''Taiko'' (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 新書太閤記, Hepburn: ''Shinsho Taikōki''), also known as ''Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan'', is a

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

novel written by

Eiji Yoshikawa was a Japanese historical novelist. Among his best-known novels are revisions of older classics. He was mainly influenced by classics such as ''The Tale of the Heike'', ''Tale of Genji'', ''Water Margin'' and ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', m ...

about the life and rise to power of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

during the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods of

Feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC whe ...

. The book is a semi-biographical work depicted through the style of an epic fiction novel, and follows Hideyoshi from his

childhood A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

to his

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

. ''Taiko'' consists of eleven newspaper serials originally published in the Japanese

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

Yomiuri Shimbun The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ''The Asahi Shimbun'', the ''Chunichi Shimbun'', the ''Ma ...

'' throughout the late 1930s. In 1967, the volumes were compiled by Yoshikawa's wife, Fumiko () and published under the name ''Shinsho Taikōki''. In 1992, ''Shinsho Taikōki'' was translated and abridged into English with consent from the author's estate by William Scott Wilson. It was released in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

as ''Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan'' by Kodansha International. The localized name, ''Taiko'', is a reference to the Japanese word '' Taikō'' (太閤), the title of a retired '' Kampaku'' (関白, Imperial Regent) which is commonly used as an

endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

for Hideyoshi.

Reception

Rosemary Edghill of the

Historical Novel Society The Historical Novel Society (HNS) is a nonprofit international literary society devoted to promotion of and advocacy for the genre of historical fiction. Definition of historical fiction There are varying definitions as to what types of literat ...

pointed out ''Taiko'''s epic length, noting "even in this abridgement, the book is over 900 pages of very small type, and the book seems at times to consist of little more than the iteration of an endless series of nearly-identical battles, whose stakes and outcome are opaque to the reader." Edghill praised ''Taiko'' for its interesting story, yet criticized the "extremely literal translation y Wilsonthat makes no concession to readers unfamiliar with medieval Japanese culture." ''Taiko'' received a spike in popularity following both the 1975 release of ''

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

'' by

James Clavell James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was a British and American writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best known for his ''Asian Saga'' nov ...

and again in 2024 with the TV series adaptation of Clavell's novel.

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

, in reviewing ''Taiko'', mentioned how it serves to "fill in some historical gaps in Clavell's bestseller", yet described Yoshikawa as "obsessed with battles" and added that Wilson's translation "could easily have lopped off a couple hundred pages". In the August 1992 issue of

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

, the magazine also compares ''Taiko'' to Clavell's novel, mentioning how Yoshikawa's work features "no helpful western interpreters, only a couple of references to missionaries and the Portuguese". Similar to other contemporary reviews, the magazine described ''Taiko'' as "episodic, bloody, prim, and quite long", but pointing out that "determined readers will find—buried under the hundreds of decapitated warriors— the roots of the present Japanese international business success, and the country's attitudes towards women, unions, etiquette, and suicide".

Adaptations

Television

In 1965,

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

produced '' Taikōki'' (太閤記), a

Taiga drama is the name NHK gives to the annual year-long historical drama television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white ''Hana no Shōgai'', starring kabuki actor Onoe Shoroku II and Awashima Chikage, the network regul ...

based on Yoshikawa's original serials, starring Ken Ogata as

and Kōji Takahashi as

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

. In 1973, NET adapted ''Shinsho Taikōki'' into a

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...

series sharing the same title, starring Takashi Yamaguchi as Hideyoshi and Estushi Takahashi as Nobunaga.

References

{{reflist Japanese novels Novels set in Japan Epic novels Novels set in the 1500s Historical novels Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Ieyasu Cultural depictions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi Cultural depictions of Oda Nobunaga Japanese novels adapted into television shows Fiction set in 17th-century Sengoku period Novels with illustrations by Noriyoshi Ohrai