{"description": "After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen--Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne's loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss, and he is torn between two worlds that will each be forever changed.\r\n\r\nPowerful and engrossing, capturing both the rich pageantry and stark realities of life in feudal Japan, Sh\u014dgun is a critically acclaimed powerhouse of a book. Heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat action melds seamlessly with intricate historical detail and raw human emotion. Endlessly compelling, this sweeping saga captivated the world to become not only one of the best-selling novels of all time but also one of the highest-rated television miniseries, as well as inspiring a nationwide surge of interest in the culture of Japan. Shakespearean in both scope and depth, Sh\u014dgun is, as the New York Times put it, \"...not only something you read--you live it.\" Provocative, absorbing, and endlessly fascinating, there is only one: Sh\u014dgun.", "title": "Sh\u014dgun", "covers": [2394441, 6640534, 5335341], "first_sentence": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "Blackthorne was suddenly awake."}, "subject_places": ["Japan", "Anjiro", "Osaka", "Kyoto", "Edo", "Izu", "Sekigahara", "Kyushu"], "excerpts": [{"excerpt": "The gale tore at him and he felt its bite deep within and he knew that if they did not make a landfall in three days they would all be dead.", "comment": "Prologue", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"Leave the problems of God to God and karma to karma. Today you're here and nothing you can do will change that. Today you're alive and here and honored, and blessed with good fortune. Look at this sunset, it's beautiful, neh? This sunset exists. Tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. Please look. It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity. Lose yourself in it, make yourself one with nature and do not worry about karma, yours, mine, or that of the village.\"", "comment": "Chapter 31", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"Karma is the beginning of knowledge. Next is patience. Patience is very important. The strong are the patient ones, Anjin-san. Patience means holding back your inclination to the seven emotions: hate, adoration, joy, anxiety, anger, grief, fear. If you don't give way to the seven, you're patient, then you'll soon understand all manner of things and be in harmony with Eternity.\"", "comment": "Chapter 38", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"It's a saying they have, that a man has a false heart in his mouth for all the world to see, another in his breast to show his very special friends and his family, and the real one, the true one, the secret one, which is never known to anyone except himself alone, hidden only God knows where.\"", "comment": "Chapter 10", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"Love is a Christian word, Anjin-san. Love is a Christian thought, a Christian ideal. We have no word for \"love\" as I understand you to mean it. Duty, loyalty, honor, respect, desire, those words and thoughts are what we have, all that we need.\"", "comment": "Chapter 23", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"Only by living at the edge of death can you understand the indescribable joy of life.\"", "comment": "Chapter 56", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"Perhaps that is why we love life so much, Anjin-san. You see, we have to. Death is part of our air and sea and earth. You should know, Anjin-san, in this Land of Tears, death is our heritage.\"", "comment": "Chapter 29", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "Why not laughter when an enemy's outsmarted? Why not laughter to empty the tragedy from you when karma interrupts the beautiful death of a true samurai, when karma causes the useless death of a pretty girl? Isn't it only through laughter that we become one with the gods and thus can endure life and can overcome all the horror and waste and suffering here on earth? Like tonight, watching all those brave men meet their fate here, on this shore, on this gentle night, through a karma ordained a thousand lifetimes ago, or perhaps even one. Isn't it only through laughter we can stay human? Why doesn't the pilot realize he's governed by karma too, as I am, as we all are, as even this Jesus the Christ was, for, if the truth were known, it was only his karma that made him die dishonored like a common criminal with other common criminals, on the hill the barbarian priests tell about. All karma.", "comment": "Chapter 26", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"Of what real value is a title? The power is the only important thing. Goroda never became Sh\u014dgun. Nakamura was more than content as Kwampaku and later Taik\u014d. He ruled and that is the important thing. What does it matter that my brother-in-law was once a peasant? What does it matter that my family is ancient? What does it matter that you're low born? You're a general, a liege lord, even one of the Council of Regents.\"", "comment": "Chapter 12", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"Men need to whisper secrets, Lady. That's what makes them different from us \u2013 they need to share secrets, but we women only reveal them to gain an advantage. With a little silver and a ready ear \u2013 and I have both \u2013 it's all so easy. Yes. Men need to share secrets. That's why we're superior to them and they'll always be in our power.\"", "comment": "Chapter 50", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"It's always important to take time to study men \u2013 important men. Friends and enemies. To understand them.\"", "comment": "Chapter 60", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"We have a saying that time has no single measure, that time can be like frost or lightning or a tear or siege or storm or sunset, or even like a rock.\"", "comment": "Chapter 23", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "How can a man be so brave and so stupid, so gentle and so cruel, so warming and so detestable \u2013 all at the same time?", "comment": "Chapter 23", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"Always remember, child,\" her first teacher had impressed on her, \"that to think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral you down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that discipline \u2013 training \u2013 is about. So train your mind to dwell on sweet perfumes, the touch of this silk, tender raindrops against the shoji, the curve of this flower arrangement, the tranquillity of dawn. Then, at length, you won't have to make such a great effort and you will be of value to yourself, a value to our profession \u2013 and bring honor to our world, the Willow World...\"", "comment": "Chapter 5", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "...by universal custom, your enemy is never more polite than when he is planning or has planned your destruction.", "comment": "Chapter 18", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}, {"excerpt": "\"Why is she afraid?\" he asked. \"She's not, Anjin-san. Just a little nervous. Please excuse her. She's never seen a foreigner close to before.\"", "comment": "Chapter 29", "author": {"key": "/people/huginn4126"}}], "first_publish_date": "1975", "key": "/works/OL2918756W", "authors": [{"author": {"key": "/authors/OL444620A"}, "type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}}], "subject_times": ["Tokugawa period, 1600-1868", "Edo period, 1600-1868", "Azuchi-Momoyama period, 1568-1600", "1600"], "type": {"key": "/type/work"}, "subjects": ["Fiction", "Historical fiction", "History", "Spanish language books", "Fiction in English", "Warlords", "Adventure ficiton", "Samurai", "British in Japan", "Catholic Church", "Japan, fiction", "Fiction, historical, general", "Feudal Japan", "Shoguns", "Shogunate", "Politics", "Intrigue", "Cultural relations", "Adapted for Television", "Media Tie-In", "Japan", "Jesuits", "Missionaries", "Seppuku", "Daimyo", "Hatamoto", "Honor", "Loyalty", "Bushido", "Cultural Assimilation", "Forbidden Love", "Romance", "Battles", "War"], "identifiers": {"wikidata": ["Q1336124"]}, "subject_people": ["John Blackthorne (Miura Anjin - William Adams)", "Yoshi Toranaga (Tokugawa Ieyasu)", "Yoshi Sudara (Tokugawa Hidetada)", "Yoshi Naga (Matsudaira Tadayoshi)", "Ishido Kazunari (Ishida Mitsunari)", "Ochiba (Yodo-dono)", "Nakamura Yaemon (Toyotomi Hideyori)", "Onoshi (Otani Yoshitsugu)", "Harima (Arima Harunobu)", "Kiyama (Konishi Yukinaga)", "Sugiyama (Maeda Toshiie)", "Zataki (Matsudaira Sadakatsu)", "Toda Mariko (Hosokawa Gracia)", "Toda Hiro-matsu (Hosokawa Fujitaka)", "Toda Buntaro (Hosokawa Tadaoki)", "Toda Saruji (Hosokawa Tadatoshi)", "Kasigi Yabu (Honda Masanobu)", "Kasigi Omi (Honda Masazumi)", "Goroda (Oda Nobunaga)", "Taiko Nakamura (Toyotomi Hideyoshi)", "Akechi Jinsai (Akechi Mitsuhide)", "Genjiko (Oeyo)", "Martin Alvito (Jo\u00e3o Rodrigues)", "Johann Vinck (Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn)", "Spillbergen (Jacob Quaeckernaeck)", "Carlo dell'Aqua (Alessandro Valignano)", "Michael (Miguel Chijiwa)", "Ferriera"], "links": [{"title": "Wikipedia - Sh\u014dgun (novel)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dgun_(novel)", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Sh\u014dgun \u2014 JAMES CLAVELL", "url": "https://www.jamesclavell.com/shogun", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}], "latest_revision": 28, "revision": 28, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2009-12-10T01:03:59.519329"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2025-03-11T02:34:09.450297"}}