we seek.
Love is the road that leads to hope.
Courage is the motor that drives us.
We travel out of darkness into faith.
------The Book of Counted Sorrows
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10/25/2005, 5:36
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