Wally Walrus Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I have just finished James Clavell's Shogun and some hours of wikipedia research. It's kinda big book but I read it very fast because it appealed to me. That's all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Arcadius Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Of course you may and perhaps I will check it out, when I find some time to read one. What's the story behind it? The reason that I'm asking is becaused there was a TV-series in the '80s, by that name, starring Chamberlain, which was about the visiting of an western-man in the old-times Japan, which was based on a book if I'm not mistaken. Any relevance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillybilly Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 that mini-series is based on the book. i liked the mini-series, but have never read the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vourot Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 The book is great. You will be speaking "Shogunese" when you finish it. "King Rat" by the same author is also very,very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverside Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Then read Tai-Pan and Gai-jin by the same author. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanMan Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Shogun is a great book! You may want to try out the Saxon series by Bernard Cornwell, http://www.bernardcornwell.net/index2.cfm?page=1&seriesid=10 I've read the first three so far, and found them riveting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 To gain a bit more insight into Shogun, read Hagakure and Go Rin No Sho. Both are short. Also, at roughly this same time period there was a Dutch seaman stranded in Korea who achieved a rather lower class "adoption" into the society due to his western skills. But never, no way, would he have been accepted in the way this book portrays the Japanese as relatively accepting of a seaman into their higher classes. It's been suggested, btw, that after the wars portrayed in Shogun, the Japanese invaded Korea - and some suggest that was to get large armies both busy and out of reach of starting another civil war. The Shogunate lasted until Meiji. Bernard Cornwell is, I think, somewhat more read in the UK and more Brit-oriented ex colonies than in the US, but the stuff is really rather well done, including the class-ism found in the military of the era. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 The book is great. You will be speaking "Shogunese" when you finish it. "King Rat" by the same author is also very' date='very good.[/quote'] That is so true. I read it several years ago and found my self "thinking" in the same language as the book. Same thing with Rob Roy by Walter Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wally Walrus Posted November 27, 2009 Author Share Posted November 27, 2009 Wow... I wasn't expecting any reply on this thread. Well, not only the TV-series were based on the book but also the book was mostly inspired in the life of a real person named William Adams. How suprised I was to see that most character in the book had real-life counterparts. I could say astonished. I would never have imagined that such a heroic story would be even far from possible. But it kinda happened. As Milod stated, the book portraits an english pilot under service of the Netherlands that arrived in japan during the shogunate period. Soon after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the great unifier of Japan. But, to be honest the book is not about the main character, because - the whay I see it - the focus here is the Japanese society, culture and history. I remember that when I read Musashi for the first time the book introduction was bold to say that was a book about Japan written by a japanese and that unlike Shogun it was far more interesting and accurate. Today, after reading both books, I really don't think that. Both books are great and surely Musashi had a greater impact on my life but Musashi is a story about the main character while Shogun really infused me with a much more complex understanding of the japanese culture. As to Tai-pan my ex-girlfriend gave it to me a long time ago but I never really read it. Maybe in the next days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Wally... If you have interest in Musashi, he is author of Go Rin No Sho - the book of five rings. Hagakure has been suggested to be the handbook for samurai. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 The Art of War... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Demoon... again... which "Art of War?" Sun Tzu or Jomini, just to mention two? m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Demoon... again... which "Art of War?" Sun Tzu or Jomini' date=' just to mention two? m [/quote'] Sun Tzu! Theres a 2nd one? Hmm ill have to check that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Dem.... A number of writers through the years have written books that might be considered to have as a title "the art of war." Jomini has much interesting to say, as do Clausewitz, both writers of the same period - although Jomini outlived C. Jomini was quite popular in the mid 19th century and might be said to have been part of the study of the better officers of the American "second civil war" of the 1860s. Anyone interested in the subject also should read Vegetius. Go Rin No Sho is one that used to be read by a lotta karate guys through the years as well as students of traditional Japanese swordsmanship. It's also been used as a basis for business concepts. De Saxe is something of an important writer on the subject as well. A study of the campaigns and innovations of Gustavus Adolphus might also be of some interest. In more modern times Basil Liddle Hart's and J.F.C. Fuller's stuff is along similar lines. Regardless, one might question whether tactics or larger strategy is involved. One criticism of Jomini by supporters of Clausewitz' writings is that Clausewitz eyed strategy, Jomini tactics. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.