Yasushi Inoue
Список книг автора Yasushi InoueSamurai Banner of Furin Kazan
The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan presents an accurate portrait of this era in Japanese history. Originally published in Japanese in 1959, this classic novel by Yasushi Inoue takes place during the Japanese Warring Era (1467-1573)—a time when a fractured Japan was ruled by three powerful young warlords: Takeda Shingen, Iwagawa Yoshimoto and Hojo Ujiyasu. The story focuses on Takeda Shingen and his one-eyed, crippled strategist, Yamamoto Kansuke. The brilliant strategies of Kansuke, inspired by his passion for war and his admiration for his enemies' war tactics, are beautifully expressed throughout this book.Takeda Shingen—a proud and confident warlord—wants to expand his territory. When he retains the ambitious and mysterious Yamamoto Kansuke—a masterless, unheralded samurai—as his war strategist, he discovers a bold and cunning collaborator. Kansuke's talents at diplomacy and his prescient understanding of war strategy leads Shingen's clan to great success, a path which leads the pair to Princess Yuu. When Kansuke discovers her among the ruins of a castle he has just captured, she is about to commit ritual suicide, jigaki . Kansuke falls under her spell—and convinces her to live to carry on her family's lineage. The conflicting ambitions of Shingen, Kansuke, and Princess Yuu are at the heart of this complex and intensely dramatic story. Each of the three needs the others in order to attain their goals. In the end, the lines between who is using whom are blurred beyond understanding.Though there's some doubt as to whether Kansuke really existed, the historical narrative and depictions of daily life present a unique and engaging look at the end of the feudal era in Japan.
Counterfeiter and Other Stories
"These three stories illustrate Inoue's versatility, his mastery of detail and his control of narrative structure. Inoue presents the tale as mystery and solution, the tale as psychoanalytic exploration…, the tale as emblematic social history."—Arizona QuarterlyIn The Counterfeiter, a writer is commissioned to write the biography of a famous painter but becomes fascinated by a man who produced forgeries of the artist's work. Obasute concerns a man's obsession with a legend of old women being taken to a mountain and abandoned, and his interpretation of the actions of members of his family in light of this legend. The Full Moon is a story of company politics, particularly the rise and fall of firm's president, told largely through incidents at annual company parties.Yasushi Inoue was born in 1907. He rose quickly to become one of Japan's most important contemporary writers, winning almost every major Japanese literary prize. Inoue died in 1991.
