Star gazing

Do you still remember the time when you were young; gazing up the night skies only to see it blanketed by thousands of glittering stars and an equally bright moon?
I used to remember when I was really young, I had this dream of building a house with glass roof ala greenhouse by the body of water so that I can lie down and absorb the overall atmosphere.

But then, I grew up and the older I get, the more I realized that as we dwell into the hectic day-day rat-chase, the less we look up the night sky to admire the beauty of it all.
Viewing it from the eyes of an adult differs from the time when we saw it thru our naïve minds/eyes.
As an adult, all things material will supersede the simplistic approach towards admiring the handiwork of the super-stellar explosion of galaxies millions of light years away.

In fact, when was the last time we lie on our back and stare up with the surrounding environment enclosed in perfect harmony?
As a matter of fact, how many of us really took our time off to take a breather?

Watching the twinkle of stars made me feel small and with it, the feeling that we’re but a mere dust in the midst of galaxies.
It might just be me but in my opinion, nature has its own way to put an awe even on the greatest manmade superstructures.

Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa

This novel by Eiji Yoshikawa entitled Musashi has been republished no less than fourteen times, produced as feature film seven times, presented on countless stage plays and has been often made into mini-series on few of Japan’s nationwide networks.

So, it is a humbling experience to read such a gem first hand without being tainted by numerous adaptations floating around. I am unable to put too much of my thoughts about the book because this is an epic to begin with. Plus, this is the kind of book which book reviewers are at loss of words because it encompasses the very essence of life and living of another culture. This literary gem is so profoundly good that penning review and giving points will seem like an act of sacrilege to the sanctity of the novel itself.

This novel is about the life of Musashi Miyamoto and his journey towards becoming a legend/epic personage. The novel began with the aftermath of the battle of Sekigahara when Musashi was still known as Takezō Shimmen. His life was depicted as an angst ridden boy trying to grow up and made it big in the adult’s world while trying to become an accomplished samurai along the way. But as fate has it, Takezō (and his contacts around him) are embroiled in the circle of fate and karma until the beginning of his reemergence as Musashi Miyamoto and his ultimate transcendence as the master of swordsmanship and completing works which affects the very essence of the Japanese culture.

Do allow me to divert a bit because the review of this novel will not be complete without explaining on the significance of Musashi Miyamoto in helping to sculpt the unique Japanese culture.

For the uninitiated, Musashi Miyamoto published one of the most famous works of the Japanese bushidō (“The Way of the Warrior”) that date from the first half of the Edo period. The bushidō literature is called “Gorin no sho” which roughly translates as “The Book of the Five Rings”. His bushidō concept drew parallel comparison with Yamamoto Tsunetomo; another bushidō master of roughly the same era who published his bushidō concept called “Hagakure” which roughly translates as “Hidden among the Leaves”.

The main differences between these two works are the bushidō concept itself. For Musashi Miyamoto, the most important thing is not readiness to die, but winning. Where else Yamamoto Tsunetomo emphasise that the idea on readiness to let go of one’s life at any moment is the soul of bushidō.

This brings us back to the novel, which was beautifully sculpted along the life of Takezō Shimmen /Musashi Miyamoto albeit with slight dramatization or something to that effect. The beauty of this novel is that it sort of “explained” on his journey towards greatness and the change of perception from a humble beginning to become one of the great folklore heroes in Japan. Takezō Shimmen /Musashi Miyamoto practically came back to life and was given flesh, blood and soul in the hands of prolific and well-loved Japanese writer; Eiji Yoshikawa.

In my very humble opinion, this is the kind of hardcover that everyone should have in their book collection. The storyline is written in such a way that it “flows” from one chapter to the other. The linkage is so finely done that turning the pages and reading the paragraphs will elicit a feeling of being transported to the era when swords and honour reign supreme.

I’m so glad that that someone translated such a fine book into English language :-) An absolute must read. Period.

Personal rating: N/A

Cons:
1) None

Pros:
1) Too good. Read the review itself :-)

Lords of the Bow by Conn Iggulden

“Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation. They shall hold the bow and the lance; they are cruel and will not show mercy; their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle.”

- Jeremiah 50:41, 42

Paragraph above is quoted from the Old Testament; Book of Jeremiah and serves as the opening of this novel entitled: Lords of the Bow.

In this sequel to Wolf of the Plains, we're brought face-to-face again with one of the greatest conqueror in the world; Genghis Khan. The opening of this novel depicts the brutal inter-clan war afflicted on Mongols who refused to join the alliance. Virtually the whole clan is decimated; which proves the point that Genghis will stop at nothing to achieve his goal; which further shows that he is indeed a very determined, enigmatic and persistent leader.

It is also during this point of time that he was brought face-to-face with a soothsayer who apple-polished his way up the rank to become one of the close aides to the Great Khan. However, The Great Khan is not a person who pushes ahead without careful planning and is indeed a master strategist.

In fact, in this book, we were introduced to the fact that Genghis made careful and calculated planning befitting his stature and daunting his enemies into submission such as the usage of coloured tent (ancient "war traffic light" system consisting of red, white and black tents) to daunt the enemies into submission.

He is also not afraid to utilize more advanced war technologies available at that time; deception and even flooding the whole plain just to starve the inhabitant of Xi Xia into submission.
This novel ended with Genghis Khan taking over the empire of ancient China; thus fulfilling his desire to overcome the power that divided his people.

The post notes are helpful in shedding some lights on inner workings of the tribes on the plain and historical notes which wasn’t mentioned in most of the historical books.

Two events which had me thinking on the ultimate brutality of wars are:

1. The skeletons of the combatants in battle of the Badger’s Mouth littered the ground around that place for thirty miles.

2. Up to sixty thousand young girls threw themselves to death from the walls of Yenking rather than see it fall to the invader.

Personal rating: 7 out of 10

Cons:
1) None that I can think of.

Pros:
1) True-like description of Temujin/Genghis Khan and the people around him.
2) Learnt that it takes a whole lot of sacrifices to achieve such greatness as Genghis.
3) Another lesson in life. War is never a great thing. Both the winner and the vanquished suffer the same amount of torture in their claim to victory.