Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa [0]
By Eiji Yoshikawa
Translated from the Japanese by Charles S. Terry
Foreword by Edwin O. Reischauer
Kodansha International
Tokyo • New York • London
Poem on page 477, from The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology, translated by Witter Bynner from the texts of Kiang Kang-Hu, Copyright 1929 and renewed by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Publication of this book was assisted by a grant from the Japan Foundation. First published in the Japanese language, © Fumiko Yoshikawa 1971.
Distributed in the United States by Kodansha America, Inc., and in the United Kingdom and continental Europe by Kodansha Europe Ltd.
Published by Kodansha International Ltd., 17-14 Otowa 1-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 1128652, and Kodansha America, Inc.
Copyright © 1981 by Fumiko Yoshikawa. All rights reserved. Printed in Japan.
LCC 80-8791
ISBN-13: 978-4-7700-1957-8
ISBN-10: 4-7700-1957-2
First edition, 1981
First this edition, 1995
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www.kodansha-intl.com
Contents
Foreword
by Edwin O. Reischauer
BOOK I • EARTH
The Little Bell
The Comb
The Flower Festival
The Dowager’s Wrath
The Art of War
The Old Cryptomeria Tree
The Rock and the Tree
The Birth of Musashi
BOOK II • WATER
The Yoshioka School
The Wheel of Fortune
Encounter and Retreat
The Water Sprite
A Spring Breeze
The Hōzōin
Hannya Plain
The Koyagyū Fief
The Peony
Jōtarō’s Revenge
The Nightingales
BOOK III • FIRE
Sasaki Kojirō
Reunion in Osaka
The Handsome Young Man
The Seashell of Forgetfulness
A Hero’s Passing
The Drying Pole
Eagle Mountain
The Mayfly in Winter
The Pinwheel
The Flying Horse
The Butterfly in Winter
The Announcement
The Great Bridge at Gojō Avenue
BOOK IV • WIND
The Withered Field
A Man of Parts
Too Many Kojirōs
The Younger Brother
A Mother’s Love
The Urbane Craftsman
Reverberations in the Snow
The Elegant People
The Broken Lute
A Sickness of the Heart
The Scent of Aloeswood
The Gate
A Toast to the Morrow
The Death Trap
A Meeting in the Moonlight
Stray Geese
The Spreading Pine
An Offering for the Dead
A Drink of Milk
Entwining Branches
The Male and Female Waterfalls
BOOK V • SKY
The Abduction
The Warrior of Kiso
Poisonous Fangs
A Maternal Warning
A One-Night Love Affair
A Gift of Money
A Cleansing Fire
Playing with Fire
A Cricket in the Grass
The Pioneers
Slaughter by the Riverside
Shavings
The Owl
A Plate of Loaches
Like Teacher, Like Pupil
Mountain Devils
First Planting
The Flies
The Soul Polisher
The Fox
An Urgent Letter
Filial Piety
Spring Shower in Red
A Block of Wood
The Deserted Prophet
The Talk of the Town
BOOK VI • SUN AND MOON
A Chat with the Men
Buzzing Insects
The Eagle
Green Persimmons
Eyes
Four Sages with a Single Light
The Locust Tree
Tadaaki’s Madness
The Poignancy of Things
Two Drumsticks
The Demon’s Attendant
Brother Disciples
The Pomegranate
Land of Dreams
The Challenge
The Gateway to Glory
The Sound of Heaven
BOOK VII • THE PERFECT LIGHT
The Runaway Ox
Hemp Seed
Sweepers and Salesmen
A Pear Blossom
The Port
The Writing Teacher
The Circle
Shikama Blue
The Mercy of Kannon
The Tides of Life
The Evening Boat
A Falcon and a Woman
Before the Thirteenth Day
At Daybreak
The Marriage
The Soul of the Deep
Foreword
by Edwin O. Reischauer
Edwin O. Reischauer was born in Japan in 1910. He was a professor at Harvard University and was Professor Emeritus until his death in 1990. He was the United States Ambassador to Japan from 1961 to 1966, and was one of the best-known authorities on the country. Among his numerous works are Japan: The Story of a Nation and The Japanese.
Musashi might well be called the Gone with the Wind of Japan. Written by Eiji Yoshikawa (1892-1962), one of Japan’s most prolific and best-loved popular writers, it is a long historical novel, which first appeared in serialized form between 1935 and 1939 in the Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s largest and most prestigious newspaper.