He is an extremely mediocre warrior; she is an extremely intelligent woman. He only knows how to go into battle to kill the enemy and gain fame; she helps him move around and turn danger into safety. At every crossroads of fate, the couple worked together to overcome the troubled times, build the Tosa Ichi Domain's foundation for more than 200 years, and achieve great success.
In the twelfth year of Eiroku (1569), when Oda Nobunaga was at the height of his power, a little-known general, Kinoshita Tokichiro, gradually emerged. At the suggestion of his wife Chiyo, Yamauchi Kazutoyo, who was originally Nobunaga's valet, turned to join the military general's command. He did not expect that this unpopular move would be the key to his life or death thirteen years later!
Late at night on July 23rd of the fifth year of Keicho (1600), Chiyo sent an urgent messenger to secretly deliver a document box from Osaka. Yamauchi Kazutoyo handed it to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was struggling to prepare for the war. This laid the foundation for the victory of the Battle of Sekigahara and the foreshadowing of the Yamauchi family's future expansion of territory...
My concubine should be like pampas grass, and you should be like a rock. I am willing to devote my whole life to protecting the knot!
Reader comments
The biggest difficulty in reading this book is not understanding the social background of the novel. Because I know very little about this period of Japanese history, my understanding of the status and relationships of the characters in the book is relatively shallow, which affects my understanding of the entire book. In addition to reading, I learned that this book is based on real history, but the descendants of the Yamauchi family are quite dissatisfied with the author's description. For example, the description of a good wife and a foolish husband is inconsistent with the facts. Therefore, just read this book as an ordinary novel, supplemented by real-world knowledge.
Katsuyori was thirty years old and was by no means a mediocre general. If he hadn't been born in the Takeda family, he would have been able to climb to the position of a samurai general with his own spear. However, he did not exceed the capabilities of a samurai general. This is probably the most unfortunate thing about Katsuyori. Secondly, unfortunately, he is the son of Takeda Shingen, who was regarded as the god of war among the heroes of the Warring States Period - your father is very powerful! He will always be compared to his father. As a result, Shingen's veterans would look at this second life like a brother-in-law. Katsuyori gave a new interpretation that even his father had never thought of; "The iron cannon is a hidden missile weapon, despicable and shameless."
In the past, most of the celebrities we knew and the success stories we read had extraordinary abilities. They are either extremely brave or extremely intelligent, or at least they are moral role models, as well as scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs who have made outstanding contributions. The male protagonist, Yamauchi Kazuto, is a "very ordinary" Japanese military general who is so ordinary that he is not much different from ordinary people like you and me. But for such an ordinary little person, we can see the persistence of the little person in him, and we feel excited and inspirational.
Writer Ryotaro Shiba wrote this great work with vivid, delicate and emotional writing style. What he tells is not only the worldly feelings and ordinary stories, but also more philosophy of life. The image created by the writer is both ordinary and great. Behind the hero who charges into battle and kills the enemy there is also an intelligent and virtuous wife. What I didn't pay attention to many years ago will actually save my destiny decades later. Reading this book, I also felt the impermanence of life. The author's language is simple, and through many language descriptions, psychological descriptions, and action descriptions, we can feel the image of each character.
Ryotaro Shiba, Japanese historical novelist. Sima is good at using historical events to form magnificent artistic pictures, and uses a multi-thread writing method to narrate decades-long history, with relatively clear causes and consequences. Ryotaro Shiba's historical novels are mostly based on the three periods of Japan: the Warring States Period, the last years of the Shogunate, and the early years of the Meiji Restoration. The characters described through his writing, such as Sakamoto Ryoma, have now become recurring models in period dramas.
The plot of this book is so exciting! The author Ryotaro Shima portrayed each character so vividly that I felt as if I was actually there. Chiyo is really a very wise woman, and the relationship between her and Yamauchi Kazutoyo is also very touching. This reminds me of "Tokugawa Ieyasu", which is also a Japanese historical novel and is worth reading. I think friends who like Japanese history must not miss this book "Crossroads of Fame and Fame".
The biggest difficulty in reading this book is not understanding the social background of the novel. Because I know very little about this period of Japanese history, my understanding of the status and relationships of the characters in the book is relatively shallow, which affects my understanding of the entire book. In addition to reading, I learned that this book is based on real history, but the descendants of the Yamauchi family are quite dissatisfied with the author's description. For example, the description of a good wife and a foolish husband is inconsistent with the facts. Therefore, just read this book as an ordinary novel, supplemented by real-world knowledge.
Katsuyori was thirty years old and was by no means a mediocre general. If he hadn't been born in the Takeda family, he would have been able to climb to the position of a samurai general with his own spear. However, he did not exceed the capabilities of a samurai general. This is probably the most unfortunate thing about Katsuyori. Secondly, unfortunately, he is the son of Takeda Shingen, who was regarded as the god of war among the heroes of the Warring States Period - your father is very powerful! He will always be compared to his father. As a result, Shingen's veterans would look at this second life like a brother-in-law. Katsuyori gave a new interpretation that even his father had never thought of; "The iron cannon is a hidden missile weapon, despicable and shameless."
In the past, most of the celebrities we knew and the success stories we read had extraordinary abilities. They are either extremely brave or extremely intelligent, or at least they are moral role models, as well as scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs who have made outstanding contributions. The male protagonist, Yamauchi Kazuto, is a "very ordinary" Japanese military general who is so ordinary that he is not much different from ordinary people like you and me. But for such an ordinary little person, we can see the persistence of the little person in him, and we feel excited and inspirational.
Writer Ryotaro Shiba wrote this great work with vivid, delicate and emotional writing style. What he tells is not only the worldly feelings and ordinary stories, but also more philosophy of life. The image created by the writer is both ordinary and great. Behind the hero who charges into battle and kills the enemy there is also an intelligent and virtuous wife. What I didn't pay attention to many years ago will actually save my destiny decades later. Reading this book, I also felt the impermanence of life. The author's language is simple, and through many language descriptions, psychological descriptions, and action descriptions, we can feel the image of each character.
Ryotaro Shiba, Japanese historical novelist. Sima is good at using historical events to form magnificent artistic pictures, and uses a multi-thread writing method to narrate decades-long history, with relatively clear causes and consequences. Ryotaro Shiba's historical novels are mostly based on the three periods of Japan: the Warring States Period, the last years of the Shogunate, and the early years of the Meiji Restoration. The characters described through his writing, such as Sakamoto Ryoma, have now become recurring models in period dramas.
The plot of this book is so exciting! The author Ryotaro Shima portrayed each character so vividly that I felt as if I was actually there. Chiyo is really a very wise woman, and the relationship between her and Yamauchi Kazutoyo is also very touching. This reminds me of "Tokugawa Ieyasu", which is also a Japanese historical novel and is worth reading. I think friends who like Japanese history must not miss this book "Crossroads of Fame and Fame".