RYŌMA!: The Life of Sakamoto Ryoma: Japanese Swordsman and Visionary Volume II

RYŌMA!: The Life of Sakamoto Ryoma Japanese Swordsman and Visionary #2

by Ryōtarō Shiba

"Ryōma!" tells the life story of Sakamoto Ryoma, one of the great figures in the turmoil that engulfed Japan in the years before the 1868 Meiji Restoration. The novel is a masterwork by the prolific historical novelist Shiba Ryotaro and has sold more than 24 million copies in Japan since publication in 1966—and still counting!
The novel has everything: a winning main character, an action-packed plot, swordfights, and romance, but it is also a fascinating, easy-to-digest history lesson about Japan’s response to the shocking arrival of United States Commodore Matthew Perry’s “Black Ships” off the shores of Japan in 1853. Shiba manages to juggle historical events of those days to tell a rollicking story, and he is helped tremendously by the engaging Sakamoto Ryoma, who starts out as an apolitical, low-ranking samurai from the countryside, a young nobody whose greatest wish is to improve his swordfighting skills in Edo. But Ryoma gets caught up in the drama of his times and, at first unwillingly but later with great gusto, he feels that it is his duty to help his country join other nations of the world. Shiba takes us through the chain of events that galvanize Ryoma and turn him into a popular national hero.
"Ryoma!" is a page-turner of high drama and lofty ideals, leavened with witty dialogue and lovingly detailed swordfights.
This is Volume II of a four-volume series.

517 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2018

About the author

Ryōtarō Shiba (司馬 遼太郎) born Teiichi Fukuda (福田 定一 Fukuda Teiichi, August 7, 1923 – February 12, 1996) in Osaka, Japan, was a Japanese author best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the rest of the world.

Shiba studied Mongolian at the Osaka School of Foreign Languages (now the School of Foreign Studies at Osaka University) and began his career as a journalist with the Sankei Shimbun, one of Japan's major newspapers. After World War II Shiba began writing historical novels. The magazine Shukan Asahi printed Shiba's articles about his travels within Japan in a series that ran for 1,146 installments. Shiba received the Naoki Prize for the 1959 novel Fukuro no Shiro ("The Castle of an Owl"). In 1993 Shiba received the Government's Order of Cultural Merit. Shiba was a prolific author who frequently wrote about the dramatic change Japan went through during the late Edo and early Meiji periods. His most monumental works include Kunitori Monogatari (国盗り物語), Ryoma ga Yuku (竜馬がゆく; see below), Moeyo Ken, and Saka no ue no kumo (坂の上の雲), all of which have spawned dramatizations, most notably Taiga dramas aired in hour-long segments over a full year on NHK television. He also wrote numerous essays that were published in collections, one of which—Kaidō wo Yuku—is a multi-volume journal-like work covering his travels across Japan and around the world. Shiba is widely appreciated for the originality of his analyses of historical events, and many people in Japan have read at least one of his works.

Several of Shiba's works have been translated into English, including his fictionalized biographies of Kukai (Kukai the Universal: Scenes from His Life, 2003) and Tokugawa Yoshinobu (The Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, 2004), as well as The Tatar Whirlwind: A Novel of Seventeenth-Century East Asia (2007).

(from Wikipedia)

Alternative Names:

Fukuda, Teiichi
Ryotaro, Shiba
Shiba, Ryoutarou
Ryoutarou, Shiba
Sima, Liaotailang
司馬遼太郎
司马辽太郎
Shiba, Rëotaro
Шиба, Рёотаро
司马辽太郎
司馬, 遼太郎
司馬遼太郎
司場遼太郎

Reviews

[Stefan Andrei · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a slower and less adventurous read than the first volume, but at the same time, it was thoroughly enjoyable and rich in historical details. Ryōtarō Shiba paints an authentic picture of Japan in the time of Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration.

I can only lament not having the 3rd volume in english..yet.

[Koit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have praised many a work by Mr Shiba -- this one is no different. From the ending of the first volume, the second one takes the reader forward into a time when the main character's dreams seem as if they could be achieved -- and only a few years of Sakamoto's life remain to be detailed. 

I found this a slow read even though I enjoyed it. It is, however, that the world into which the reader is brought is incredibly detailed. There are scores of names that come through out script; dozens of people interact with our character. I found one particular detail amusing: where a few of Sakamoto's followers had joined him in Edo, the author had found the strength of will to depict how they were housed until they left a few days later. This commitment to the littlest detail is absolutely praiseworthy.

What I have also come to respect more is the author's innate ability to typify things. No matter what subject comes through, Mr Shiba's pen highlights the most relevant aspects of it, allowing even a total stranger to this time and place to understand everything perfectly. I could understand if the repetition of some of these themes would become too much for some readers (such as the distinctions between Tosa and the other domains), but I can only revel in it.

This review was originally posted on my blog.

[Borislav Itskov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of very good, explained in detail historical moments. Japan's history is good enough for a novel.

[Ad · Rating 5 out of 5]

See my review of the first novel of this series at my blog: https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/20...