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Harpoon
Jinsuke, a young village whaler, and Sadayori, an aristocratic samurai, together experience the victories and defeats of the crucial years of the Meiji restoration, the death of the shogunate, the intrusion of six American ships, and the ravages of natural disasters.
Nicol uses two young men from different social classes to depict Japan in the years immediately following the opening of that country to the West in the 1850s. Jinsuke is the eldest son of the whaling village's head harpooner. On the day Jinsuke makes his first big kill, he meets Sadayori, a hereditary warrior assigned to study coastal defenses. When Jinsuke loses an arm to a shark, Sadayori arranges for him to be trained to fight one-armed and for him to work on foreign vessels. Jinsuke adopts Western ways, becoming the master of his own ship. Sadayori is caught up in various clan conflicts, often relying on his skill with swords. Nicol sketches an interesting, believable picture of whaling and that period in Japanese history, and he describes violence graphically.
Nicol uses two young men from different social classes to depict Japan in the years immediately following the opening of that country to the West in the 1850s. Jinsuke is the eldest son of the whaling village's head harpooner. On the day Jinsuke makes his first big kill, he meets Sadayori, a hereditary warrior assigned to study coastal defenses. When Jinsuke loses an arm to a shark, Sadayori arranges for him to be trained to fight one-armed and for him to work on foreign vessels. Jinsuke adopts Western ways, becoming the master of his own ship. Sadayori is caught up in various clan conflicts, often relying on his skill with swords. Nicol sketches an interesting, believable picture of whaling and that period in Japanese history, and he describes violence graphically.
510 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 6, 1987
4 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
C.W. Nicol
21 books8 followersC.W. Nicol was born in Neath, Wales, and from a young age expressed an interest in wildlife and the environment.
In 1958 he visited the Arctic Circle to research Eider Duck for McGill University, taking up Canadian citizenship. By the early 1960s he was studying karate at JKA, and soon thereafter began to study Japanese at Nihon University.
He then spent two years (1967 to 1969) as a game warden in Ethiopia, setting up the new Semien Mountains National Park for the Ethiopian Government. He returned to Japan, writing a book about his Ethiopian experiences: From the Roof of Africa (1971, ISBN 0-340-14755-5).
Since taking up residence in Japan he has written many books and other literary works. In 1980 he won the Japan Broadcasting Writer's Award for a television drama written in Japanese. He continued to be an active environmentalist, and to this day he travels in Japan and elsewhere giving talks and lectures about the environment, addressing issues such as deforestation and the preservation of natural environments. He is particularly interested in restoring Japan's vast woodlands, and due to these and other endeavours he is well known in Japan.
He now holds Japanese citizenship, which he wrote about in the book Boku ga Nihonjin ni natta riyū ("Why I became Japanese") and he owns a plot of forest land in Japan where he lives.
He has written both fiction and non-fiction books. His books are written in English and translated into Japanese by others. His books include books about whaling (for which he went on a trip on a whaling vessel), books about the environment, and also children's fiction. His book are all published in Japanese but several are also published in English.
In 2005, he was awarded an MBE.
In 1958 he visited the Arctic Circle to research Eider Duck for McGill University, taking up Canadian citizenship. By the early 1960s he was studying karate at JKA, and soon thereafter began to study Japanese at Nihon University.
He then spent two years (1967 to 1969) as a game warden in Ethiopia, setting up the new Semien Mountains National Park for the Ethiopian Government. He returned to Japan, writing a book about his Ethiopian experiences: From the Roof of Africa (1971, ISBN 0-340-14755-5).
Since taking up residence in Japan he has written many books and other literary works. In 1980 he won the Japan Broadcasting Writer's Award for a television drama written in Japanese. He continued to be an active environmentalist, and to this day he travels in Japan and elsewhere giving talks and lectures about the environment, addressing issues such as deforestation and the preservation of natural environments. He is particularly interested in restoring Japan's vast woodlands, and due to these and other endeavours he is well known in Japan.
He now holds Japanese citizenship, which he wrote about in the book Boku ga Nihonjin ni natta riyū ("Why I became Japanese") and he owns a plot of forest land in Japan where he lives.
He has written both fiction and non-fiction books. His books are written in English and translated into Japanese by others. His books include books about whaling (for which he went on a trip on a whaling vessel), books about the environment, and also children's fiction. His book are all published in Japanese but several are also published in English.
In 2005, he was awarded an MBE.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 21, 2019
1/10/18 - Entertaining, informative anthropology infused historical fiction set in Japan. Have read several times. Perhaps my second favorite HF centered on Japan. (Shogun first.)
The opening, set in a whaling village, depicts a hunting technique much different from the American type whaling. When the tale moves to a more international environment, some of my interest was lost in the re-reads.
A useful non-fiction companion read would be about the Shogun's reluctant ambassadors.
Shogun's Reluctant Ambassadors: Japanese Sea Drifters in the North Pacific
The book's back jacket message reads " ... of Welsh extraction, lives ... in Japanese Alps with his composer wife, daughter, an Irish setter and a pet bear. Harpoon is based on research gathered over eighteen years and inspired by Mr. Nicol's observation that 'the ocean for Japan was what the prairies are to the United States or Canada."
**
The below review copied and pasted from Kirkus is a spoiler ... suggest you get a copy of the book and then read the Kirkus commentary afterword
"KIRKUS REVIEW
"Forsaking the Eskimo Arctic of his first novel, The White Shaman, 1979, Nicol forages here in a warmer, more civilized turf explored by James Clavell in Shogun. But while Nicol's lush rendering of traditional Japan and its turbulent response to Western interlopers rings with authenticity (the author lives in Japan), his plot knots up and then unravels in ways foreign to the slicker, more canny Clavell. Beginning with a sound-and-fury depiction of a Japanese whale hunt, Nicol struts his historical stuff with verve--and overdoses of purple prose. Observing the hunt in the town of Taiji is Matsudaira Sayadori, a samurai with a daring plan: to create a navy manned by whalers to combat Commodore Perry's fleet, then (it is the mid-1850's) lurking off the Japanese coast. Sayadori admires the skill of a young harpooner, Jinsuke; some months later, after Jinsuke loses his arm and his self-confidence to a shark, Sayadori hires him to spy on the Americans. When Jinsuke is captured by rival samurai and dropped in the sea to drown, he is rescued by an American ship that ferries him to China. There, tagged with the wonderful name of Jim Sky, he takes work on another American vessel and for 10 years sails and whales the Americas. Meanwhile, after several political upheavals related in a dry, history-book manner, Sayadori is forced to become first a ronin (rogue samurai) and then a revolutionary who plots to rid Japan of the now-entrenched Caucasians. When the shogunate, main support of the samurai, is overthrown, a last, great samurai army converges. An aging Sayadori finds transport to the army with--Jinsuke!, who has returned to Japan as captain of a ship. Sayadori dies nobly in battle; Jinsuke moves to Canada. Of great sweep and some emotional power, but overwritten and underplotted: the tales of Jinsuke and Sayadori don't parallel so much as diverge and finally overlap, resulting in a disjointed, bumpy epic."
The opening, set in a whaling village, depicts a hunting technique much different from the American type whaling. When the tale moves to a more international environment, some of my interest was lost in the re-reads.
A useful non-fiction companion read would be about the Shogun's reluctant ambassadors.
Shogun's Reluctant Ambassadors: Japanese Sea Drifters in the North Pacific
The book's back jacket message reads " ... of Welsh extraction, lives ... in Japanese Alps with his composer wife, daughter, an Irish setter and a pet bear. Harpoon is based on research gathered over eighteen years and inspired by Mr. Nicol's observation that 'the ocean for Japan was what the prairies are to the United States or Canada."
**
The below review copied and pasted from Kirkus is a spoiler ... suggest you get a copy of the book and then read the Kirkus commentary afterword
"KIRKUS REVIEW
"Forsaking the Eskimo Arctic of his first novel, The White Shaman, 1979, Nicol forages here in a warmer, more civilized turf explored by James Clavell in Shogun. But while Nicol's lush rendering of traditional Japan and its turbulent response to Western interlopers rings with authenticity (the author lives in Japan), his plot knots up and then unravels in ways foreign to the slicker, more canny Clavell. Beginning with a sound-and-fury depiction of a Japanese whale hunt, Nicol struts his historical stuff with verve--and overdoses of purple prose. Observing the hunt in the town of Taiji is Matsudaira Sayadori, a samurai with a daring plan: to create a navy manned by whalers to combat Commodore Perry's fleet, then (it is the mid-1850's) lurking off the Japanese coast. Sayadori admires the skill of a young harpooner, Jinsuke; some months later, after Jinsuke loses his arm and his self-confidence to a shark, Sayadori hires him to spy on the Americans. When Jinsuke is captured by rival samurai and dropped in the sea to drown, he is rescued by an American ship that ferries him to China. There, tagged with the wonderful name of Jim Sky, he takes work on another American vessel and for 10 years sails and whales the Americas. Meanwhile, after several political upheavals related in a dry, history-book manner, Sayadori is forced to become first a ronin (rogue samurai) and then a revolutionary who plots to rid Japan of the now-entrenched Caucasians. When the shogunate, main support of the samurai, is overthrown, a last, great samurai army converges. An aging Sayadori finds transport to the army with--Jinsuke!, who has returned to Japan as captain of a ship. Sayadori dies nobly in battle; Jinsuke moves to Canada. Of great sweep and some emotional power, but overwritten and underplotted: the tales of Jinsuke and Sayadori don't parallel so much as diverge and finally overlap, resulting in a disjointed, bumpy epic."
May 10, 2020
Questo bellissimo romanzo, ambientato nel Giappone della seconda metà del XIX secolo dilaniato dalle lotte intestine tra i fautori di un'apertura commerciale ai "barbari" occidentali e i sostenitori di una nazione isolazionista, narra le vicende umane di Jinsuke baleniere giapponese, il suo coraggio di fronte alle avversità, la sua volontà di apertura all'Occidente, la sua caparbietà di vivere e di amare in un momento storico così difficile per tutto un popolo costretto ad affrontare il passaggio dalle tradizioni secolari all'apertura con il mondo esterno così diverso ed emancipato. Accanto alla figura di Jinsuke svettano quelle dei samurai Sadayori e Itoh che ben rappresentano le due anime innovvativa e conservatrice e le magnifiche personalità femminili di Oyoshi, l'amore passionale del giovane Jinsuke, e Susan la moglie adorata della maturità.
June 11, 2022
Epochal and historical novel. 👍🐋🐳
April 5, 2012
Good historical piece on whaling and Japanese culture in the mid-1800s.
April 13, 2021
HARPOON by C W Nicol published in 1987 was given to me by a friend about 20 years ago. However, I put it aside and only recently have read it. I now regard it as one of the best books I’ve ever read, totally absorbing. It’s about Japan in the years leading up to the Meiji Restoration seen mainly through the eyes of a samurai and a whaling family. It could be regarded as a man’s book. Nevertheless, it includes several rather poignant chapters that quite literally bring tears to the eyes. If you want to understand the Japanese psyche then this is the book for you.
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August 27, 2012I remember expecting to be pissed off by this book, and being pleasantly surprised when it wasn't actually all that bad.
August 3, 2019
Very good historical piece on whaling and Japanese culture in the mid-1800s. Met Mr. Nicol in Japan at his forest in Nagano. Interesting guy, great storyteller.
August 13, 2013
I* went through a phase of reading fiction based on feudal Japan. I love the quote on page 143 Those who speak ill of others always end up with bad breath.
February 5, 2019
The scope of this book was amazing, and the main character, Jinsuke, was really endearing.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews