Cloud of Sparrows [Hardcover]

Takashi Matsuoka (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002

Once in a great while a new novelist comes along who dazzles us with rare eloquence and humanity, with flawless storytelling and a unique understanding of another place and time. Takashi Matsuoka is just such a writer.

His magnificent new novel, set amid the violence and beauty of nineteenth-century Japan, takes us beyond the epic tradition of James Clavell’s Shogun and into a majestic realm of samurai and geishas, ninjas and Zen masters. Brilliantly imagined, gloriously written, Cloud of Sparrows is at once a sweeping historical adventure and a love story of almost unbearable poignancy. It is storytelling on the grand scale from a novelist of astounding depth and grace.

Cloud of Sparrows

It is the dawn of the New Year, 1861. After two centuries of isolation, Japan has been forced to open its doors to the West, igniting a clash of cultures and generations. And as foreign ships threaten to rain destruction on the Shogun’s castle in Edo, a small group of American missionaries has chosen this time to spread the word of their God. Among them, Emily Gibson, a woman seeking redemption from a tormented past, and Matthew Stark, a cold-eyed killer with one more death on his mind.

Neither realizes that their future in Japan has already been foreseen. For a young nobleman, Lord Genji, has dreamt that his life will be saved by an outsider in the New Year. Widely reviled as a dilettante, Lord Genji has one weapon with which to inspire awe. In his family, one in every generation is said to have the gift of prophecy. And what Lord Genji sees has struck fear in many around him. As the Shogun’s secret police chief plots Genji’s death--and the utter destruction of his entire clan--the young and untried lord must prove that he is more than the handsome womanizer of legend, famed lover of Edo’s most celebrated geisha, Lady Heiko, and that his prophetic powers are no mere fairy tale.

Forced to escape from Edo and flee to his ancestral stronghold, the spectacular Cloud of Sparrows Castle, Genji joins his fate with Emily and Stark, unaware of the dark forces that drive them. Together with Genji’s uncle, Lord Shigeru, a legendary swordsman knee-deep in the blood of his own kin, and the enigmatic Lady Heiko, the unlikely band embarks on a harrowing journey through a landscape bristling with danger--to prepare for a final battle.

Here, on a snowscape stained with blood, horror will mix with wonder, secrets will unravel, and love will duel with vengeance--as East and West, flesh and spirit, past and future, collide in ways no one--least of all Genji--could have imagined.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Following in the substantial footsteps of filmmaker Akiro Kurosawa and Shogun author James Clavell is Takashi Matsuoka, whose action-packed debut novel, Cloud of Sparrows, unfolds as the age of the samurai warrior starts to wane. The year is 1861, and Lord Genji of Akaoka, last in line of the Okamichi clan, welcomes missionaries Emily, Matthew, and Zephaniah to Japan. Cut off from the West for more than 2,000 years, Japan is as completely unprepared for these outsiders as the missionaries are for geishas and honor killings. Genji, his geisha love Heiko, and the missionaries suddenly find themselves in the middle of several nefarious plots to overthrow the Okamichi leader from as far away as the shogun's palace and as close as Genji's own henchmen. Genji and his visitors journey together across treacherous terrain to seek refuge at the faraway Cloud of Sparrows palace. Although it's a rip-roaring yarn full of ambushes, swordfights, cross-cultural friction, love, and prophetic visions, the book does read a bit like a screenplay, cutting quickly from one scene to another. But the frequent shifts in the story's tempo succeed in making the novel all the more vivid, allowing simultaneous action and contemplation to deepen the story and its inhabitants. --Emily Russin

From Publishers Weekly

Matsuoka's ambitious first novel is an epic saga of clashing personalities and ideologies in the tradition of Shogun, yet it distinguishes itself from its wide-eyed predecessor with a grimmer perspective on Japan's military culture. Set in Edo in 1861, the book chronicles the arrival of a group of American missionaries (two men and a woman, each hiding secrets) into a land bristling with feudal clans nursing ancient grudges and a central shogunate trying to maintain control in the face of corrosive Western influences (like Christianity). The young Lord Genji, a modern heir to the embittered Okumichi clan and its rulers' gift of prophetic vision, receives the missionaries as his guests. Their visit coincides with an effort by the Shogun's secret-police chief to destroy Genji, which leads to the accidental killing of one of the missionaries. In response, Genji, his mad uncle Shigeru (tortured with visions of "swarms of metallic insects," which presage the devastation of WWII), and Genji's lover, the devastatingly beautiful geisha Heiko, join forces with innocent American missionary Emily Gibson and Matt Stark, also an American, who is hiding under the mission's aegis while he hunts down a man who wronged him long ago, to stave off the imperial assassins and restore the honor of the clan. The novel boasts plenty of Edo-era pomp and pageantry, as well as some nicely convoluted court intrigue and lightly handled romance. But the author's central message appears to be a rebuke of the narrow-mindedness of the isolationist feudal tradition in Japan and its bloody track record: "It is our duty to ensure that all looting, murdering, and enslaving in Japan is done by us alone. Otherwise, how can we call ourselves Great Lords?"
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; First Edition edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385336403
• ISBN-13: 978-0385336406
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #408,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last - an author who actually knows Japan!, March 29, 2005

By 

Christopher Chardon - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cloud of Sparrows (Mass Market Paperback)

If you've read some of my other reviews (Silent Honor, The Salaryman's Wife) you'll know that I have a short tolerance for people who write about Japan without actually knowing much about the culture. Thankfully, Matsuoka does not fall into this category. Of course, no one alive today has first-hand experience with shogun-era Japan, but Matsuoka doesn't make the mistake of giving western characters Japanese names and then hoping no one will notice. His Japanese are Japanese, his westerners are western, and the whole story flows easily back and forth between the two cultural viewpoints. Other people have summarized the plot, so I'll just say that the story had pretty much everything in it, from large-scale warfare to individual humor. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get an idea of how the Japanese mind works, as well as anyone who just wants to read a good story.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shogun-lite romantic adventure in 1860's Japan, September 24, 2004

By 

Jack Fitzgerald "JFD" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cloud of Sparrows (Hardcover)

"Cloud of Sparrows" is Takashi Matsuoka's first novel, an ambitious tale set in Japan in the 1860's, as the country is being forcibly opened by "outsiders" and the era of the Shogun and samurai moves toward an end.

The plot involves a trio of American missionaries who go to Japan to set up their church, and the fate of the Tokumichi samurai clan from Akaoka.

The central character is Lord Genji, a minor lord and somewhat of a dilletante of a samurai, more concerned with poetry and lovemaking than swordsmanship. He also happens to have the family curse of seeing visions of the future.

The story of full of plots within plots, characters who are more than they appear to be, and plenty of action. There is subterfuge, counter-plotting, revenge and romance.

In addition to Genji, the other primary characters are Heiko, the most lovely geisha in all Japan, Emily, a beautiful young American perceived as ugly in Japan, and Matthew Stark, a gunfighter seeking revenge on a man who has fled to Japan and become a Buddhist monk. Important sub-characters include Genji's uncle Shigeru, who has horrific visions of a WWII era and overpopulated future Japan. There are also a trio of Genji's captains, Saiki, Kudo and Sohaku, who may or may not be plotting against their lord. Throw in the treacherous Kawakami, the Shogun's chief of secret police, as well as Kuma the Bear, the deadliest ninja in Japan, and Genji has plenty of antagonists.

The story was intriguing, and the plot moved along quickly, with rarely a dull moment. It's a page-turning read. I enjoyed the comparison/contrast of Japan and outside cultures, and Matsuoka went to considerable detail on clothing. Genji is a likable protaganist, who faces a number of challenges, and exhibits some character arc by the end of the story. He makes some unexpected decisions. Emily also grows in the story, and has to make some difficult choices as well.

Matsuoka attempted an third person omniscient point-of-view strategy, getting us into the heads of just about every character in the book. This was sometimes successful in presenting an almost "Rashomon" type review of scenes from different perspectives, but was sometimes confusing as we backtracked to scenes that have already ended. There are also a lot of character histories told in flashback. This is the essential problem with the book. There was more "telling" than "showing" with character emotions and stories, and not enough vivid detail to fully bring me into the character's world.

Also, I felt that the buildup for the relationships was better than the payoff. I was disappointed in the Stark vs. Jimbo showdown.

Finally, the novel is very graphically violent. Especially involving children. So if you are sensitive to that type of thing, beware.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cormac McCarthy Meets James Clavell!, November 22, 2004

By 

Scott Schiefelbein (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cloud of Sparrows (Hardcover)

"Cloud of Sparrows," the first novel from Takashi Matsuoka, spins a complex yarn set in 1861 Japan -- this is a classic East Meets West tale, but it is told with brutal clarity and riveting poetry that sets it apart from more mundane works.

While Matsuoka's characters are initially bound by their rigid perceptions of each other (the Japanese see Westerners as uncivilized oafs while the Westerners see the Japanese as heathen wretches crying out for salvation), Matsuoka uses flashbacks and current crises to highlight the underlying similarities between the two cultures. Both groups, Japanese and American, are capable of and commit acts of horrifying barbarity as well as acts of exquisite kindness. Revenge and honor motivate both groups, as well -- the goals are merely pursued in different ways.

The story focuses on the rise of Lord Genji, a Japanese Prince Hal character (who apparently served as his own Falstaff) who must overcome his playboy reputation and lead his clan to victory. The victory he seeks is the conclusion of the Battle of Sekigahara, which was fought over 250 years ago. Lord Genji, cursed and blessed with the gift of prophecy, knows that the balance of Japanese history will be determined by these Westerners, with their lethal machinery and perpetual focus on the future. Japan, as Genji sees it, has cursed itself with its dedication to tradition, honor, and ritualism. And so Genji seeks out the company of the new arrivals, three American missionaries who will each affect the history of Japan in their own way.

Two of the three Americans are characters for the ages. Emily Gibson is a beautiful missionary who has fled to Japan hoping that the Japanese will see her as ugly, since her beauty has only caused her misery back in America. The other American of note is Matthew Stark, who wears a missionary's habit but whose mission is murder. Their fates grow entwined with Genji's as the wheels of fate and consequence turn inexorably.

Also riding shotgun with Genji is his deranged uncle, the mightiest swordsman in Japan since Musashi (and who is also cursed with prophecies of Japan's ultimate fate), and a beautiful geisha/ninja whose darkest secret is unknown even to her.

This is a Japan where men still slit their own throats after learning they have insulted the wrong man, where plots of vengeance grow over decades, and where men and women can still learn astounding new truths about each other and the world around them. Through it all, Matsuoka writes with a brilliant clarity, which brings to life both his visions of beauty and his horrifying battle scenes -- scenes which rival the wonderful Cormac McCarthy in their stark realism.

This novel reads like the first novel in a series, as many loose ends are unresolved at the end. "Autumn Bridge" is apparently the next book in the series, and I can't wait to check it out. Dive in, and enjoy!