6/12/2023 0 Comments Taiko by eiji yoshikawa![]() Those who have read James Clavell's Shogun may recall references to the Taiko who preceded Toranaga (who was modeled after Tokugawa Ieyasu). In the Western world, however, he remains a very obscure figure indeed. But currently, NHK, the Japanese equivalent of the British BBC, is showing a spectacular year-long television series titled "Nobunaga: King of Zipangu" in which Hideyoshi will play a major role. His life story, or more precisely, conveniently selected highlights thereof, still serves as inspiration to innumerable Japanese trying to make it in today's hierarchy.Īfter so many versions of Hideyoshi's life in hundreds of biographies, novels, comic books, television docu-dramas and movies, you'd think the appetite for Taiko-lore in Japan would be sated. In a feudal world where pedigree really mattered, peasant-born Hideyoshi managed to surpass even the ablest nobles. ![]() ![]() ![]() His background was even humbler than that of the Corsica-born emperor, his physical stature even smaller, and throughout his life, the nickname "monkey" clung to him. TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI (1536-1598), also known by his title, Taiko ("retired imperial regent"), is as familiar to the Japanese as Napoleon Bonaparte is to the French. TAIKO An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan By Eiji Yoshikawa Translated from the Japanese by William Scott Wilson Kodansha International. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |