Musaşi Lordu’nun Gizli Yaşamı

by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Ebru Sarıkaya (Translator)

“Musaşi Lordu iç savaş döneminde doğmuştu. Hem bilgeydi hem de lider ruhlu bir adamdı. Çağının en güçlü ve en acımasız savaşçısıydı. Ancak anlatılanlara göre aynı zamanda sadistti ve sapkın cinsel arzuları vardı…”

20. yüzyıl Japon edebiyatının devlerinden, büyük eserlerin yaratıcısı Cuniçiro Tanizaki, kariyeri boyunca ülkesinde döneminin en büyük yazarı olarak kabul gördü, daha sonra ise Haruki Murakami, Yasunari Kavabata ve Yukio Mişima’yla birlikte savaş sonrası Japon edebiyatının “büyük dörtlü”sünden biri olarak anıldı. Eserlerinde kadın erkek ilişkilerini, erotizmi ve saplantıları cesurca işleyen Tanizaki, Musaşi Lordu’nun Gizli Yaşamı’nda sapkın bir lordun hayatını tarihi roman biçiminde kaleme alıyor.

Musaşi Lordu’nun on iki yaşındaki oğlu Hoşimaru rehin tutulduğu Ocika Kalesi saldırıya uğradığında kanlı mücadelelere ve vahşi ölümlere tanık olur. Gördükleri karşısında büyülenen Hoşimaru yıllar geçtikçe efsanevi bir samuraya dönüşse de ölüme dair fanteziler ile sadomazoşizme düşkün hâle gelir ve kendisini benzer arzuların peşinde koşan bir kadınla tehlikeli bir ilişki içinde bulur.

Genres: Japan, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Classics, Historical Fiction, Short Stories, Literature

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (谷崎 潤一郎) was a Japanese author, and one of the major writers of modern Japanese literature, perhaps the most popular Japanese novelist after Natsume Sōseki.

Some of his works present a rather shocking world of sexuality and destructive erotic obsessions; others, less sensational, subtly portray the dynamics of family life in the context of the rapid changes in 20th-century Japanese society.

Frequently his stories are narrated in the context of a search for cultural identity in which constructions of "the West" and "Japanese tradition" are juxtaposed. The results are complex, ironic, demure, and provocative.

Reviews

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 2 out of 5]

E de 3, 5 steluțe, cred. Dar este sub Însemnările unui bătrîn nebun - care ar fi, în opinia mea, de 4 steluțe sau chiar de 5.

Voi începe cu un citat pentru iubitorii de înțelepciune:

„Judecînd după purtarea seniorului din Musashi, am înțeles că în lumea aceasta oamenii nu sînt nici buni, nici răi, nici măreți și nici neînsemnați. Cei mari sînt cîteodată nenorociți, iar cei viteji pot fi uneori slabi. Cel care ieri a ucis o sută de dușmani pe cîmpul de luptă trăiește azi în casa lui, biciuit de diavolii iadului; cea mai fermecătoare femeie poate deveni un demon mîncător de oameni...” (pp.5-6).

Seniorul se numește Terukatsu, femeia-demon e doamna Kikyō. Sînt din clanuri adverse. Se iubesc o vreme (îi unește interesul), după care se despart definitiv, din pricina unui Nas. Da, a unui Nas gogolian! Acțiunea se petrece pe la 1550, să zicem, cînd clanurile se luptă între ele pentru pămînt și prestigiu. Totul se rotește, în realitate, în jurul unui nas (tăiat). Asta mi-a amintit de povestirea lui Gogol.

Naratorul spune mereu că seniorul Terukatsu e un psihopat odios (în Japonia medievală, cam toți samuraii aveau nervii slabi), dar portretul „nebunului” nu este întru totul convingător. Au fost în literatură nebuni cu mult mai nebuni decît Terukatsu. Totul rămîne la aluziile cronicarului (care se sfiește să povestească direct), aluzii din care nu putem decide adevărata stare mintală a protagonistului. Curajul nesăbuit și istețimea lui ni-l fac mai degrabă simpatic. În fine, Terukatsu nu e, totuși, Ivan cel Groaznic.

Probabil că prozatorul nu vorbește întru totul serios, bănuiesc că pasajul următor e ironic. Dar cine poate ști cînd e serios un prozator japonez și cînd nu? Deci:

„[Prințesa Kikyō] spunea că la vederea nasurilor pline de satisfacție de pe fața socrului și a soțului său inima i se umplea de milă pentru tatăl ei. Probabil că se înfuria dacă vedea un nas pe orice față. Chiar faptul că ea însăși avea nas trebuie să‑i fi zgîndărit rana încontinuu. Se prea poate să fi crezut că nefericirea tatălui ei putea fi alinată numai dacă nici un om de pe pămînt n-ar mai fi avut nas” (p.117). Ce pățise tatăl ei? Fusese ucis și criminalul (de 13 ani) îi tăiase nasul ca trofeu. În consecință, prințesa își propune să-l lase fără nas pe însuși soțul și stăpînul ei, numitul Norishige, un bărbat iubitor de poezie și cam apatic.

V-am spus că totul se petrece în jurul unui nas (nu la fel de ascuțit ca al Cleopatrei sau detectivilor), toată lumea pare obsedată de prezența / absența lui.

[Bob Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rate the first story as a 3, the second as a 4, so it should be overall, a 3.5 level book.

1) The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi
Severed Schnozz Sexually Stimulates Samurai Stripling!

While strange obsessions and weird behavior are not strangers in fiction around the world, somehow I have a feeling that they loom slightly larger in Japan. Tanizaki himself wrote “The Key” and “Diary of a Mad Old Man” and his compatriot Kawabata Yasunari wrote a creepy story called “The House of the Sleeping Beauties”. Several novels by Mishima diverge from “normal” behavior substantially and I’m not talking about homosexuality. So, I’m not overly surprised to find this possibly tongue-in-cheek piece, set in 16th century Japan in a period of clan warfare. Terukatsu, a teenage samurai in the making, sees a pretty girl cleaning and grooming heads of dead warriors taken in battle. One of them lacks a nose. Somehow the scene and his sexual arousal get joined and he’s forever trapped in a bizarre desire to duplicate that scene. The young samurai rushes off, penetrates the enemy siege lines and kills a general, slicing off his nose; Terukatsu’s morbid lusts and a Lady Kikyō’s wish for revenge spark a series of events. Some involve secret tunnels and hideouts in a castle latrine, not to mention noses kept in brocade bags. A live man is turned into a model for the treatment of chopped off heads. The novel traces the step-by-step mutilation of hapless lord Norishige’s ears, nose, mouth and teeth by unknown attackers. What else could we throw in here? I’m afraid I did not thrill with excitement to this strange story, rather I wondered why the author wished to create such a tale. But I did conclude that Norishige definitely lost face.

2) Arrowroot
A Country Tour in Search of Memory

This short tale couldn’t be more different from the first one. It is a quiet story of a search for old family ties and knowledge of his mother’s past by Tsumura, a friend of the author. It involves walking into the mountainous back country of central Honshu in the early Taisho era (around 1912) when road and rail transport did not exist. Links are made with Japanese history, with fox spirits, and with the landscape. It is always difficult to trace one’s own family back into the past. Even though their lives were anything but controversial, facts blur and memories fade. Different people develop different narratives over the years and the same person might be perceived differently by various relatives. People don’t record events, nothing remains but faint traces and vague dreams. You still want to know, but such knowledge is tenuous; there are no real facts available. If there is anything unconventional about a person, the descendants are often reluctant to discuss it. Yet, the expeditions into the remote rural region by the author and his friend Tsumura uncovered certain facts and wound up in a marriage. And you, the reader, wind up with a quiet tale of a vanished Japan which ends on an understated note saying that although the author hoped to write a historical novel about all this, it never happened. A gem by Tanizaki, whose talents rose far above samurai nose fetishes and swordplay antics, in my opinion.

[Ben Winch · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second big discovery in Japanese writing (after the short stories of Masuji Ibuse) was The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi, a lesser-known novel by this well-known author. If you've read much Tanizaki then you won't be surprised to hear there's a psycho-sexual element here, but nowhere else (that I'm aware of) does he take it quite so far as this. A samurai warlord with a fetish for 'woman heads' (severed heads with the noses cut off) and a complicated psychology that makes this fetish possible, the Lord of Musashi is as despicable and outrageous a character as any you'll find in French surrealism, and Tanizaki's way of telling his tale (essayistic, with fictional historical sources, footnotes, etc) gives it a delicious deadpan hilarity. From memory it kind of peters out near the end, but along the way it visits places previously uncharted in literature. In my early twenties I had an incurable craving for novels like this - Bataille's The Story of the Eye, Reage's The Story of O., Gombrowicz's Pornografia - black humorous explorations of the dark side of sexuality. Most people who talk about Tanizaki seem to recommend Naomi, but to me that was a fairly flat and straightforward piece of social realism that may have been culturally significant but didn't break new ground artistically. The Key and Diary of a Mad Old Man were better, but neither seemed to fully exploit its possibilities, despite a promisingly twisted premise in each. I remember an early, very Poe-esque short story about a tattoo, but aside from that The Lord of Musashi is the only work by Tanizaki to really make an impression on me. For some reason, I sense that this is a one-off, and maybe it's all the better for it. A lost classic.

[Isa González · Rating 4 out of 5]

Antes ya me gustaba Tanizaki, pero con esta obra ha quedado claro el gran maestro de la literatura japonesa que es. Mezclando una historia de samurais con el toque perverso que caracteriza todas sus historias, con un tono de crónica histórica, logra que quieras leer más y más. Una preciosidad de novela.

[Danilo Scardamaglio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non sono avvezzo alla letteratura giapponese, abituarmi del tutto ad una scrittura tradizionalmente diversa dalla nostra è stato abbastanza complesso. Detto ciò, l'edizione letta contiene tre romanzi brevi di Tanizaki: "Vita segreta del signore di Bushu", "Racconto d'un cieco", e "La gatta, Shozo e le due donne". Il primo romanzo, il più popolare e conosciuto dei tre, narra le vicende del signore di Bushu, dalla sua infanzia fino alla sua morte. Ambientato nel periodo delle guerre, il XVI secolo circa, il testo è incentrato soprattutto sull'ambigua passione del signore: le teste mozze, passione sorta durante un assedio al castello nel quale viveva da adolescente, in piena età puberale, dove alcune donne, e particolarmente un'affascinante adolescente poco più grande del protagonista, sistemano ed etichettano le teste dei samurai e soldati morti durante la giornata di battaglia, affinché esse vengano riconosciute. In particolare, il giovane signore nutre una vera e propria ossessione nei confronti della testa detta femminile, ossia una testa mozza privata del naso, a tal punto da spingerlo a compiere il suo primo eroico gesto sul campo di guerra a soli tredici anni, teso unicamente a soddisfare le sue pulsioni sessuali. Da questo momento in poi, nonostante le fortune e le imprese del giovane signore e del suo casato, il signore non avrà altro sogno che rivivere quella fatidica passione, addirittura architettando ed eseguendo un attentato nei confronti del suo feudatario, compiendo appunto l'amputazione del suo naso. Per quanto possa essere originale e grottesca la trama, il romanzo non la esalta del tutto: spesso la fittizia componente storica tende a prevalere quasi del tutto sulla singolare componente psicologico-erotica. Qualche passo tuttavia, come il passo relativo all'attentato o al primo assassinio del giovane signore, sono estremamente suggestivi e trepidanti di suspense. Stesso discorso vale sul secondo dei tre romanzi brevi, Il racconto d'un cieco. In questo caso, attraverso la figura del fittizio servitore di corte cieco, musico e massaggiatore, tuttavia Tanizaki narra le reali vicende storiche dei conflitti durante il periodo Sengoku (sempre periodo delle guerre), incentrandosi soprattutto sulla figura di donna O-ichi, nobildonna giapponese sposata col valente sire Nagamasa, e signora del cieco. Anche in questo caso in effetti, la componente storica e l'esigenza di aderire alla realtà dei fatti tendono a opprimere la fantasia e la libertà del racconto. Non a caso, il romanzo che maggiormente ho gradito è il terzo, La gatta, Shozo e le due donne, libero da qualsiasi esigenza di verosimiglianza storica, essendo inoltre ambientato in età contemporanea. Il romanzo narra le vicende di Shozo e della sua amata gatta Lily, che Shozo si trova costretto a cedere contro voglia alla sua ex moglie, a causa di un astuto piano da essa architettato e dalla gelosia della nuova moglie verso la gatta. Narrando dunque questo originale ed intricato intreccio, Tanizaki raggiunge delle vette riguardo la complessità psicologica dei personaggi, indagando con maestria i loro pensieri e le loro intenzioni, talvolta mostrando o celando i loro desideri e le loro paure, sempre tuttavia connessi alla figura della misteriosa ed inquietante gatta.

[Mohamed Karaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

تدور أحداث الرواية فى قلاع أمراء العصر الإقطاعى، وحروب الساموراى. وتسرد تصورا عن حياة سرية لأمير موساشى من خلال مذكرات مهرج بلاطه. والتاريخ السرى لأمير موساشى هو بمثابة وعى باطن خلف ما ترسمه الحوليات الرسمية وكتب الحروب والمنجزات البطولية. فخلف أحداث تمتد لعشر سنوات وتشمل حروبا ونزاعات أدت لأهوال وسقوط عشائر، تمتد شبكة من الوقائع السرية التى سببتها ميول جنسية انحرافية عند أمير موساشى. والحبكة التى ربطت الاحداث الخارجية، بالوقائع السرية التى كانت تقع فى مخادع القلاع وممراتها وأركانها الحميمية التى يتجمع بها الحريم، بل وفى الأنفاق التى تمتد من مراحيض الأميرات إلى الغابات التى تحف بالأسوار الخارجية، هى حبكة عبقرية، استغل فيها تانيزاكى كل عنصر ثقافى فى هذا العصر: طقوسه، احتفالاته، أدبياته، معماره، ليمهد لزحف أذرع العالم السرى الخبىء والمنحرف، الكامن خلف المظهر الوقور والصارم لرجال الساموراى الأبطال ونسائهم الفاضلات. هذه هى أرشق وألمع وأذكى رواية قرأتها فى الأدب اليابانى، ومن الاعمال القليلة جدا التى جسدت تصورات مثالية لى عن العمل الأدبى الذى أود أن أكتبه : هذا الشكل الجدّى الملحمى من عناصر هزلية تتمثل الجدية والمأساة والشعر. 0

[GiuseppeB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questi giapponesi!
Nel XVI secolo, tempo di samurai e feudatari c'è un giovane guerriero.
Una testa mozzata, priva di naso, tra le mani di una bellissima fanciulla che la pulisce dal sangue e la acconcia per l'esposizione come trofeo di guerra: questa immagine si fissa nella giovane mente del protagonista e diventa la sua ossessione erotica di tutta la vita.
Potremo mai capire gli abissi dell'animo umano?

[Meltem Sağlam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Savaş görüntülerinin, on üç yaşında bir çocuk üzerinde yarattığı travmayı temel alan bir Tanizaki romanı. Bu derece korkunç bir hikayeyi bu kadar akıcı, heyecanlı ve güzel anlatmayı sadece, bir dönem benzer metinler yazmış olan Tanizaki başarabilirdi.

Kısa, etkileyici bir kitap.

[لونا · Rating 4 out of 5]

تعثرت بالروية مصادفة، ولله الحمد لم أسقط بل حلقت. "جونتشيرو تانيزاكي" أهلا وسهلا بك، بالتأكيد سنلتقي مرة أخرى.... قد تحمل الرواية عنوان "التاريخ السري لأمير موساشي" ولكنها تحتوي بالنهاية على نوفيلا "المرنطة" وكان من الأنسب لدار النشر أن تضيف عنوان فرعي تحت الرئيسي للتنويه.0

لنبدأ بالأمير موساشي: استحقت خمس نجوم بجدارة. مع توالي القراءات نحتاج بين الحين والآخر لنفس جديد وكانت الرواية بالنسبة لي تلك النسمة المنعشة. للتوضيح لا علاقة بمفهوم النسيم المنعش بالمحتوى، فالرواية عجيبة مريبة ومجفلة نوعاً ما ولكن بطريقة جيدة.0

للأمير تيروكاتسو خيالات جنسية مرضيَّة وسادية تدور حول نشوءها وإشباعها فكرة الرواية. والمضحك نوعا ما، يصح أن نقول أنها خيالات فنية جداً. أحب أن أقول للذين لا يحبون المحتوى الجنسي الفاضح فيما يقرءون فإن الرواية ليست كذلك أبداً فهي مؤدبة جداً ولكن الإيحاء ومستوى الإثارة العالي موجود. باختصار قلم محترف يوصل ما يريد من غير الخوص في التفاصيل..... وبخصوص هذا القلم أحب أن أقول أني وقعت في غرام ما قرأت. أسلوب تقريري روائي عالي المستوى لا يشوبه الملل أبداً. أشبه بالاستماع لشخص رصين واثق مما يقول وأخر همه التصفيق وهذه الحالة تخلق هالة تجذب المستمع بشده لما يقول.0

*** ** * ** ***

بالنسبة للمرنطة: نوفيلا تقريباً سبعين صفحة. خلال الثلاثون الأولى أحسست أني سقطت على وجهي بعدما حلقت مع الأمير موساشي ولسان حالي يقول ما هذه الورطة. الأمور تغيرت بظهور العنوان "صرخة الثعلب"، من هنا عاد جونشيروا لإبهاري مرة أخرى. حكاية بديعة ودافئة جداً عن البحت عن الجذور لشخص يتيم يبحث عن طيف أمه التي لم يُكتب لها العيش طويلا لتترسّخ في ذاكرته. الحكاية تتخذ من الثعلب رمزاً لها ونتعرف على أحد الأوجه هنا؛ فللثعلب في الثقافة اليابانية معاني كثيرة ومحيرة لمن يقرأ عنها للمرة الأولى.هنا الوجه الطيب للثعلب يسود الأجواء.0

[César Carranza · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro va sobre la juventud de lo que se convertirá en el señor Musashi, de cómo es que diferentes eventos en sus años jóvenes lo transformaron en presande sus propias perversiones. Es bastante interesante, contado de manera que solo Tanizaki podría, es muy entretenido y corto. Lo único que podría decir, es que en mi perspectiva, el libro no llega a una parte que se podría decir climax, avanza muy bien, pero como que no concluye mucho, uno por ejemplo, termina por no enterarse de que clase de perversiones tiene el señor, y está bien, es parte del texto dejar eso aparte para hablar más de las causas. Me gustó bastante.

[Jo Alcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Translator Anthony H. Chambers in his Introduction to The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi writes: Indeed, Tanizaki's fiction is far less autobiographical than that of most Japanese novelists. He preferred to use his imagination. "I have acquired a bad habit recently," he wrote in 1926.

I cannot bring myself to write or read anything that takes real facts for its material, or that is even realistic. This is one reason I make no attempt to read the works of contemporary authors that appear in the magazines every month. I'll scan the first five or six lines, say to myself, "Aha! he's writing about himself," and lose all desire to go on reading. When I read historical novels, nonsense tales, even realistic novels of fifty years ago, or contemporary Western novels far removed from Japanese society, I can enjoy them as so many imaginary worlds.

I was going to say that this story will appeal most to scholars, scholars of ancient Chinese or Japanese historical writings in particular, but like the imaginary scholarly writings of Jorge Borges, the amusement transcends that narrow realm. It may be more accurate to say that Tanizaki's style will most appeal to them. Yes, the story itself can stand very well on its own.

A taste of the style:

The glaring eyes, for example, the tight lips, the angry nose, and the set of the shoulders would inspire the same awe in a viewer as the picture of a bloodthirsty tiger; and yet, seen in a different frame of mind, Terukatsu looks like a man suffering from rheumatism and struggling to endure the excruciating pain in his joints. The European breastplate and the helmet, with its sweeping horns and Taishakuten crest, are open to suspicion as well.

As I said, the story itself will appeal beyond the scholarly realm per se, to perverts everywhere or again, to be more specific, to would-be perverts. Real perverts, I fear, will be too busy actually doing perverted things to read about them, especially in a translation of an unofficial history allegedly written by a nun who, in her past, may have seen service among the Lord of Musashi's household staff. The famous Lord Musashi, however, cannot escape the classification, for to have an unnatural and sexually-related obsession with severed heads counts as perversion pretty much everywhere, I feel.

Perhaps because I'm somewhat predisposed toward adding a scholarly guise to my own fiction wirting, I especially enjoyed Tanizaki's tale.

Jo

[Khalid Hajeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two great fiction stories in one book!

Junichiro Tanizaki's two classic novels "The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi" and "Arrowroot" are presented together respectively and are both joys to read. Although dealing with entirely different plotlines, the two tales feature wonderfully powerful story themes that only a few masters like Tanizaki can create for Japanese literature readers.

The first novel, "The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi", is a fictional retelling of a samurai from 1500's Japan who, during a siege on his people's castle by an enemy tribe, develops an odd fixation as an older child after he witnesses women preparing the heads of fallen enemy soldiers for use as trophies. Enchanted by what he saw during his childhood, as an adult he vows to recreate his bizarre fantasy and gets himself entangled with a woman from another family who seems to seek a very similar desire. A mixture of hilarity and violence ensues, with themes of love and grotesque imagery intertwined in this surprisingly shocking yet funny story.

"Arrowroot", the second story, is a shorter piece that is set in the early twentieth century Japan and takes readers on a curious journey with two writers. At first attempting to find ideas for writing a novel by visiting an old Japanese countryside, the narrator and his friend Tsumura are shown some ancient trinkets that somehow link to bits and pieces of Tsumura's mother who disappeared from his life at a very early age. The narrator then accompanies his friend Tsumura on his quest to find out more about what happened to his mother, uncovering fascinating cultural connections along the way.

Both these stories are superbly written and are definitely some of Mr. Tanizaki's best works. He demonstrates his excellent storytelling talents by managing to tackle broad plots and condensing them into easily readable tales that can be easily understood by readers even outside of Japan. Although both stories are strikingly different in plot, timeline, and mood, they share in common very rich themes that are often prominently presented in Japanese fiction. They are also very entertaining tales to read, albeit in different ways (one is action-packed and humorous, while the other is more tranquil and mysterious).

All in all, "The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi" and "Arrowroot" are nice fiction stories that are a pleasure to read even back to back, and all the more satisfyingly packaged into one book. Highly recommended reading and a very good travel companion book as well!

[Marco Innamorati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Variazioni sul tema del sadismo e del masochismo, nascosti da sentimenti diversi. In fondo il vero filo rosso della trama è la simulazione: nascondere i propri veri sentimenti, il proprio vero motivo di eccitazione. Il protagonista ha una forma di perversione talmente originale da rendere in sostanza impossibile il suo soddisfacimento. Nondimeno finisce per distinguersi come guerriero e conquistatore proprio per inseguire un fantasma.
Finale, a mio avviso, un po’ affrettato, che toglie la possibilità delle “5 stelle”.
Una sezione che da sola vale la lettura è quella che descrive il tentativo del Signore di Bushu di educare la moglie quindicenne alla crudeltà.

[Apoorva Ranade · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi:
This one felt just plain weird.

Arrowroot: I really like this story. The legends woven into the story of a young boy searching for his mother's past is portrayed really well.

[TinaGav · Rating 3 out of 5]

The two stories were good. The fact that I just finished my 2021 Goodreads Challenge is a miracle!

[paper0r0ss0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strano e probabilmente irrisolto romanzo ambientato nel Giappone del VXI secolo. Samurai, castelli assediati, passaggi segreti, belle castellane e soprattutto signori della guerra guidati da ancestrali regole d'onore. Uno scenario classico che e' in realta' solo il palcoscenico per la rappresentazione delle ben piu' singolari attitudini del signore di Bushu del titolo, delle sue inclinazioni sessuali e manie. Colpisce come sempre la capacita', penso tutta giapponese, di descrivere anche le enormita', con un tono di incredibile leggerezza ed eleganza (mi viene in mente la moderna Kirino). Le descrizioni degli ambienti, del paesaggio, delle luci, fanno il resto.

[Nick Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two works written in the early 1930s by Junichiro Tanizaki. The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi is probably best described as a novella, Arrowroot a short story. I have read two of Tanizaki’s earlier works, both worked within a realist aesthetic: rounded characters existed within a detailed and believable world, the story telling of recognizable events. Something different is happening in these two works. The Secret History of the Lord Musashi tells of a Sixteenth Century Japanese lord who is sexual aroused by the image of a woman smiling at a decapitated head that has had its nose sliced off. Although these are circumstances that maybe occurred more often in Sixteenth Century Japan than today, having seen such an event in his childhood, the Lord tries to recreate it later in his life. The story, however, is told as though it were a history, the narrator drawing on two (fictional) historical documents. (I presumed the Lord Musashi was a historical figure, but if he is he eludes Google.) The story is therefore told with a cool objectivity that contrasts with the sensationalism of its subject matter, the narrator often noting the uncertainties of history: there is a certain literary paradox in that although the narrative is presented as though it is a non-fiction construction of historical sources, it doesn’t claim to be the ‘truth’ in the way a piece of realist fiction does: we are given a space that allows us to ponder the feasibility or ‘truth value’ of the story. Tanizaki had previously translated Stendhal’s The Abbess of Castro into Japanese: this is not a work I know but apparently the narrator of that story basis his narrative on two manuscripts. This was obviously Tanizaki’s inspiration for his method. But it reminds me more of later writers such as Borges...a Japanese Borges reimagining a story by Bunuel. Arrowroot is a sort of travelogue, the narrator, a writer, telling of a journey he took with a friend. But this is a journey that constantly points to other narratives: a story of Medieval Japan that the narrator is planning to use in a historical novel, the story told by a manuscript kept by a local farmer, the story of the companion’s family...and there are other references to plays and other narratives within the journey. The result is an intriguing mix of journey as narrative, narrative as journey, but I found it less satisfactory than The Secret History, lacking a central focus of purpose.

[Brian Doak Carlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book of Tanizaki’s I’ve read in quick succession, and the third one to have a completely different tone. This one replete with the macabre, gruesome and occasionally dark humour, and not a little of the perverse. I’m growing to love this man and everything he pens.

[LA Ayers · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first novel was just...weird. The second was boring.

[Yaren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canim bebegimin bana getirdigi ilk kitap... koklaya koklaya okudum

[Vilis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pirmais gabals bija ļoti forša vēsturiski sadistiska fantāzija, tiesa, bez nobeiguma, savukārt "Arrowroot" man tik ļoti pietrūka konteksta zināšanu, ka viss vienkārši aizlidoja pāri galvai.

[ALZOGHAIBI IBRAHIM · Rating 4 out of 5]

قرأت للكاتب ابراهيم العريس مقال عن هذا الروائي الياباني واخترت ان أبدا بهذة الرواية
اعجبني اُسلوب الكاتب وسخريته من المجتمع الياباني وكذلك وصف دقيق لعادات اليابانيين الغريبة

[Mayu Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Left the DMV one ID richer and one book wiser.

[Shashank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secret History of the Lord of Musashi: 3.5
Odd; sex death and some things in between.
Only Tanizaki could write it....then again very few others would probably want to.

Arrowroot: 5 Word for word [only 57 pages] it might be the best thing I’ve read so far by Tanizaki. A subtle meditation on family, the past, art, nature, love, friendship, and how all these things interconnect in unexpected ways. It reminded me a bit of Natsume Soseki, maybe because it had two male charters walking through nature and talking about everything under the sun:)

[Phillip Ramm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I have read this before, like 20 years ago, but my memory is so bad I didn't smell a rat until I came face to face with the thing about cutting off noses . As I had forgotten everything else I kept reading.

Musashi's sexual perversions are not quite as perverted (albeit gross to our sensibilities these in these days of terrorism) or as sexual as you might anticipate from the introductory chapters, but still the fetish he develops (Freudians sit forward) is explained for his peri-pubertal experience with a pretty woman and a severed, noseless head...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely interesting reading after "The Makioka Sisters." "Arrowroot" seems more technically interesting to me, but I enjoyed "The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi" much more. I just got into it more and felt like "Arrowroot" was always about to get started, right up until the end, though it had some beautiful moments. I enjoyed both, though. I'm just saying I preferred one over the other.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi" by Junichiro Tanizaki
The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi by Junichiro Tanizaki (1935, 138 pages-trans. by Anthony Chambers) is simply an amazing work of art. Written nearly 75 years ago, it is my first preWWII Japanese novel, it feels like it could have been written last week or in the 18th century by someone with a very strange sense of humor and amazing talent. I simply loved this work. It is darkly hilarious. An acute psychological insight is shown throughout. The book opens with a very deeply nuanced interpertation of a portrait of the samurai lord who is the central character in the book. I do not think Henry James or Gustav Flaubert could have produced anything better. The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi is written as if were a biography done by a traditional Confucian historian who is writing a tale of heroic days gone by to inspire readers to good deeds. Tanizaki is considered the first Japanese author to give complete portrayals of
female characters in a literary work.

Tanizaki felt that the values of traditional Confucian writings had hampered the development of Japanese literature. Characters were not whole persons but stereo types and any narrative prose about the past tended to be simply hymns to the greatness of old leaders. Confucian teaching regarded fiction as the product of an effete and decadent mentality and would be horrified by anything that suggested an imperfection in the character of a samurai lord. The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi is a parody of this tradition. It centers on how a great samurai developed a strange sexual fetish and how this fetish came to be the secret ruling passion of his life.

The narrative is set in the 16th century. Our hero, for that is who he is, is a royal hostage in a castle under siege by an opposing warlord. (It was the practice in 16th century Japan, just as it had long been in Europe and China, to place royal children in the hands of potential enemies as a kind of peace keeping device.) Our hero is 12 years old and very excited by the battle outside the castle. He begs his attendant, a low ranking samurai to let him join the fighting. His request is denied. He then asks an older servant woman to help him slip out of the castle. She knows if he gets killed her life will be lost so she says ok I will let you see something you will find interesting. She takes him to a room where the women of the castle are "dressing heads". In samurai battles it was customary to cut off the head of an opposing samurai you killed and bring it back as a trophy to present to your over lord. Of course a bloody head would make a poor show so a ritualized procedure for cleaning up heads developed over time.

I cannot take you to the battlefield, but if you want to see some heads I can arrange it for you...She explained in a whisper that almost every night five or six of the women had been selected to attend to the enemy heads taken in battle. They would check the heads against a list, label them and wash off the blood stains...The women would dress the hair, touch up the dye on the teeth and even apply some light cosmetics to make the head presentable...Dressing heads, as it was called, was considered women's work, and their being a shortage of women in the castle, some of the hostages had been ordered to help.

Our 12 year old hero begins to feel his first sexual stirrings.

The heads themselves do not make a strong impression on him. It is the contrast between the heads and the women working on them that somehow excites new feelings in him. He fixates on the hands of the women as they dress the heads.

This seemed to enhance the strange beauty of their hands, especially as he saw them braiding the hair of the heads. He was fascinated by the tender care and love they seemed to give to the heads. He begins to have fantasies.

His fantasy, therefore--the pleasure he would feel if he were a head placed before the girl-was illogical. It was the fantasy itself that gave him pleasure. He indulged in the fantasy that he could become a head without losing consciousness. He tried to imagine that one of the heads brought to the women was his own. When the girl tapped a head with the ridge of her comb, he imagined that he himself was being tapped, and this brought his pleasure to the summit: his brain grew numb and his body trembled. Among the many different heads, he would concentrate on the ugliest...and say to himself, "That is me". This gave him far greater pleasure that identifying with the head of a splendid young warrior. In short, he envied the pitiable, repulsive heads more than the beautiful ones.

Then he notices one of the heads is without a nose. It was the custom on the battleground at that time to cut off the nose from any head of a samurai you killed if you did not have time to cut the head of in the heat of battle. After the battle was over, you could then use the nose (which the killer kept) as proof the head of the fallen warrior was your trophy. To have your nose removed and then never to have to reunited with the head was a great shame to the warrior and might cause a disgrace in the afterlife. Heads without a nose are called "women's heads".

In a series of bizare events, one night our 12 year old hero sneaks into the enemy camp. He enters the tent of the opposing general and he kills him with a stab through the throat. As he was trying to cut off his head he is interupted by two of general's pages. He kills both of pages, he knows he must run for his life so he cuts of the nose of the general and takes it back to the castle with him. The general has been "denosed". If word of this gets out it will be a great humiliation for the entire clan and a horrible shame on his family. The attacking army declares that their general is ill and leaves the battlefield. Our hero wants to tell everyone what he has done but he knows if he does no one will believe him.

We next meet our hero maybe six or seven years in the future. He has already developed into a fearful warrior, terrifying even to those he leads. He is a second son so he has no hope of inheriting clan leadership as long as his older but weak in character brother lives. His father is worried as he does not want our hero to become clan leader as he knows he will bring on horrible wars just for the joy of battle. Now things start to get a bit stranger. The narrative is done is a completely straightforward fashion as if this is all part of an inspiring tale of heroism. His older brother is married to the 14 year old daughter of the man whose nose he took when he was twelve. She is, of course, a great, delicate beauty

A man who has masochistic sexual appetites, as did the Lord of Musashi, is apt to construct fantasies in which his female partner conforms to his own perverse specifications.

Exciting and mysterious events put out her right in front of the castle where his brother and his wife live. He notices one of the stones in the wall is loose. He notices there is no moss on that section of the castle wall. He removes the stone, it is much thinner than all the other stones. It leads into a very long upper slopping tunnel. Our hero

squeezed through the opening, just as one does in the Buddhist purification rite known as "passing through the womb"...At this point, I hope to be forgiven for raising a rather indelicate subject, the design of toilets used by arisocratic ladies of the time...ladies born into a daimyo family never allowed anyone to see their excretory matter, nor did they ever see it themselves. Such delicacy was accomplished by digging under the toilet a deep shaft which was filled for eternity when the lady died...In other words, Tereutasu found himself deep in the earth directly below Lady Kikyo's toilet.

I do not want to give away much more of the plot as a lot of the fun of this novel is in the crazy event that take place. The plot is devilishly clever, hilarious and just flat out wonderfully told. The hero of this Confucian panegyric can obtain sexual gratification only if he can somehow imagine that the woman he is with is dressing his head. He even goes so far as to build in Lady Kikyo's bed chamber a hole in the floor with a platform under it so a man can stand on it with only his head sticking out of the floor. The servant doing this is then advised if he does anything that make him seem living, Lady Kikyo will cut off his nose. Various melodramas of a sadomasochistic nature played out, with Lady Kikyo the willing partner. In time our hero's relationship with her ends, how this happens is a great story also. On the surface, the rest of our hero's life was one of great glory. Great warlords prostrated themselves at his feet. Under it all known only to his women and his servants, the ruling passion of his life was having intimate contact with women in circumstances that would allow him to imagine the woman is ritualistically dressing his severed head. It is suggested by the narrator, that terrible things happened behind closed doors in pursuit of our hero's needs.




The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi is a weird and wonderful work. It is a bit of a wicked book and it for sure mocks Confucian traditions as well as Buddhist rituals. The image of a great samurai leader crawling up a toilet has to be seen as subverting history as taught in Japanese schools. The female lead in the story is wonderfully realized as a whole person, not a character in a stock history written to instruct elite school boys. I am trying to imagine an English or American writer of the 1930s who might have produced a story like this but so far I cannot. I was so happy when I found out Vintage Press has eight other works by Tanizaki in print. I should also note that this work is beautifully written. Of course I do not know if it is well translated or not but there are none of the "false notes" that readers have found in the work of other translators.

Arrowroot

Arrowroot by Junichiro Tanizaki (1931, trans. by Anthony Chambers is kindly included by Vintage Press in the same book as The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi. (This is a decision of Vintage unrelated to the works or the intentions of the author but it does add a lot of value to the book and I appreciate it.)

Arrowroot is now the oldest Japanese work I have posted on, published for the first time 78 years ago. It is about the search of a man whose parents died when he was quite young for his maternal roots. The story is set in Japan in 1910 in Tokyo and Osaka. The narrator is deeply involved in The Reading Life. He sees the world through the classic dramas and epics of 15th to 17th century Japan. Everything is somehow formulized through that prism for him. When he sees something or meets someone he is reminded of a play he has seen or a poem he has read and then launches into an internal monologue linking one literary work to another then another. We learn of a number of the great works of classical Japanese literature.

The narrator is an extremely cultured man who can only marginally relate to those below his level. When he does relate to them, he sees them as minor characters in a Kabuki play. The narrator was orphaned and raised by relatives starting at a young age. He decides one day to seek out his maternal roots in Osaka. When he goes back he finds out that at about age 13 his mother was sold by her parents to a business he can identify only as being in the "pleasure quarters" of Osaka. This might mean she was sold to a tea house as a kitchen worker or was to be trained as a Geisha but most likely it means she became a prostitute at age 13. Somehow through a great stroke of good luck his mother married a wealthy man. She died only a few years after having her son, our narrator. He finds out his family were makers of fine paper, from arrowroot. He sees a girl in her late teens making paper and he tells her family he wants to marry her. She reminds him of a selfless heroine in one of his dramas.

To me the fun of this work is that it shows a man living completely The Reading Life in a literature in which I have no home but I can totally relate to the narrator nevertheless. You feel his love for reading and you know it is the most important thing in his life. Like other characters whose Reading Life I have posted on, he is both shielded from the world by his reading and allowed to experience the world more deeply by it.

There is a good bit of information about Japanese religion in this story (40 pages). We are treated to a wonderful series of fox images while being given an education in the role of the fox in Japanese culture. The treatment of the religious beliefs of the common people of Osaka (I think Osaka was seen as more true to classical Japanese ideals than Tokyo in this narrative) also seems an oblique commentary on the sterility of Confucian dictates. Magic permeates throughout the world of the story. The extreme antirealism of classical drama in which the narrator is absorbed allows him not just to reinterprert events as a No Play but see them that way in the first place.

Arrowroot a wonderful story about a lover of The Reading Life. What our narrator reads maybe alien to most of us but he is a brother in the life. Yesterday I bought three more novels by Tanizaki.

He lived 1886 to 1965. He published his first work in 1910 and at once was considered a major literary figure. He even worked briefly in the silent films of the era as a dramatist. He was exempt from military service in WWII due to his age. At his death he was considered the greatest living Japanese writer.






Junichiro Tanizaki had a very interesting life history. I will talk a bit about it when I post on his long short story "Arrowroot", which is included as a companion piece by Vintage in the same book as The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi.

[Lavinia Băra · Rating 3 out of 5]

🔰𝘑𝘶𝘯'𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘰̄ 𝘛𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘬𝘪 (24 iulie 1886, Tokyo, Japonia - 30 iulie 1965, Yugawara, Japonia) - romancier, autor de proză scurtă, eseist și memorialist japonez.

🔰 Junichiro Tanizaki a fost unul dintre cei mai populari scriitori ai literaturii japoneze. Obsesiile erotice distructive, un univers sexual adesea şocant, dar şi modul în care schimbările rapide din sânul societăţii japoneze în secolul XX afectează viaţa de familie se regăsesc în multe dintre cărţile sale. Majoritatea romanelor au fost adaptate pentru cinematografie, iar în 1964 numele autorului s-a aflat pe lista scurtă a Premiului Nobel.

"𝐈𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚̆ 𝐚 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐢 𝐝𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢", Junichiro Tanizaki

🔰 Tanizaki descrie sub forma unei biografii ficționale viața Domnului Musashi, născut în perioada războaielor civile din secolul al XVI-lea și cunoscut pentru viclenia sa. Se pretinde a fi cel mai îndrăzneț și mai crud lider al epocii sale.

🔰 Lectura evocă viciile, perversitatea și fanteziile lui Terukatsu, fiul unui nobil japonez. Acestea se învârt în jurul temei nasului. Nasul ca trofeu. Da, ați citit bine. Ciudat și memorabil în același timp. Și asta ca urmare a unei practici de decapitare și a procesului de curățare de către femei a capetelor soldaților morți.

🔰 Rolurile femeilor sunt bine conturate: de la inițiatoare la manipulatoare, răzbunătoare, ținte sigure ale obsesiilor masculine. Complotând cu una dintre aceste femei râvnite, Domnul Musashi își va duce la îndeplinire un plan obsesiv de răzbunare.

🔰 Ideea este interesantă, enigmatică și improbabilă în același timp. Am întors paginile cu aviditate în ciuda faptului că pe tot parcursul romanului m-au încercat sentimente amestecate.

🔰 Autorul reușește să creeze scene puternice, izbitoare vizual, lăsând la o parte valuri de prejudecăți ori temeri.

🔰 De fapt subiectul mi-a părut unul actual - insuccesul de a ne putea păstra propriile rădăcini culturale. Eșuăm pentru că ajungem să fim nevoiți să ne conformăm unui nou standard, o nouă măsură occidentală a valorilor deja deținute.

🔰 E destul de greu să recomanzi o astfel de carte, dar dacă sunteți pasionați de cultura japoneză, de istorie și acceptați ușor grotescul îmbinat cu partea anancastică a fetișurilor, atunci abilitățile de a povesti ale lui Tanizaki vă vor face acest roman plăcut.

🔰 Din partea mea cartea primește 3 ⭐ pe Goodreads.

"Judecînd după purtarea seniorului din Musashi, am înţeles că în lumea aceasta oamenii nu sînt nici buni, nici răi, nici măreţi şi nici neînsemnaţi. Cei mari sînt câteodată nenorociți, iar cei viteji pot fi uneori slabi. Cel care ieri a ucis o sută de duşmani pe cîmpul de luptă trăieşte azi în casa lui, biciuit de diavolii iadului; cea mai fermecătoare femeie poate deveni un demon mîncător de oameni..."

#istoriasecretăasenioruluidinmusashi #junichirotanizaki #polirom

[Kurasen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Après ma récente découverte de Kazuo Ishiguro par le “Géant enfoui”, je découvre cet immense auteur japonais qu’est Junichirô Tanizaki. J’ai longtemps eu “Louange de l’ombre” dans ma liste de lecture, mais c’est finalement vers “l’Histoire secrète du sire de Musashi” que je me suis tourné.
La raison en est cocasse, si je puis dire, j’ai trouvé ce livre en cherchant d’autres versions de l’histoire de Miyamoto Musashi, l’ai acheté sans lire la 4ème de couverture, quelle ne fut donc pas ma surprise en commençant la lecture de ce livre. Passé cette première déception, la lecture a été agréable, sans réellement de temps morts. La qualité de l’auteur pour nous faire vivre les scènes, les rendre marquantes est l’un des points forts de ce livre.

Junichirô Tanizaki raconte son histoire en s’appuyant sur des sources historiques fictives comme s'il s'agissait d'une biographie réalisée par un historien classique souhaitant inspirer les jeunes en racontant les faits d’armes d’un quelconque héros de jadis. “L'histoire secrète du sire de Musashi” est donc une parodie de cette tradition de glorification des guerriers de jadis en racontant comment un grand samouraï a développé un étrange fétiche sexuel et comment ce fétiche est devenu la passion secrète de sa vie.
Le mélange de violence, de passion et d’imagerie grotesque permet à celle-ci d’être agréable à lire avec le bon dosage entre éléments choquants et exagérations grotesques.

Les faits narrés dans ce livre se passe au Japon de l’ère Sengoku (1467-1615), nous suivons Hôshimaru (qui ne deviendra le sire de Musashi qu’à la mort de son père)qui à 13 ans souhaite faire ses preuves et participer à l’effort de guerre. A cette époque, il est “l’invité” ou “l’otage royal” du seigneur Ikkansai.
C’est à Ojika, en période de siège ennemi, qu’il découvre l’effort de guerre des femmes, il rencontre ainsi une jolie jeune fille qui toutes les nuits nettoie et embellit les têtes des soldats morts durant le siège. L'un d'eux n'a pas de nez et dès lors la vision morbide et l’excitation sexuelle ressentit se rejoignent et il est à jamais prisonnier du désir de reproduire cette scène. Outre l’accès pas très compliqué au meurtre et à la mutilation, c’est surtout le spectacle d’une jolie demoiselle manipulant une « tête de femme » qu’il recherche alors au point de mentir, tromper, trahir, tuer et bien entendu de mutiler. Cet épisode marquant va finalement dicter les actions qu’il entreprendra le restant de sa vie.

Je vous laisse découvrir la suite qui vaut le coup d’être lue au moins une fois, j’ai passé un bon moment à le lire et j’ai hâte de découvrir un nouveau roman / essai de Junichirô Tanizaki.

[Erich C · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.

The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi - 4 stars
Arrowroot - 3 stars

p 30 - Probably this smile was simply an expression of the girl's affability. She had formed the habit of smiling pleasantly before others and unconsciously smiled in the same way at a dead person. It would be only natural for her to grow insensitive to the repulsiveness of the heads she worked with, and, as she applied the cosmetics, even to feel affection for them and to respond to them as she would to living persons. But to someone bursting in upon this scene - on one side, the heads, with the agonies of death frozen in the pallid features, and on the other, the young, red lips of the fair girl - her smile, however faint, must have been stimulating. Hers was a bewitching beauty, spiced with the bitterness of cruelty. Thus it is not surprising that the twelve-year-old Hoshimaru should have been fascinated by such beauty. Over and above this fascination, however, he experienced an intense emotion beyond the reach of the normal man. According to "Confessions of Doami," in which the boy's state of mind is described in detail, Hoshimaru envied the head placed before the beautiful girl. He was jealous. But it is important to understand the nature of this jealousy. It is not simply that he envied the head for having the girl dress it's hair, shave its pate, or gaze at it with that cruel smile; he wanted to be killed, transformed into a ghastly head with an agonized expression, and manipulated in the girl's hands. Becoming a severed head was a necessary condition. He found no pleasure in imagining himself alive at her side; but if he could become such a head and be set before her in all her charm, how happy he would be!

p 49 - Now and then, after making sure that he was alone, he would take the nose from his breast and fall into a reverie. The corpse's face at the moment he cut off the nose was deeply etched in his imagination, and the image grew more vivid each time he took out the little lump of flesh.