Fish of the Seto Inland Sea

by Ruri Pilgrim

Ruri Pilgrim tells the story of her family from the 1870s to the 1950s. She begins with the formality and security of the arrangements of life for a Japanese middle-class family, living in a walled compound with their servants, following exactly the tradition inherited from their parents, with marriages arranged for the children, which continued up until World War II. By then her mother was married to an engineer and living in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. That period is marked by her mother's often funny, painful experiences of learning about the Chinese and Russians with whom she now lived with her growing family, and the war seen from her point of view. At the end of the war, the Japanese - women, children, everyone - had to escape, walking hundreds of miles to the coast. The family returned to a Tokyo where the society, the culture, the economy was entirely overturned. The Americans were everywhere, the Japanese were unemployed, and the ways of society that they had all known had vanished. And yet somehow Ruri's indomitable mother survived.

Genres: Fiction, Japan, Japanese Literature, Historical Fiction, 20th Century

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Ruri Kumoi Pilgrim was born and raised in Japan, went to university in the USA, and came to Cambridge University for her PhD. She married a colleague, and has worked with him on aid projects all over the world. She now lives in Bath.

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a bit of a sucker for these multi-generational family history stories - The Cairo Trilogy, A Suitable Boy, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.
This is a relatively short, relatively light book along these lines.

I was given to understand from the back of the book that this was non-fiction, but it is obviously fictionalised, and needs to be, given the dialogues and characters. Commencing in the 1870s, and carrying through until the 1950s it covers 3 (almost 4?) generations of family, from the formal middle class family in the late 19th Century, to the Russia/Japan War, Japanese occupancy of Manchuria, Japan losing the Second World War, and a Japan occupied by the Americans after World War II.

It was interesting to read about Manchuria from the Japanese viewpoint - having read a bit from the Chinese side. The writing was quite good, but the story was a little slow - but on a little more than 300 pages that is fine.

For me, an enjoyable read, but not re-readable. A good 3 stars.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fictionalized account of Ruri Pilgrim’s family from the 1870’s to the 1950’s. Japan in the 19th century for the middle classes was a formal and secure society. They had walled compounds with attentive servants, followed traditions like arranged marriage that stretched back into the distant past.

The early 20th century found her mother living in Japanese occupied Manchuria in China and married to an engineer. She recounts various her experience with the native Chinese population, and after the start of the Second World War the Russians arrived. At the end of the War the Japanese families had to walk hundreds of miles to the coast to catch boats back to Japan.

The country they returned to had been shattered by war. Not only from the two atomic bombs, but the country was overrun with Americans, but the formal and rigid society that had defined them was no more. In spite of all this her mother survived, and raised her children.
This is a relatively easy read, and through the lives of a family brings to life part of Japan’s history and culture. The only problem was it wasn’t very exciting. There are numerous family members, neighbours and other characters in here, and it wasn’t always easy to work out who was who in the narrative. Definitely a book for the dedicated fan of all things Japanese.

[Anu-vinkkari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kiinnostava ja sujuvalukuinen tarina japanin historiasta kolmen sukupolven naisten kertomana. Kirja oli löytö sikäli, että Japanin historia on ainakin itselleni aika tuntematonta, kouluissa ei sitä juuri opetettu.
Kirjan tarinat pohjautuvat oikeasti olemassa olleiden henkilöiden elämään ja ainakin itselleni juonellisen ja dramatisoidun tarinan muodossa uudet tiedonmurut siirtyvät todella helposti ja viihdyttävästi täydentämään olemassa olevaa kokonaiskuvaa. Aikamoisia elämänkohtaloita.

Historiasta tykkääville ja japanista ja sen kulttuurista kiinnostuneille

[Nyree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting read, easy language, unfortunately it took me too long to read and there were so many characters I forgot which were which by the time I got to the end

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book chronicles the lives of three generations of a Japanese family over a period of time spanning from the turn of the century through to the aftermath of the Pacific War. This was a very interesting account of how Japanese culture, society and attitude changed over this time. Told through the eyes of a fictional family (with an emphasis on the female members of the family), the book introduces a lot of likeable and credible characters. The only drawback to this was that there were so many characters, I found myself constantly flicking back through the book to work out who was who. If you can put up with that, it’s well worth reading.

[Aram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book 6 years ago and I still remember it fondly. A wonderfully woven story.

[Kate M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story of three generations of a Japanese family, the first generation seemed to have bee skipped through quite quickly. It started before the 2nd World War, and followed and focussed more on a woman Haruko in the 2nd generation, and her husband's life as they started married life in Japan and then ,over to China during before and during the 2nd World War. there was no mention made of the atrocities during the war, the focus was rather on day to day family life, and then when Russia came into China, the hardships faced by Haruko and her family.

Early in the book There was a lot about the traditional ceremonies and traditions around marriage which I found interesting. Towards the end when Haruko and Nozomi's daughter (who gets a university scholarship to study thermodynamics in the USA) is writing home, she mentions that some multicultural university students she is presenting with about their countries, mention the atrocities committed during the war to their countries/families by the Japanese. She said when it came to her turn to talk, what could she say. This is the only mention really about the atrocities. It was interesting to have the perspective on the regular families during this period, as I guess there have been many books written about the horrors of this war when the Japanese entered.

I gave the book 3 stars as there was something in the reading that didn't quite flow. The interest and subject of the book could easily have been a 4 but not for me. I think next time I read a book where the names of the characters are in a language that isn't familiar to me, it will be helpful to write the characters down as they are introduced so I can keep track of who is who. It was also confusing for me to have the titles that are used (even though there is a glossary of Japanese words) i.e. Oji-Osama -grandfather; Obasan-Aunt etc, and abbreviations of these following or proceeding someone's name i.e. Emi-chan, 'Okahsan, Eiko-chan's otohsan......'

[Ofelia]

This is a very hard book to rate. There were some parts in this book that I really loved and thought were very beautifully written. However I had a bit of a hard time connecting with the story at times. It might have been due to the fact that the writing felt a bit off sometimes. Further I read a Swedish translation of this book (since it previously belonged to my grandma) and that may have been a reason for the writing not being so good at times. I also thought it was a bit tricky keeping track of all the characters and their names. I thought some of the characters were too briefly introduced to later appear again without any explanation to who they were.

With that said I loved some of the characters in this book, especially the relationship between Sachiko and Haruko, and their reunion after the war did pull at my heartstrings. I also loved the scene later that day when Haruko, her sisters, Sachiko and Takeko, and their mother are lying in a room about to sleep and just reminiscing about the old times when they were young. They laughed and talked so loud that the whole house could hear them.

Lastly, I thought that the ending was very good. Haruko strikes paths with a person from her past that she hasn't seen since she was young and I was happily surprised.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting- not quite a fictionalised memoir, I believe, as the characters themselves were invented but their experiences are based heavily of those of the authors mother and her family. It is a neat little time capsule of the decades pre and post WW2 in Japan for the wealthy, but all commentary on events feels very coloured by this viewpoint. The section about the family living in Manchuria yet seemingly unaware of conditions in that region of China for the locals seemed a bit suspicious to me, but maybe I'm underestimating the rigorous censorship at the time.

[Marianne Aasen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Norsk oversettelse: "En samurai dør stående". En generasjonsbok som på enkelte måter var fengende, men litt enstonig. Mangler en sterk fortellerstemme.

[Reija Haapanen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yllättävän hyvä löytökirja. Kertoo japanilaisen suvun tarinaa vuosikymmenien ajalta, melko toteavasti, mutta itselle tuntematon kulttuuri tuo tarinaan mielenkiintoa.

[Marty Greenwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave it a 4 due to the "on and on" of the characters. Liked that it went through history of Japan. Read it while in Japan. Picked up earlier on the trip

[Siv30 · Rating 2 out of 5]

הוצאת מחברות לספרות, 2003, 358 עמ'

רומן אוטוביוגרפי מבוסס על חיי אימה של המחברת. זוהי סאגה המתארת את חיי שלוש דורות במשפחה יפנית מיווא-שילאי החל מפתח המאה ה- 19 ועד שנות ה-70. המשפחה החיה על חוף ימת סטו וילדיה מתפזרים ביפן. ההסיטוריה של המשפחה שזורה בהיסטוריה של יפן (מלחמת העולם השניה ממש דומינטטית, החיים במנצ'וריה, החיים בטוקיו).

הכתיבה ממש לא רעה ואפילו נוגעת ללב, אבל התחלופה של הדמויות עושה סחרחורת ואני לא הצלחתי להתמודד איתה כמו שצריך. מעבר לכך, כמובן קיימת ברקע הבעיה של המונחים שממש יוצרים עומס על הקורא.

אולי יום אחד אני עוד אחזור אליו.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gentle look into Japanese culture pre and post WWII. The end gets slightly tedious, but no book is perfect. Written in a smooth, flowing style without embellishment it tells the tale of three generations of women in a Japanese family.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great family history of a country not usually written about. Well crafted. Althought there are lots of characters they are all fully developed. A difficult time in history covered faithfully.

[Sophie Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating and touching fictionalised account of the author's mother's life, from around 1900 to the post war period. Great to get a general context for changing Japanese society in that time.

[Ariel Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book which makes you wish writer had written more. Still good as when i read it years ago.

[NoBeatenPath · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slightly mawkish Japanese family saga - didn't really live up to its promise

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the second half of this book, the first half reminded me of an inferior reflection of Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters. The second half is seemingly more descriptive due to the novel's autobiographical nature and it was interesting to see how the family dealt with the war and it's aftermath.
I liked the use of the Japanese terms like Otohsan.
I didn't have the problems with so many characters as others have mentioned in their reviews, but then again I have no problems with other novels that have many characters like A Song of Ice and Fire or Water and Peace. My only criticism in relation to this is that the family tree is only partially completed, there are a few characters who do not have names and I think in one instance they are named in the text.
It would have been nice to have a map or two (even if fictional), I was confused by the fact that one of the families moved early on and I couldn't find the names of the towns on Google.