Quotes from book
Shōgun
Shōgun is a 1975 novel by James Clavell. It is the first novel of the author's Asian Saga. A major best-seller, by 1990 the book had sold 15 million copies worldwide. Beginning in feudal Japan some months before the critical Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Shōgun gives an account of the rise of the daimyō "Toranaga" . Toranaga's rise to the shogunate is seen through the eyes of the English sailor John Blackthorne, called Anjin by the Japanese, whose fictional heroics are loosely based on the historical exploits of William Adams.
“There is no dignity for either the sufferer or the torturer”
Source: Shogun
“What can I do to help thee?" he asked.
"Believe there is a tomorrow.”
Source: Shōgun
“Only by living at the edge of death can you understand the indescribable joy of life.”
Source: Shōgun (1975), Ch. 56
“What are clouds, but an excuse for the sky? What is life, but an escape from death?”
Yabu-san's death poem after being ordered to commit seppuku.
Shōgun (1975)
“Blackthorne was suddenly awake.”
First lines, Ch. 1
Shōgun (1975)
Context: Blackthorne was suddenly awake. For a moment he thought he was dreaming because he was ashore and the room unbelievable. It was small and very clean and covered with soft mats. He was lying on a thick quilt and another was thrown over him. The ceiling was polished cedar and the walls were lathes of cedar, in squares, covered with an opaque paper that muted the light pleasantly. Beside him was a scarlet tray bearing small bowls. One contained cold cooked vegetables and he wolfed them, hardly noticing the piquant taste. Another contained a fish soup and he drained that. Another was filled with a thick porridge of wheat or barley and he finished it quickly, eating with his fingers. The water in an odd-shaped gourd was warm and tasted curious — slightly bitter but savory.
Then he noticed the crucifix in its niche.
This house is Spanish or Portuguese, he thought aghast. Is this the Japans? or Cathay?
