A historical novel by Hideto Ueda about the life of Muneshige Tachibana, who fought the Shimazu as a retainer of the Otomo, served during the Korean campaigns under Hideyoshi, and endured dispossession after Sekigahara. It depicts not only martial honor and loyalty but also the anguish of a man caught in political upheaval.

A historical novel portraying the struggle and anguish of Muneshige Tachibana, who held to his principles in a time of war.

A historical novel by Tow Ubukata. In early Edo Japan, Shibukawa Shunkai, born into a family of go players, pursues astronomy and mathematics and attempts to create a Japanese calendar. Through intellectual inquiry, encounters with mentors and friends, and persistence beyond failure, the novel gives the energy of a coming-of-age story to a project that changes culture.

From go player to calendar scholar, Shibukawa Shunkai remakes Japan’s reckoning of time.

A historical novel by Hiroshi Shimokawa. Centered on farmers in Inaba who take up the crossbow, a weapon disliked by samurai in Japan, it portrays battle and the fate of a community. Rather than focusing on famous warriors, it views war through the eyes of people who live from the soil.

Farmers armed with crossbows struggle to survive in the midst of war.

A historical novel by Kaoru Takada. A boy who loses his father to vengeance is saved for two silver kan by a kanten wholesaler in Osaka’s Tenma district and begins life anew as an apprentice. Commerce, human kindness, loss through fire, and the effort to begin again combine into a coming-of-age story rooted in townspeople’s lives.

A boy saved for two silver kan learns how to live in a town of trade and human feeling.