Ryōtarō Shiba

In thisJapanese name,thesurnameisShiba.

Teiichi Fukuda(Phúc điền định nhất,August 7, 1923 – February 12, 1996),also known asRyōtarō Shiba(Tư mã liêu thái lang),was a Japanese author. He is best known for hisnovels about historical eventsin 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.

Ryōtarō Shiba
Ryōtarō Shiba in 1964
Born	(1923-08-07)August 7, 1923 Osaka,Japan
Died	February 12, 1996(1996-02-12)(aged 72) Osaka,Japan
Occupation	Writer
Genre	historical novel,detective fiction

Career

Shiba took his pen name fromSima Qian,the greatHan dynastyhistorian (Shiba is the Japanese rendition of Sima).He studiedMongolianat the Osaka School of Foreign Languages (now the School of Foreign StudiesatOsaka University) and began his career as a journalist with theSankei Shimbun,one of Japan's major newspapers.AfterWorld War IIShiba began writing historical novels. The magazineShukan Asahi(ja: Chu khan triều nhật) printed Shiba's articles about his travels within Japan in a series that ran for 1,146 installments. Shiba received theNaoki Prizefor the 1959 novelFukurō no Shiro( "Castle of Owls" ). 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 lateEdoand earlyMeijiperiods. His most monumental works includeKunitori Monogatari,Ryoma ga Yuku(see below),Moeyo Ken,andSaka no Ue no Kumo,all of which have spawned dramatizations, most notablyTaiga dramasaired in hour-long segments over a full year onNHKtelevision. 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, includingDrunk as a Lord: Samurai Stories(2001), his fictionalized biographies ofKukai(Kukai the Universal: Scenes from His Life,2003) andTokugawa Yoshinobu(The Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu,2004), as well asThe Tatar Whirlwind: A Novel of Seventeenth-Century East Asia(2007) andClouds Above the Hill(2012, 2013, 2014).

Ryōma Goes His Way

One of Shiba's best known works,Ryōma Goes His Way(Long mã がゆく,Ryōma ga Yuku),is a historical novel aboutSakamoto Ryōma,asamuraiwho was instrumental in bringing about Japan'sMeiji Restoration,after which values and elements from Western culture were introduced into the country, sparking dramatic change.The lateEdo periodwas a very confused time when the country split into two factions. Japan had banned international trade for over two hundred years andisolated itselffrom the rest of the world. During the Edo period, theJapanese government,which was led by theTokugawa clan,had agreed to open the country to trade with the United States and several European countries. However, many people were against this and they started a movement calledSonnō-Jōi(revere theemperorand expel thebarbarians). They believed that they should stand up and fight the foreigners to protect the country from outside domination. The Tokugawa had usurped political power from theemperor,but he was still considered by many to be the sacred symbol of Japan. To protect the country, the Sonnō-Jōi faction sought to restore the emperor's political authority by overthrowing theTokugawa shogunate.Partisans of these two political institutions caused civil war-like confusion, and assassinations were frequent.

InRyōma ga Yuku,Sakamoto Ryōma, the protagonist, starts out as a member of the Sonnō-Jōi faction but gradually realizes that people need to realize how much stronger other countries have grown during Japan's two centuries ofnational seclusion.Japan was almost powerless in the face of the technology and well-developed industry of the contemporary Western powers. He believed that Japan needed to adopt elements of Western culture to develop into a country that could stand equally among nations.

Sakamoto Ryōma was not well known in Japan prior to the publication ofRyōma ga Yuku.Ryōma ga Yukuis Shiba's best selling work in Japanese, with 21,250,000 copies sold.

Kaidō wo Yuku

Kaidō wo Yuku(Nhai đạo をゆく,"On the highways" )is a series of travel essays initially published inShūkan Asahi,a weekly magazine,from 1971 until 1996. Shiba wrote the series with an intercultural perspective, making observations about the history, geography, and people of the places he visited. Though mostly about different areas of Japan, the series includes several volumes on foreign lands as well—China, Korea, theNambancountries (Spain and Portugal), Ireland, the Netherlands, Mongolia, Taiwan, and New York.

The work, now available in multi-volume book form, was also developed into documentary series and broadcast onNHK,Japan'spublic televisionbroadcaster.

The series ran for 1,146 installments.

Clouds Above the Hill

Main article:Saka no Ue no Kumo

Another well-known work,Clouds Above the Hill(Bản の thượng の vân,Saka no Ue no Kumo),is a historical epic centering on the careers of two ambitious brothers who work their way up from a rural backwater to positions of eminence in the new post-1868Meiji period.In it, the Akiyama brothers strive to build a Japanese military capable of holding its own in an unstable region and theRusso-Japanese Warbecomes the central stage for their involvement in the frenzied modernisation and ascendancy of Japan in the region and subsequently, the world. It is Shiba's second best selling work in Japanese, with 14,750,000 copies sold.

Battles of Khalkhin Gol

Shiba began working on a novel based on theBattles of Khalkhin Goland conducted research. However, as he delved deeper into his research, his motivation to write dwindled.

"I started hating being Japanese."
"I can't understand this country Japan, which engages in such foolish acts."

In the end, he gave up writing.

Death

Shiba suffered internal bleeding and lapsed into a coma on February 10, 1996. He died two days later.

Works

Novels

• Fukurō no Shiro(1959)
• Zeeroku Bushido(Thượng phương võ sĩ đạo,1960)
• Kaze no Bushi(1961)
• Senun no yume(Chiến vân の mộng,1961)
• Fujin no mon(Phong thần の môn,1962)
• Ryoma ga Yuku(Long mã がゆく,1963–66)
• Moeyo Ken(1964)
• Shirikurae Magoichi(Khào đạm え tôn thị,1964)
• Komyo ga tsuji(Công danh が thập,1965)
• Shiro wo toru hanashi(Thành をとる thoại,1965)
• Kunitori monogatari(Quốc đạo り vật ngữ,1965)
• Yotte soro(Túy って hầu,1965), published in English asDrunk as a Lord
• Hokuto no hito(Bắc đấu の nhân,1966)
• Niwaka Naniwa yukyoden(Nga lãng hoa du hiệp vân,1966)
• Sekigahara(Quan ヶ nguyên,1966)
• Jūichibanme no shishi(Thập nhất phiên mục の chí sĩ,1967)
• Saigo no Shōgun(Tối hậu の tương quân,1967), translated into English asThe Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu,(ISBN1568363567) aboutTokugawa Yoshinobu.
• Junshi(Tuẫn tử,1967)
• Natsukusa no fu(Hạ thảo の phú,1968)
• Shinshi taikoki(Tân sử thái hợp ký,1968)
• Yoshitsune(Nghĩa kinh,1968)
• Touge(Tạp,1968)
• Musashi(Võ tàng,1968)
• Saka no ue no kumo(1969), translated into English asClouds Above the Hill(ISBN1138911968), a work of historical fiction about theRusso-Japanese War.
• Yōkai(Yêu quái,1969)
• Daitōzenshi(Đại đạo thiền sư,1969)
• Saigetsu(Tuế nguyệt,1969)
• Yoni sumu hibi(Thế に tê む nhật nhật,1971)
• Jousai(Thành tắc,1971–72)
• Kashin(Hoa thần,1972)
• Haō no ie(Bá vương の gia,1973)
• Harimanada monogatari(Bá ma than vật ngữ,1975)
• Tobu ga gotoku(Tường ぶが như く,1975–76)
• Kūkai no fukei(Không hải の phong cảnh,1975), translated into English asKukai the Universal: Scenes from his Life(ISBN4925080474) about the great Japanese monkKukaiwho founded theShingonschool and is said to have invented the Japanesekanawriting system.
• Kochō no yume(Hồ điệp の mộng,1979)
• Kouu to Ryūhō(Hạng vũ と lưu bang,1980)
• Hitobito no ashioto(ひとびとの cung âm,1981)
• Nanohana no oki(Thái の hoa の trùng,1982)
• Hakone no saka(Tương căn の bản,1984)
• Dattan shippuroku(Thát đát tật phong lục,1987), translated into English asThe Tatar Whirlwind: A Novel of Seventeenth-Century East Asia(ISBN1891640461), about the decline of the Ming dynasty, the rise of the Manchus and the interplay of these two periods in China's history with Tokugawa Japan.

Manga

• Moeyo Ken(2021–present) (written by Emeru Komatsu and illustrated by Yoshiki Kanata; serialized onComic Bunch Kai)
• Ryōma ga Yuku(2022–present) (illustrated byYū Suzunoki;serialized onShūkan Bunshun)

Honours

• Naoki Prize(1960)
• Kikuchi Kan Prize(1966)
• Yomiuri Prize(1981)
• Asahi Prize(1982)
• Person of Cultural Merit(1991)
• Order of Culture(1993)
• Junior Third Rank(1996, Posthumous)

See also

• Japanese literature
• Taiga drama
• Ōkunitama Shrine

External links

• Shiba Ryōtarō Memorial Museum
• Ryōtarō ShibaatIMDb
• Synopsis ofKukai the Universal: Scenes from His Life(Kukai no Fukei)at JLPP (Japanese Literature Publishing Project)(in English)