Ryotaro Shiba (1923-1996), a distinguished historical writer, brought Japan's past alive by examining many of its important historical figures and the personal struggles they faced in meeting the challenges of their times. Although Shiba wrote prolifically and enjoyed widespread popularity in Japan, this is only the second of his works to be translated into English. The first, "The Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu," met with critical acclaim in the West. Why, then, does the bulk of Shiba's work remain untranslated?
Shuji Takashina, director of the National Museum of Western Art, writes that Japanese, who are familiar with the figures in their country's history, are "more apt to be stirred by accounts of their exploits or excited by a new interpretation of their character. For non-Japanese lacking any prior historical knowledge, however, Shiba's novels would doubtless be rather inaccessible." This second book just might prove his assessment correct.
"Drunk as a Lord" is a collection of four novellas (the first shares the same title) set during the waning days of the Tokugawa shogunate. The drunken lord is Yamauchi Yodo, daimyo of Tosa, also known as the Inebriate Lord of the Cetacean Sea (and yes, that means he drank like a fish). Shiba, who writes with affinity for Yodo, calls him a drunkard for the first time on page 103, at the very end of the story. I was calling him an alcoholic and a bad word that also begins with "a" by page 12, and things only got worse.