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Samurai
Samurai
Author: Shusaku Endo
Considered one of the late Shusaku Endo's finest works, The Samurai seamlessly combines historical fact with a novelist's imaginings. Set in the period preceding the Christian persecutions in Japan recorded so memorably in Endo's Silence, this book traces the steps of some of the first Japanese to set foot on European soil. The ...  more », without doubt one of the late Shusaku Endo's finest works, seamlessly combines historical fact with novelist's imaginings. Set in the period preceding the Christian persecutions in Japan, The Samurai traces the steps of some of the first Japanese to set foot on European soil. Rokuemon Hasekura, a low-ranking warrior, is chosen as one of Japan's envoys to the Viceroy of Mexico and Pope Paul V. The emissaries set sail in 1613, accompanied by an ambitious Franciscan missionary who hopes to bargain trading privileges with the West for the right to head his order in Japan. The arduous journey lasts four years, and the Japanese travel from Mexico to Rome, where they are persuaded that the success of their mission depends on their conversion willy-nilly to Christianity. In fact, the enterprise has been futile from the start and the mission returns to Japan where the political tides have shifted: the authorities are pursuing an isolationist policy and a ruthless stamping out of all Western influences. In the face of disillusionment and death, samurai Rokuemon's only support and solace come from the spiritual lord he is not even sure he believes in.
ISBN-13: 9780720605594
ISBN-10: 0720605598
Publication Date: 5/6/1982
Pages: 272
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Publisher: Owen, Peter Publishing
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
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 reviewed Samurai on + 6 more book reviews
The book is excellent-not easily put down. Endo, a Nobel Laureate, is a master. Now I go on to "Silence", another of his widely acclaimed works. Regards, RJR



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