The Samurai

Description

A superb historical novel by one of Japan's greatest novelists In 1613 Father Pedro Velasco's dream came true. He set sail with a small group of Japanese Samurai first for Mexico, then Spain, then Rome. Velasco could speak Japanese and his zealous hope was to become bishop of a converted, Catholic Japan. They were the first Japanese ever to cross the Pacific. Velasco's mission, along with that of the Samurai, was to use Western trade to turn Japan into a Christian country. This epic journey was filled with incredible danger and hardship, underwritten solely by faith... An exciting, imaginative dramatization of real events, Endo's great work is also a profoundly personal one, reflecting on his beliefs.

Shusaku Endo (1923-96) was one of 20th century Japan's greatest novelists. His major works include The Sea and Poison, Silence (a film adaptation directed by Martin Scorsese was released in 2017), When I Whistle and The Samurai.

Powerful... beautifully written... a fascinating narrative with its double perspective from East to West * New Statesman * Endo is really like no one else... as that rarity, a Japanese Catholic, he has found a border territory--of cultural and psychological clash--which is all his own. * The Observer * Endo to my mind is one of the finest living novelists -- Graham Greene