The Samurai's Tale, by Erik Christian Haugaard, is a

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

published by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

Company in 1984. The novel is about a boy named Taro originally named Murakami. He loses his parents when he is young and is then captured by

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

, eventually becoming a servant of one of his generals, Lord Akiyama. Eventually, Shingen dies, and his son - Takeda Katsuyori - takes over his father's realm. Meanwhile, Taro has become a samurai, received a new name, and has fought with a man named Lord Akiyama, who proves to be an able commander by taking over Iwamura castle from to Toyama's. He also falls in love with Aki-hime, the daughter of Lord Zakoji. Katsuyori proves to be incompetent, ignores advice from the retainers of his father, and shuns lord Akiyama, whose castle is eventually overrun by Oda Nobunaga. Katsuyori is defeated at Nagashino in 1575.

References

1984 American novels American historical novels Novels set in the 16th century Novels set in Japan Sengoku period in fiction Japan in non-Japanese culture {{1980s-hist-novel-stub