The Three Bamboos: a Novel.

by Robert Standish

THE THREE BAMBOOS

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Pen name of Digby George Gerahty

Digby George Gerahty (June 1898 – 6 November 1981), who wrote under the pen-names of Robert Standish, Stephen Lister, George Digby, and George Echlin, was the prolific English writer of short stories and some 80 novels. He was most productive during the 1940s and 1950s. He was also a featured contributor to the Saturday Evening Post. His novels include Elephant Walk, which was later made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor. In the semi-autobiographical Marise (1950), Gerahty (writing as "Stephen Lister") claimed that he and two publicist colleagues had covertly "invented" the Loch Ness Monster in 1933 as part of a contract to improve business for local hotels; he repeated his claim to Henry Bauer, a researcher, in 1980.

Gerahty was the elder brother of Leslie March Gerahty (1902-1981), a prolific character actor known to audiences as Garry Marsh.

Gerahty died at his home in Valbonne, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the South of France, aged 83.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_G...

Reviews

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three brothers, Tenjo, Akira, and Shiro Fureno, slip out to sea determined to restore their family's rightful position, as the descendants of 45 generations of samurai. While at sea the brothers catch sight of a flotilla of American naval vessels, although they don't know which flag the ships fly. The naval squadron is under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry. It is July 1853 and Perry is on a mission to force Japan into a treaty of commerce and trade with the United States.

Thus begins Standish's story, which stretches across the years of Japan's modernization during the Meiji Era until the book ends on December 7, 1941 and the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the center is the Fureno clan, who build a vast industrial and financial empire that bankrolls Japanese aggression from the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1896) until the Japanese surprise attacks across East and Southeast Asia in December 1941. Four generations are at play in this historical drama, the elder Fureno, the father of the three brothers, who will harbor the spirit of samurai honor until the day he dies and as a result comes into conflict with the main protagonist, Tenjo. It is Tenjo who founds the House of the Three Bamboos, a symbol of the brothers and Japan's necessity to bend with the winds of war until the time is ripe for action. Tenjo's son, Temmo, disappoints, having absorbed too much influence from his time at school in the United States. But Temmo's son, the grandson of Tenjo, who is also named Tenjo, carries all the greed, anger, and haughty pride of the elder Tenjo and more.

It seems that this novel is perhaps loosely, or not so loosely, inspired by the life of the Japanese industrialist Iwasaki Yataro, the founder of Mitsubishi. At least that is what I think after digging around in this history. For what it's worth, according to Wiki: "Mitsubishi (三菱) consists of two parts: 'mitsu' (三) meaning 'three' (as in the three oak leaves from the crest of the Yamauchi or Tosa family that ruled over Yatarō's birthplace and employed him) and 'hishi' (菱, which becomes 'bishi' under rendaku) meaning 'water caltrop', and hence 'rhombus', which is reflected in the company's logo. It is also translated as 'three diamonds'." Three diamonds. Three bamboos. And the symbol in Japanese for three is the same as the three bamboos laid horizontally.

Finally, a few notes. This book was published on January 1, 1942, less than a month after Pearl Harbor, although my "Australian edition" has an April 3, 1942 preface added. Standish had spent time in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s and maintains he wrote some 30,000 words (about 80 printed pages) by 1937. His characterizations of the Japanese are harsh, except for Soft-as-Silk, the wife of the older Tenju, and Etsu, the wife of Temmo. But harsh as they stand, one thing kept occurring to me as I read this book: were I to substitute "China" for "Japan" maybe as much as 99 percent of this novel would be accepted as an accurate depiction of Western relations with China today.

[Cliff Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written nearly 80 years ago and frozen in time without apologies for lack of political correctness. The author lived in Japan for many years, mostly in the early Showa period. He attempts to analyse the Japanese mind through a fictional plot based on real events. This was my second Robert Standish book, having read Bonin, (the history of the Ogasawara Islands) earlier this year.
Three Bamboos is about three sons sent by a very determined father, from Japan, to travel Europe and discover the technology and secrets of the culture of the West in order to save Japan from the terrible Barbarian. Beginning in the period just after Commodore Perry's visit to Uraga, the father understands the concept that a mighty oak is much stronger than a bamboo tree and yet in a extremely heavy storm the oak may fall, but the bamboo will bend with the wind and survive.
This story is infact largely based on the true events of the Iwakura Mission. This Japanese diplomatic voyage to the US and Europe was conducted between 1871 and 1873 by leading statesman and scholars of the Meiji period. The mission had an enormous effect on Japan in terms of modernization and possibly was the greatest and fastest change any culture on earth has ever undertaken.
The conflicts in way of life and thinking of East meets West drive the story through every chapter. Each side believe they see the truth but they see their own version of it. Much misunderstanding prevails and we learn not only about the author's thoughts on the way the Japanese perceive things, but how the multitude of pressures between the western powers drive different priorities and results. A British is not a Frenchman nor a German. The Prussian Junderdom are as different from the Russians as the Italians are from the Americans. The Japanese attempt to make sense of all this with their strong drive to preserve their island territory.
I would recommend this page-turning read to any who want to understand history a little better but are otherwise put off by somewhat bland historical text books. As the author's thoughts resonant with clarity from his time and place in the past we get the very enjoyable task to determine whether it all means something today. Prepare to test your real cognitive skills if you care at all about the way the modern world has developed and what lies ahead for all of us.

[Ken Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second novel I have read by Robert Standish (which is one of Digby George Gerahty's pennames), but was the first he had written. The other one, "The Small General," was set in China, while "The Three Bamboos" mostly takes place in Japan. The stories intersect, with some of the same fictional characters and, for all I know, there are also overlapping plots with several other of Standish's novels from the late 1940s and early 1950s. Eventually, I plan to read them too. I like his writing because, while dealing with big historic events, he employs a pleasant, humorous style. In this book, he uses a fictional Japanese family to explain the century of Japanese history from the mid-19th to the mid20th century. it was writtenduring the Second World War, which perhaps explains the rather over-the-top characterizations of the Japanese character.

[Stephanie]

Borrowed off of a very dusty, neglected bookshelf, this special edition was printed in Japan as a special edition for sale in Japan, Okinawa and Korea only, and was bought by my parents on a trip to Japan in 1968. Whether either of them read it or not I do not know, but I will and the review will appear here when I am done.

[Mick Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating insight into modern Japanese history - a topic I'm pretty ignorant about. Written in 1942 by an author with pretty extreme views about the Japanese.
A very interesting read. Nicely written.

[Fumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Promising beginning, entertaining middle, but mediocre ending.