The SamuraiNew Directions Publishing, 1997 - 272 The Samurai, without doubt one of the late Shusaku Endo's finest works, seamlessly combines historical fact with novelist's imaginings. Set in the period preceding the Christian persecutions in Japan, The Samurai traces the steps of some of the first Japanese to set foot on European soil. Rokuemon Hasekura, a low-ranking warrior, is chosen as one of Japan's envoys to the Viceroy of Mexico and Pope Paul V. The emissaries set sail in 1613, accompanied by an ambitious Franciscan missionary who hopes to bargain trading privileges with the West for the right to head his order in Japan. The arduous journey lasts four years, and the Japanese travel from Mexico to Rome, where they are persuaded that the success of their mission depends on their conversion willy-nilly to Christianity. In fact, the enterprise has been futile from the start and the mission returns to Japan where the political tides have shifted: the authorities are pursuing an isolationist policy and a ruthless stamping out of all Western influences. In the face of disillusionment and death, samurai Rokuemon's only support and solace come from the spiritual lord he is not even sure he believes in. |
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Kluczowe wyrazy i wyrażenia
Acapulco asked attendants audience battle become Christians believe beside bishops bowed candle Cardinal Cardinal Borghese castle Christians Council of Elders daimyō dark death deck domain elder statesmen emissaries everything eyes face Father Valente feel foreign gazed hands Hasekura head heard heart horse Ichisuke Indians Japan Japanese Jesuits journey King Kurokawa labours lance-corporals land letter listened lived looked Lord Ishida Lord Shiraishi Lord Tsumura Lord Velasco Lordship Luzon Madrid Manila marshland Matsuki merchants Mexico City mission missionary monastery muttered Nagasaki Naifu never nodded Nueva España ocean officers Ogatsu Padre peasants persecution Pope priest proselytizing realized return to Japan Riku samurai and Nishi Sevilla ship Shōgun silent smile Society of Jesus Spanish sailors stared stood Tanaka Tecali three envoys tiny told trade Tsukinoura uncle understand Veracruz Viceroy village voice voyage waves wind words Yozō
Popularne fragmenty
Strona 248 - ... gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed ; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Strona 144 - Behold, I send you forth as a lamb in the midst of wolves. Be ye, therefore, wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Strona 121 - I'm too old to return.' The renegade monk lowered his eyes to the ground. 'I ... wherever the Indians go, I shall go; where they stay, I shall stay. They need someone like me to wipe off their sweat when they are ill, to hold their hands at the moment of death. The Indians and I - we are both without a home.
Strona 67 - Lord Hasekura.' Nishi ran up behind him and grinned boyishly. 'Wouldn't you like to come and learn some Spanish?' The samurai nodded solemnly. They peered into the large cabin. The merchants were sitting in four rows in front of the stacks of cargo, each holding a brush and paper and intently copying down the foreign words which the interpreter was teaching them. '"How much is it?
Strona 26 - Once again the image of a great swarm of black ants crossing a puddle of water in search of food flashed before his eyes. In pursuit of profits from trade with Nueva Espana, the Japanese were at last on the verge of crossing the Pacific like black ants. The missionary sensed that he could use their greed to benefit the missionary cause. 'We can give them their profits, and in return be granted freedom to proselytize.
Strona 26 - ... Pacific like black ants. The missionary sensed that he could use their greed to benefit the missionary cause. 'We can give them their profits, and in return be granted freedom to proselytize.' The Jesuits did not have the skill to carry out such a transaction. Nor did the Dominicans or the Augustinians. Inept monks like Diego couldn't manage it. The missionary was confident that he alone could arrange such an exchange. To do so, he would have to erase the prejudices harboured by the Japanese....
Strona 257 - Don't worry,' he said gently to his wife. 'We should be grateful that the Hasekura family has not been obliterated, and that Yozd and the others were not punished.' From that day on, there were many times after everyone else had gone to sleep when the samurai would sit alone staring at the flames that darted after the withered branches. What had become of Nishi? He had probably received the same orders, but of course they had no way of communicating. When he closed his eyes, the scenes of Nueva Espana,...
Strona 137 - Konishi Yukinaga and Takayama Ukon.* If that had been the sum total of the matter, however, I would not have been so lost in thought. But he is no common priest - 1 had long heard that he is a debater possessed of a shrewd mind and subtle skill. As my uncle said, I would have to prepare myself well. Likea soldier who is braced for the enemy's attack no matter what form it takes or whence it comes, I would have to prepare impenetrable defences against the doubts he would thrust at me, the questions...
Strona 119 - ... he had been born in Yokoseura, in Hizen Province. In his youth he had lost his father and mother in a war; he had been picked up by a Christian priest who was proselytizing in the area and had become the priest's servant. Together they had travelled all over the island of Kyushu. When the Christian persecutions began and the missionaries decided to go underground, with the help of a colleague this priest found the young man passage on a boat to Manila so that he could study at the seminary there....
Strona 18 - ... and vanity lingered in a distorted form within him. There was still an element of selfseeking in his desire to become a bishop and receive full responsibility from the Vatican for the missionary work in Japan. The missionary's father had been a member of the influential municipal assembly in Sevilla, and his ancestors included a viceroy of Panama. Another had been a director of the Inquisition. And his grandfather had participated in the subjugation of the West Indies. It was only after coming...