David Charney is a polymath. He is a Karate champion, he is an avid fan of Japan, and on top of that, he is also a Vice President in a cosmetic company. Trying his hand at writing a book, I will have to admit that he does a decent fist of it.
Don’t get me wrong: he is no Stephen King. This story is fairly amateurish, but keeps your interest. The characters are shallow and stereotypical and the story does not have a depth to it. Even the great twist at the end is not surprising because you can see it coming miles away. However, it is not a bad story and at the end of it, you do not get a sense of having wasted your time reading it. Let us see the story.
Lady Masaka is in labour and is brought to the castle of Lord Pumio. It seems to be an unwanted child. She claims it was given by God.
Isao wants to flee the village with wife Shinobu and children Akika and Mutsu due to debts. They take refuge with the Buddhist priest xxx.
Meanwhile, Yoshi, the now adolescent son of Lady Masaka, is getting an education and loves Nami but she seems to have got engaged to the evil Lord Chikara. Her brother Ietaki is a rebellious young man. The priest is indeed a cousin who had chosen religion. Ietaki and the priest are sympathetic to the poor while the aristocratic Uncle Fumio and the aristocrat wanna be Yoshi do not even consider them human.
Yoshi tries to come to the rescue of the priest (his cousin) Genkai and ends up slapping the powerful Chikara after the latter insults him too.
Chikara cannot let the insult go and challenges Yoshi to a duel and after Yoshi surrendered, he still tries to strike him and Genkai steps in and is killed. Yoshi is inconsolable.
It is interesting that the term for suicide in Japanese is Seppeku. What we know as “Hara-kiri” really means stomach splitting and is a coarse way of describing the act (at least according to this book).
Yoshi and Ietaka decide to leave town and go to Kyoto, where Yoshi kills a Samurai Policeman to protect Ietaka in a large crowd.
Yoshi then proceeds to behave like a complete idiot (or impetuously, as youth are wont to do, depending on your viewpoint) by repeatedly drawing attention to himself among searching troops and running away just in time – like kids who press the calling bell and run in suburban neighbourhoods.
Hanzo was a soldier who decided to stay hidden faced with a suicidal attack by his army and his lord. He was too timid to be a sumo wrestler, in spite of his huge physique and failed as a Samurai – he did not have the ruthlessness to win. He is adopted by an iron smith, learns the trade and also marries the eldest daughter of the smith, who treats him as a son (The smith has only three daughters). When his wife and the to be born son both die in childbirth, Hanzo quits and moves to another city and lives in constant reminder of his earlier shame and founds his own smithy.
He finds an exhausted Yoshi near death, saves him and brings him up as his own son. Yoshi gets strong, works in swordmaking and learns amazing sword fighting techniques from Hanzo.
The cover says that this is a story about “feudal Japan”. What it omits to say is that it is a children’s story. The characters are all two dimensional, as if you are reading a graphic novel. Even the death of Hanzo at the hands of the evil Samurai, who are the men of the evil landlord Kichibei (who is an underling of his old enemy Chikara – is it formulaic enough for you already? ) is flat and lifeless. Very insipid dialogs – the “I will avenge you father” kind of thing – is so cliche. Yoshi seems so credulous that he will buy the Eiffel Tower off of you if you chose to sell him that but is saved by a lot of people who like him. This could be titled “Sensei – A bumbling idiot saved by a series of people who like him” and you would know the entire story. As a children’s story, yes, it has some merit, but not as a serious novel.
He comes back just in time to see Hanzo killed and takes revenge killing all of Kichibei’s samurais and also attacking Kichibei himself, killing him. After barely escaping from pursuing troops, he then goes to the master swordsman xxx to learn the art of sword fighting.
Through a jealous deputy, Kichibei’s men find him at the school and a fight ensues. He is grievously wounded and is saved by Ichikei, his tutor and friend.
He is sent back to Uncle Fumio and learns that Chikara has lost his lands and wealth and fled the place but Nami lives with Fumio. He is still in love with her. When his teacher comes in with him and again they stupidly set themselves up for an ambush and his ex colleague, now embittered, now kills the teacher treacherously and gets killed in turn, Yoshi knows that he needs to return to the school and take over as the teacher (Sensei) to continue the tradition.
Meanwhile treason is brewing in the country. Kiyomori, the king’s chief advisor has a confidant called Yorisama who is really a traitor working for their opponents, the Minamoto clan. When the brother of the king, a weasely, cowardly man agrees to rebel against the king, Chikara swiftly has him captured and killed. However, Chikara’s famous assistant challenges Yoshi for a combat and loses his life. Yoshi spends a night with Nami with assassins waiting to kill him. He fights with a multitude of them and survives.
When a drunk lieutenant of Chikara challenges Yomi to a duel and dies, Yomi openly challenges Chikara. There is a fight that ensues with predictable results. The twist I talked of is revealed just before the fight.
Not bad for an author who tried his hand at it on the side. 5/ 10
– – Krishna
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