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The Naruto Scroll
THE SECRET REVEALED
The sixth and final book of The Secret Scrolls of Naruto brings Yoshikawa Eiji's great adventure to its reckoning. The conspiracy against the Tokugawa shogunate, six volumes in the making, comes at last to the dawn it has been driving toward — and the men who built it, the men who pursued it, and the woman who has walked through its shadow from the canals of Osaka to the sacred mountain of Awa converge on the strait that gives the novel its name.
In the autumn of her recovery, Ochie waits in a tea villa beside the Kamo river in Kyoto, knowing nothing of the man she loves except that he has not come. In the back rooms of Awa, the swordsman-monk Norizuki Gennojō and the woman Otsuna fight their way down from Sword Mountain with the spy's testament in hand and three killers behind them. In Tokushima Castle, the lord of Awa stands at the height of his ambition, the western lords gathering, the signal fire ready, the great enterprise hours from being lit. And on the cliffs above the strait, where every previous volume has been driving, the chase comes to its last great set-piece — the whirlpools of Naruto at slack tide, three small boats in the spirals, a rope shooting out of the white water from a man long thought dead, and a final reckoning between hunter and hunted with the fate of all Awa hanging in the balance.
The Naruto Scroll is the sixth and final volume of the first English translation of Yoshikawa Eiji's Naruto Hichō, the 1926–27 serial that made him the most widely read author in Japanese history. Translated in literary prose that reads as though it were originally composed in English, it completes the definitive English edition of the novel that created the modern Japanese adventure genre — the book that, in the hands of its author, gave Japan its Dumas. A hundred years after Yoshikawa wrote the last installment, the entire work is at last available to the English-speaking reader.
The sixth and final book of The Secret Scrolls of Naruto brings Yoshikawa Eiji's great adventure to its reckoning. The conspiracy against the Tokugawa shogunate, six volumes in the making, comes at last to the dawn it has been driving toward — and the men who built it, the men who pursued it, and the woman who has walked through its shadow from the canals of Osaka to the sacred mountain of Awa converge on the strait that gives the novel its name.
In the autumn of her recovery, Ochie waits in a tea villa beside the Kamo river in Kyoto, knowing nothing of the man she loves except that he has not come. In the back rooms of Awa, the swordsman-monk Norizuki Gennojō and the woman Otsuna fight their way down from Sword Mountain with the spy's testament in hand and three killers behind them. In Tokushima Castle, the lord of Awa stands at the height of his ambition, the western lords gathering, the signal fire ready, the great enterprise hours from being lit. And on the cliffs above the strait, where every previous volume has been driving, the chase comes to its last great set-piece — the whirlpools of Naruto at slack tide, three small boats in the spirals, a rope shooting out of the white water from a man long thought dead, and a final reckoning between hunter and hunted with the fate of all Awa hanging in the balance.
The Naruto Scroll is the sixth and final volume of the first English translation of Yoshikawa Eiji's Naruto Hichō, the 1926–27 serial that made him the most widely read author in Japanese history. Translated in literary prose that reads as though it were originally composed in English, it completes the definitive English edition of the novel that created the modern Japanese adventure genre — the book that, in the hands of its author, gave Japan its Dumas. A hundred years after Yoshikawa wrote the last installment, the entire work is at last available to the English-speaking reader.
139 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 4, 2026
About the author
Eiji Yoshikawa
560 books798 followersPen-name of Yoshikawa Hidetsugu. Yoshikawa is well-known for his work as a Japanese historical fiction novelist, and a number of re-makes have been spawned off his work.
In 1960, he received the Order of Cultural Merit.
Eiji Yoshikawa (吉川 英治, August 11, 1892 – September 7, 1962) was a Japanese historical novelist. Among his best-known novels, most are revisions of older classics. He was mainly influenced by classics such as The Tale of the Heike, Tale of Genji, Outlaws of the Marsh, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, many of which he retold in his own style. As an example, the original manuscript of Taiko is 15 volumes; Yoshikawa took up to retell it in a more accessible tone, and reduced it to only two volumes. His other books also serve similar purposes and, although most of his novels are not original works, he created a huge amount of work and a renewed interest in the past. He was awarded the Cultural Order of Merit in 1960 (the highest award for a man of letters in Japan), the Order of the Sacred Treasure and the Mainichi Art Award just before his death from cancer in 1962. He is cited as one of the best historical novelists in Japan.
In 1960, he received the Order of Cultural Merit.
Eiji Yoshikawa (吉川 英治, August 11, 1892 – September 7, 1962) was a Japanese historical novelist. Among his best-known novels, most are revisions of older classics. He was mainly influenced by classics such as The Tale of the Heike, Tale of Genji, Outlaws of the Marsh, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, many of which he retold in his own style. As an example, the original manuscript of Taiko is 15 volumes; Yoshikawa took up to retell it in a more accessible tone, and reduced it to only two volumes. His other books also serve similar purposes and, although most of his novels are not original works, he created a huge amount of work and a renewed interest in the past. He was awarded the Cultural Order of Merit in 1960 (the highest award for a man of letters in Japan), the Order of the Sacred Treasure and the Mainichi Art Award just before his death from cancer in 1962. He is cited as one of the best historical novelists in Japan.
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May 7, 2026
Eiji Yoshikawa is now firmly among my 5 favorite authors
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