Shiba Ryōtarō Books

Clouds above the Hill is one of the best-selling novels ever in Japan, and is now translated into English for the first time. In Volume II, Meiji Japan is on a collision course with Russia, as Russian troops stationed in Manchuria ignore repeated calls to withdraw. Admiral Tōgō leads a blockade and subsequent skirmish to at the strategically vital and heavily fortified Port Arthur, whilst Yoshifuru's cavalry in Manchuria manoeuvres for position as it approaches the Russian Army lines. The two armies clash at the battle of Liaoyang, where Japan seals a victory that shocks the world. An epic portrait of Japan in crisis, Clouds above the Hill combines graphic military history and highly readable fiction to depict an aspiring nation modernizing at breakneck speed.

In this remarkable account of the life of Japan's last Shogun, the arrival of U.S. Commodore Perry's squadron is shown to be the spark that ignited the cataclysm that reached its climax with the fall of the Shogunate in 1868. This brought a 17 year-old boy emperor from the seclusion of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto to preside over what became a political and cultural revolution: with this, Japan's extraordinary modernisation began in earnest.

土佐の郷士の次男坊に生まれながら、ついには維新回天の立役者となった坂本竜馬の奇跡の生涯を、激動期に生きた多数の青春群像とともに壮大なスケールで描きあげる。第５巻／池田屋ノ変、蛤御門ノ変と血なまぐさい事件が続き、時勢は急速に緊迫する。しかし、いまだ幕府の屋台骨はゆるんだように見えない。「時期が早すぎるのだ……」。次々に死んでいく同志を想い、竜馬は暗涙にむせんだ。竜馬自身にも危機が訪れる。心血を注いだ神戸海軍塾が幕府の手で解散させられてしまったのだ。壮大な計画が無に帰した竜馬はどう動く!?

錯綜する世界状勢のなかで、多くの注目を集める日本。今こそこの国の根源的なかたちについて考える時だ。大ベストセラーの文庫化