Upon Rereading A Big Ole Book

Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan by Eiji Yoshikawa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I first read this a long time ago, and it's still awesome. Largely a biography of Toyotomi Hideyoshi--though more than just that--it narrates Hideyoshi's rise from poverty to samurai status, from samurai to general under Oda Nobunaga, and then from general to undisputed leader of Japan. His career is astonishing, so unlikely that it seems impossible, but his success shows how a man of ability, under the right circumstances, with enough determination, can be recognized for his strengths and literally rise through the ranks, even if he's funny looking and comes from nowhere.

It's not quite panegyric. We see that Hideyoshi isn't always in the right and that he's flawed. Not only does he make mistakes, some of which cost numerous lives, but he isn't always honorable in his personal life. He neglects his wife and family and spends too much time drinking and sleeping with other women. Still, he's admirable in his own way, even from the perspective of the present. For a samurai in the (arguably) most violent period in Japanese history, he avoids war where possible; his diplomacy (if the author can be believed) was more successful than his military campaigns. In service of diplomacy, he is willing to forgive and forget everything, all past hurts, in such a Zen/Vulcan way that he wins converts among his enemies. He is more interested in building than destroying and always tries to promote the economic health of the country. He shows no excess pride, almost always choosing good advice regardless of where it comes from, almost always willing to take the first step to mend fences. And his creativity, his unique gift for seeing things in a new way, is inspiring.

Of course, this is a novel, and the real man may have been entirely different. I dunno.

The translation is very readable, though the style feels odd to a modern Western reader. The dialogue is a bit stilted--perhaps an artifact of the translation--and the action is told in a very breezy way. There's not a lot of world-building or description, and the perspective is almost entirely that of the generals and other leaders. Commoners show up here and there, but they are almost part of the scenery. I'm not sure what the opposite of "gritty" might be, but--despite the extreme violence throughout--this is not a gritty novel. I guess the style of old westerns, where a cowboy or bandit gets shot and just falls over dead, is a pretty close analogue. We don't spend much time with the shouts and curses of the wounded as they bleed in the mud; the narrative rises above that, with a bird's-eye view that isn't quite sterilized but is far from scandalous.

It works pretty well.

This is a giant book with thousands of characters, but it's not a hard read. Just a long one. Recommended for readers of historical novels.

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