Though Akira Yoshimura, born in 1927, is the author of some 20 novels, this is the first to be translated into English. Perhaps the reason for the delay is that he is better known as a historian of the Pacific War. Two of his recountings have been published in translation: "Senkan Musashi" appeared as "Build the Musashi: The Birth and Death of the World's Greatest Battleship" (Kodansha, 1991), and "Reishiki Sentoki" was published as "Zero Fighter" (Praeger, 1995).
His talent for depicting warfare informs novels and histories alike, however, and this translation of the 1982 "Hassen" reveals a professional writer of power, a popular novelist who knows precisely how to achieve his ends -- exciting and moving the reader.
"Shipwrecks" is about an Edo Period village on the shores of the Sea of Japan. The people eke out an existence by fishing and selling the salt that they distill on the shore -- boiling seawater over great fires in order to do so. But these nocturnal bonfires have another purpose. On stormy nights they lure onto the breakers what the villagers call "o-fune-sama."