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Blossoms & Shadows

Blossoms & Shadows

By Lian Hearn, Quercus Publishing, 2011, 400 pages, ISBN 978-0-85738-297-9; £12.99

Review by Susan Meehan

Blossoms and Shadows is an absolutely riveting piece of historical fiction which brings alive a fascinating period of late nineteenth century Japanese history.

The book begins in 1857 and spans ten years, which are the twilight of the Bakufu (the Shogun’s government) and febrile times.  These were heady times indeed as Western powers were expanding their power in Asia, the Bakufu was crumbling and revolution brewing. It is no accident that the book is set in Choshu, present-day Yamaguchi, for this domain, along with Satsuma, present-day Kagoshima, was vocal in wanting to keep foreigners or barbarians out of Japan and the emperor, a figurehead in Kyoto, restored to power.

Opposition to the Tokugawa Shogunate was many-sided and deeply divided. Alliances and loyalties also shifted. Many young men in Choshu were activists loyal to the emperor, brimming with a sense of adventure and destiny and willing to abandon their home ties in order to influence change in Japan. The agitators were not only from the samurai or warrior class, but also included townsmen and peasants as volunteer fighters.

Japan, which had been kept largely closed to the rest of the world from the late 1630s onwards was gradually being prised open. By 1854 the Treaty of Kanagawa had been signed opening the ports of Hakodate and Shimoda to the United States, and treaties were signed with Russia and the Netherlands in 1855. Extraterritoriality was granted to Americans in Japan in 1857 and commercial treaties were signed with the United States, Britain, Russia and France in 1858.

The book is replete with characters, some of whose names change depending on whether they’re using their adoptive family’s name, and events. It can’t be read half-heartedly and I admit to having reached page 234 and then re-commenced the book in order to read it with more care and attention. This was certainly worth the effort.

For those unfamiliar with Japanese history the book might prove difficult in places but the reader owes it to the author to persevere for it is Hearn who has done all the graft, i.e., years of research which she has then distilled and made accessible to us through this book. Making the effort with Hearn’s novel pays off as the reader is rewarded with a richly layered story set in remarkable times.

Hearn centres the book on a doctor’s family living in the village of Yuda in Choshu.  From this kernel the story sprawls out ambitiously, portraying a historically-based account of events gripping Japan at large. The Itasaki family itself can be perceived as being subversive, mirroring Choshu’s attacks on the status quo. Yunosuke Itasaki, the doctor and head of household, is an extremely enlightened man for his times being compassionate and with ambitions for his daughter Tsuru beyond marrying. Unusually for the times, he has her help him by preparing medicines and stitching up wounds.

Unlike many of his contemporaries who were frightened of foreigners, Yunosuke is descended from a family of rural physicians and studied in Nagasaki with men who had worked with Siebold (1796-1866), the first European to teach Western medicine in Japan, and Mohnike (1796-1866), another German physician who implemented the first nationwide smallpox vaccination in Japan. Yunosuke admired foreign scholars and had a collection of Dutch medical instruments, showing a readiness to move with the times.

Tsuru is a wonderful character; encouraged to become a doctor on the one hand, her mother tapped into other sensibilities by giving her a magic fan which unlocked her imagination. Tsuru herself is revolutionary and embodies the period described by Hearn. She is a modern female yearning to be a doctor and for more than a wifely role. Alas, things don’t pan out as hoped for and I wonder how far society and the position of women in Japanese society have improved since.

Shoin Yoshida [吉田 松陰] is one of many illuminaries who feature in the book and who really existed.  He was a brilliant intellectual who taught many of the illustrious individuals who went on to become leading lights in the new government (succeeding the Shogunate) such as Hirobumi Ito [伊藤 博文] and Aritomo Yamagata [山縣 有朋], both of whom  went on to become prime minister. These figures add to the book’s breadth and interest.

The book is divided into four parts. Hearn is wonderful at conjuring up place and in conveying the story of the Itasaki family. She has chapters dedicated to the wedding of Mitsue, Tsuru’s older sister, and of Tsuru herself. She also devotes chapters to historical activists such as Shinsaku Takasugi [高杉 晋作], Genzui Kusaka [久坂玄瑞], Shoin Yoshida and Ryoma Sakamoto [坂本 龍馬], and to other famous individuals such as Lord Sufu, Yoshinobu Tokugawa [徳川 慶喜] and Thomas Glover. Deftly weaving major historical events into her book, love, passion and intrigue are not missing either and keep the reader’s interest from ever waning.

Admittedly the love scenes can be a little contrived, even funny at times.  … “It was like sleeping with myself. I was both man and woman. I became him, and when it was over and we had fallen into the ecstasy that is near death, I was more myself that I had ever been.”  Tsuru turns out to have “insatiable lust” on occasion, surfacing from “the lake of desire.”

The history covered is quite incredible. That Choshu clansmen revolted against the Shogunate in 1865 and were able to defeat it with their superior discipline and equipment is simply extraordinary, as is the story of the Choshu Five who came over to study in England in 1863. The 150th anniversary of this event is sure to be celebrated widely in Japan and the UK in 2013.

On 3 January 1868, 17 year-old Mutsuhito published an edict restoring all power to him, the emperor, and abolishing the shogunate. The abolition of the Bakufu, the restoration of the emperor and the creation of a new political organisation is known as the Meiji Restoration. Emperor Mutshuhito (1850-1912) who called his reign Meiji (enlightened rule), witnessed fundamental change and modernisation in Japanese society. Choshu through such figures as Hirobumi Ito, Aritomo Yamagata and Koin Kido [木戸 孝允] dominated politics until the end of the century.

As Lian Hearn states in an interview included at the end of the book, the Meiji Restoration is up there with the French Revolution and American Civil War in terms of impact. The next instalment in the story of Japan featuring the last rebellion of the samurai in 1877 would make for another fascinating book.

Blossoms and Shadows and the historical period it spans came to mind when I read a review of Patricio Guzmán’s film Salvador Allende recently. All you need to do is substitute Chile with Japan in order to get a potted appraisal of what happened in Japan during the twilight of the Bakufu and the death rattle of the samurai, “What happened in Chile over a period of two decades does not have to do with a particular circumstance or a particular reality. It has to do with human nature, with dreams, hopes, cowardice and the most amazing callousness. And all this is universal enough to speak to anyone who wishes to listen.” (Pamela Biénzobas on Patricio Guzmán’s 2004 film Salvador Allende in “Senses of Cinema,” 8 February, 2005)

One of my few criticisms of the book is that it could do with a catchier title. I hope Blossoms and Shadows will also encourage readers to pick up Japanese history books.