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Title: Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai by Katsu Kokichi, Craig Teruko, Katsu, Ando Hiroshige ISBN: 0-8165-1256-6 Publisher: University of Arizona Press Pub. Date: July, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The life of a low-life
Comment: Katsu Kokichi (the name used by the younger Musui) was a brutish, petty man. His autobiography is a series of repeating vignettes, stealing from the people who tried to help, running afoul of the law without quite ruining himself or his family, leading neighborhood protection rackets, spending himself into deep debt, and beating his wife. At age 21, he was still running away from home when things got tough, in a day when a 15-year-old might be head of a household. Somehow, though, he never reached a status I could call 'evil' - his wrongs were all too small and meaningless.
Although the translation is very readable, I found the book hard to read. I am sad to say that I've known people like Katsu, seemingly bent on screwing up their lives and never wholly succeeding. Katsu's story hit just a little too close to home for me to enjoy the reading. I was morbidly fascinated, though, by the similarity of today's losers to a fallen samurai of the early 19th century.
The translation is modern and well-written, a very good rendering of a very unpleasant man. I do not fault the translation, just the material being translated. Still, Musui's story is an interesting contrast to writings by more honest and educated writers. It fills in the grubby flip-side of Japanese history of the era. It's not a view I like to see, but it's honest in a strange way. Even when he conspicuously lies to his reader, Katsu still reveals his true self. This is not a book that will appeal to everyone, but some readers will find value in it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Three Cheers for Japanese Humor
Comment: This book is one of the funniest I've ever read -- no joke. I was laughing in tears when Katsu fell from a cliff and injuried his genitals, and then his son almost died when his were bitten by a wild dog. Also, he was insulted once by a drunk Shinto priest, pleased the peasants by lying about their koku output, and locked in a cage by his own family for several years. In addition to the above humors, he was involved in numerous comical fights, such as one at a Shrine and another involving his entire neighborhood.
Katsu, a low-ranking Samarai during the late-Tokugawa Era, was a man without the traditional Samarai ethical code. He worked in Edo's "redlight district," stole from family members, beat his wife, and insulted his nephews regarding their dead brother. Katsu was a skilled swordsman, however, having defeated countless enemies. Katsu learned to read and write at age 20, and the book reflects his low-level of literacy. He wrote it in recollection after having taken the religious name "Musui." Katsu died right before the Meji Restoration, so the book offers a good glimpse into a secluded Japan.
Rating: 5
Summary: Musui's story
Comment: i need 3 to 4 pages of review
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Title: Chushingura by Donald Keene ISBN: 0231035314 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $19.50 |
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Title: Women of the Mito Domain: Recollections of Samurai Family Life by Kate Wildman Nakai, Yamakawa Kikue, Kikue Oboegaki Bakumatsu No Mito-Han Yamakawa ISBN: 0804731497 Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike: Being Two Thirteenth-Century Japanese Classics, the "Hojoki" and Selections from the "Heike Monogatari" (Tut Books. L) by Chomei Kamo, A. L. Sadler ISBN: 0804808791 Publisher: Charles E Tuttle Co Pub. Date: June, 1971 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Japan Before Perry by Conrad Totman ISBN: 0520041348 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: June, 1982 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Japanese Experience: A Short History of Japan by W. G. Beasley ISBN: 0520225600 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: July, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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