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高丘親王航海記
高丘親王原是預備即位的皇太子，年幼時捲入政變失去帝位。成年後遁入佛門遠離塵世喧囂，年過六十決心前往天竺。親王預定從唐土出發，遊歷南方海上大小佛國再直向天竺。沒想到，一行人起航不久便從此下落不明……
「日本異色文學先驅」澀澤龍彥擷取這段平安時代的史實，為高丘親王謎團般的天竺之旅賦予奇幻色彩，編織出離奇幻想——學習人話的儒艮、半身為鳥的女子、狗頭人的國度、排泄出「夢的垃圾」的貘……在扎實的歷史地理知識背景下，引讀者一步步走進妖豔魔幻的異境，宛如反覆甦醒於夢境與真實之間。
現實與幻夢交織的《高丘親王航海記》是澀澤龍彥唯一一部長篇小說，也是臨終前在病痛折磨中完成的作品。當年獲讀賣文學獎榮耀之外，問世三十年來更多次改編為漫畫、舞台劇、人形劇、舞踏等，如同文豪三島由紀夫對澀澤的讚譽「要是沒有澀澤，日本將會是個多無趣的國家啊！」澀澤的美學精神在他離世後仍深具影響力，是暗黑美學大師遺留給世人最後的臨終幻境。
「日本異色文學先驅」澀澤龍彥擷取這段平安時代的史實，為高丘親王謎團般的天竺之旅賦予奇幻色彩，編織出離奇幻想——學習人話的儒艮、半身為鳥的女子、狗頭人的國度、排泄出「夢的垃圾」的貘……在扎實的歷史地理知識背景下，引讀者一步步走進妖豔魔幻的異境，宛如反覆甦醒於夢境與真實之間。
現實與幻夢交織的《高丘親王航海記》是澀澤龍彥唯一一部長篇小說，也是臨終前在病痛折磨中完成的作品。當年獲讀賣文學獎榮耀之外，問世三十年來更多次改編為漫畫、舞台劇、人形劇、舞踏等，如同文豪三島由紀夫對澀澤的讚譽「要是沒有澀澤，日本將會是個多無趣的國家啊！」澀澤的美學精神在他離世後仍深具影響力，是暗黑美學大師遺留給世人最後的臨終幻境。
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1987
12 people are currently reading
526 people want to read
About the author
Tatsuhiko Shibusawa
95 books31 followersShibusawa was born in the upper-class neighborhood of Takanawa in Tokyo. His father was a banker, and his mother was the daughter of an industrialist and politician. He was distantly related to the famous Shibusawa Eiichi. While going through high school during World War II, he had the ambition to be an aeronautical engineer. However, the possibilities for a career in that field disappeared with Japan's defeat in the war, and Shibusawa received notably poor scores in the German language, which was widely used in engineering at the time. He turned his attention to study of the French language instead.
In 1950, after working as an editor at the Modern Nihon magazine under Junnosuke Yoshiyuki for two years (one of the authors he edited was Hisao Juran), Shibusawa entered the University of Tokyo's school of French literature, where he enthusiastically embraced the avant-garde movement of surrealism, which started in France after World War I. He was especially attracted to André Breton, and this led him to learn of the works of the Marquis de Sade.
Although Shibusawa did graduate from a master's course at the University of Tokyo, he had to abandon plans to become a professor because of tuberculosis, and started his career as a freelance writer instead. He relocated from Tokyo to the resort town of Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture in 1946, due to its reputation for having a healthful climate for lung disorders, and continued to live there to his death.
After publishing his first book, a translation of Jean Cocteau's Le Grand Ecart (大跨びらき) in 1954, Shibusawa began to introduce French literature to Japanese readers through his translations. With the death of his father, he faced financial difficulties, and obtained a part-time job at the publishing company Iwanami Shoten, where he met his future wife, Sumiko Yagawa, who was also a translator and author. During this period, he also briefly flirted with politics, supporting the Japan Communist Party in an election for the mayor of Miura, Kanagawa by joining political rallies and distribution leaflets satirizing the opposing candidate.
In 1959, Shibusawa published Akutoku no sakae (悪徳の栄え), a translation of de Sade's L’Histoire de Juliette; ou, Les Prosperites du vice. The work was immediately controversial, and in 1960, he and Kyōji Ishii (石井 恭二 Ishii Kyōji?), the publisher, were prosecuted for public obscenity. During the trial, which is called Sade Trial (サド裁判) in Japan, Kenzaburō Ōe, Shūsaku Endō, Shōhei Ōoka and many other authors testified for the defense. However, in 1969, in an important decision, the Japanese Supreme Court ruled that Shibusawa and Ishii were guilty. He was fined 70,000 yen (slightly less than US$200 at the time); the triviality of the sum greatly outraged him, given the nine years that the trial had taken from his life.
Shibusawa, although discouraged, was not deterred, and continued to write works on eroticism and to translate the works of de Sade, as well as other French authors; he also produced essays and art criticism, and became a specialist in the study of medieval demonology.
In September 1970, Shibusawa made his first overseas trip, a vacation to Europe. He was seen off at Haneda Airport by his close friend Mishima Yukio. Madame de Sade by Mishima (1965) is entirely based on Shibusawa's The Life of Marquis de Sade (サド侯爵の生涯, 1964); but on the other hand, today it is known that Shibusawa himself plagiarized his own work largely from Vie du Marquis de Sade by Gilbert Lely (1961). In The Temple of Dawn (1969), Mishima created Yasushi Imanishi (今西 康 Imanishi Yasushi?) based on Shibusawa's personality.
1981 he published a fantasy novel titled Karakusa Monogatari (“Karakusa Story”). Other fantasy novels include Utsuro-bune (“Hollow ship”) and Takaoka Shinno Kokai-ki (“The Voyages of Prince Takaoka”).
Shibusawa died of larynx cancer in 1987. His grave is at the temple of Jochi-ji in Kamakura.
(from Wikipedia)
In 1950, after working as an editor at the Modern Nihon magazine under Junnosuke Yoshiyuki for two years (one of the authors he edited was Hisao Juran), Shibusawa entered the University of Tokyo's school of French literature, where he enthusiastically embraced the avant-garde movement of surrealism, which started in France after World War I. He was especially attracted to André Breton, and this led him to learn of the works of the Marquis de Sade.
Although Shibusawa did graduate from a master's course at the University of Tokyo, he had to abandon plans to become a professor because of tuberculosis, and started his career as a freelance writer instead. He relocated from Tokyo to the resort town of Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture in 1946, due to its reputation for having a healthful climate for lung disorders, and continued to live there to his death.
After publishing his first book, a translation of Jean Cocteau's Le Grand Ecart (大跨びらき) in 1954, Shibusawa began to introduce French literature to Japanese readers through his translations. With the death of his father, he faced financial difficulties, and obtained a part-time job at the publishing company Iwanami Shoten, where he met his future wife, Sumiko Yagawa, who was also a translator and author. During this period, he also briefly flirted with politics, supporting the Japan Communist Party in an election for the mayor of Miura, Kanagawa by joining political rallies and distribution leaflets satirizing the opposing candidate.
In 1959, Shibusawa published Akutoku no sakae (悪徳の栄え), a translation of de Sade's L’Histoire de Juliette; ou, Les Prosperites du vice. The work was immediately controversial, and in 1960, he and Kyōji Ishii (石井 恭二 Ishii Kyōji?), the publisher, were prosecuted for public obscenity. During the trial, which is called Sade Trial (サド裁判) in Japan, Kenzaburō Ōe, Shūsaku Endō, Shōhei Ōoka and many other authors testified for the defense. However, in 1969, in an important decision, the Japanese Supreme Court ruled that Shibusawa and Ishii were guilty. He was fined 70,000 yen (slightly less than US$200 at the time); the triviality of the sum greatly outraged him, given the nine years that the trial had taken from his life.
Shibusawa, although discouraged, was not deterred, and continued to write works on eroticism and to translate the works of de Sade, as well as other French authors; he also produced essays and art criticism, and became a specialist in the study of medieval demonology.
In September 1970, Shibusawa made his first overseas trip, a vacation to Europe. He was seen off at Haneda Airport by his close friend Mishima Yukio. Madame de Sade by Mishima (1965) is entirely based on Shibusawa's The Life of Marquis de Sade (サド侯爵の生涯, 1964); but on the other hand, today it is known that Shibusawa himself plagiarized his own work largely from Vie du Marquis de Sade by Gilbert Lely (1961). In The Temple of Dawn (1969), Mishima created Yasushi Imanishi (今西 康 Imanishi Yasushi?) based on Shibusawa's personality.
1981 he published a fantasy novel titled Karakusa Monogatari (“Karakusa Story”). Other fantasy novels include Utsuro-bune (“Hollow ship”) and Takaoka Shinno Kokai-ki (“The Voyages of Prince Takaoka”).
Shibusawa died of larynx cancer in 1987. His grave is at the temple of Jochi-ji in Kamakura.
(from Wikipedia)
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March 18, 2024This bawdy, funny, surreal novel imagines Imperial Prince Takaoka’s pilgrimage to India in the 9th Century, a journey he never completed, eaten (apparently) by a tiger near the Malay Peninsula.
The novel’s author, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, who died in 1987, the same year the book was published, was a counterculture hero in Japan, known for standing up to the country’s obscenity laws following his translation of Sade’s L’Histoire de Juliette ou les Prospérités du vice in 1959 (He was found guilty). The fact it has taken 37 years for this novel to be released (thank you, Monkey and the always peerless David Boyd) speaks volumes about how hard it is for any work in translation to be published. Not that a reader of translated literature needs to be told. We know.
Episodic in format, the Princes’ adventures are enormously entertaining, weird and rude, featuring talking dugongs, man-shaped ant eaters, dead monks encased in honey and a harem of half-avian / half-human women. As a good Buddhist, the Prince doesn’t indulge in all the bawdiness. But his many dreams have an erotic flavour, mostly about Fujiwara no Kusuko, his father’s lover who took her life after the Kusuko Incident (which you can Google). But it’s not all about harems, uncontrolled ejaculation in the deserts of the honey-men, or giving a blowjob to a mythical creature (the Baku who eats nightmares); there’s an overall playfulness, including a bit of gender-bending and the odd post-modern wink to the audience. An early, funny example is one of the monks arguing with a talking ant-eater about how it can’t exist because it won’t be discovered for six hundred years.
So, again, thank you to Monkey and David Boyd for letting us (finally) enjoy this Japanese cult classic.
The novel’s author, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, who died in 1987, the same year the book was published, was a counterculture hero in Japan, known for standing up to the country’s obscenity laws following his translation of Sade’s L’Histoire de Juliette ou les Prospérités du vice in 1959 (He was found guilty). The fact it has taken 37 years for this novel to be released (thank you, Monkey and the always peerless David Boyd) speaks volumes about how hard it is for any work in translation to be published. Not that a reader of translated literature needs to be told. We know.
Episodic in format, the Princes’ adventures are enormously entertaining, weird and rude, featuring talking dugongs, man-shaped ant eaters, dead monks encased in honey and a harem of half-avian / half-human women. As a good Buddhist, the Prince doesn’t indulge in all the bawdiness. But his many dreams have an erotic flavour, mostly about Fujiwara no Kusuko, his father’s lover who took her life after the Kusuko Incident (which you can Google). But it’s not all about harems, uncontrolled ejaculation in the deserts of the honey-men, or giving a blowjob to a mythical creature (the Baku who eats nightmares); there’s an overall playfulness, including a bit of gender-bending and the odd post-modern wink to the audience. An early, funny example is one of the monks arguing with a talking ant-eater about how it can’t exist because it won’t be discovered for six hundred years.
So, again, thank you to Monkey and David Boyd for letting us (finally) enjoy this Japanese cult classic.
August 7, 2024
Review with proper formatting on my Substack.
I have been a Japanese literature afficionado for a very long time, and my experience and awe of Japanese culture extends way beyond literature.
I watch anime, play Japanese video games, and speak Japanese at a basic level. I hope to improve on that last one, as I take daily lessons via my trusty Duolingo course, but there’s a long way to go.
Musashi, written by Eiji Yoshikawa, is probably the most important book in modern Japanese literature. The magnificent account of the life of Miyamoto Musashi solidifies Yoshikawa’s status as the greatest Japanese historical novelist.
But today is not about Musashi. Today is about me being unfamiliar with Tatsuhiko Shibusawa until randomly bumping into Takaoka’s Travels on Amazon a couple of months ago, and pre-ordering it on the spot.
This marked the first translation of Takaoka’s Travels into English, so at least I had a little justification for not hearing about him earlier. It remains something I can’t forgive myself for, though.
Tatsuhiko Shibusawa is the pen name of Shibusawa Tatsuo, and Takaoka’s Travels is his only full-length novel. Early in his career, he primarily translated Western works into Japanese. He gained notoriety when he and his publisher went to court in 1959 over his translation of Marquis de Sade’s L’histoire de Juliette ou les Prospérités du vice.
Shibusawa’s courtroom entrance was unforgettable: he wore sunglasses and smoked a pipe, giving off a Japanese Groucho Marx vibe. Side-note: It’s exactly what I could picture Hideo Kojima doing in that scenario.
This was the second obscenity trial in postwar Japan, known as “The Sade Trial”. The first trial, ten years prior, involved Sei Itō facing similar obstacles with the translation of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
According to translator David Boyd, in the decades that followed, Shibusawa established himself as one of Japan’s most shocking and powerful voices.
He wrote translations, essays, and a few fantasy stories. His last story, Takaoka’s Travels, published in 1987, won the Yomiuri Prize. Sadly, he passed away in August of that year, not being able to witness the event.
Takaoka’s Travels follows Prince Takaoka, a fictional character based on a historical figure, on his spiritual journey across Asia towards Hindustan (India).
The historical Prince Takaoka lived in the ninth century and lost his status after his father conspired against the Emperor. As it was customary for disgraced princes, he became a Buddhist monk. Later in life, during his sixties, the prince left Japan.
According to Le Dictionnaire historique du Japon:
Takaoka decided to go to China to study under the masters. [. . .] After three years, however, he had not found what he was looking for, so he left with the intention of going to India. But he died before reaching his destination, in the kingdom of Luoyue, in the vicinity of present day Singapore. The Prince was nonetheless the first Japanese person of his time to venture so far to the west.
David Boyd acknowledges Shibusawa’s thorough research on Prince Takaoka’s life. Yet, it is clear to both him and the reader that Takaoka’s Travels transcends reality, delving into spirituality, mythology, and fantasy, predominantly (but not exclusively) through dream sequences.
Dreams are an omnipresent motif in the story, and the Prince is often called The Dreamer.
There are a lot of supernatural elements and developments along the way, as Prince Takaoka progresses in his journey towards Hindustan. And the way the story ends is nothing short of fantastic, but I will leave you to discover that by yourself. The way he reaches Hindustan is what gives the reader a unique perspective, and the fact Takaoka’s Travels’ ending somewhat reflects Shibusawa’s final days, as he was struggling with being unable to speak (toward the end of his life, he could only write), puts it in a completely different light than any other book I’ve read before.
I have been a Japanese literature afficionado for a very long time, and my experience and awe of Japanese culture extends way beyond literature.
I watch anime, play Japanese video games, and speak Japanese at a basic level. I hope to improve on that last one, as I take daily lessons via my trusty Duolingo course, but there’s a long way to go.
Musashi, written by Eiji Yoshikawa, is probably the most important book in modern Japanese literature. The magnificent account of the life of Miyamoto Musashi solidifies Yoshikawa’s status as the greatest Japanese historical novelist.
But today is not about Musashi. Today is about me being unfamiliar with Tatsuhiko Shibusawa until randomly bumping into Takaoka’s Travels on Amazon a couple of months ago, and pre-ordering it on the spot.
This marked the first translation of Takaoka’s Travels into English, so at least I had a little justification for not hearing about him earlier. It remains something I can’t forgive myself for, though.
Tatsuhiko Shibusawa is the pen name of Shibusawa Tatsuo, and Takaoka’s Travels is his only full-length novel. Early in his career, he primarily translated Western works into Japanese. He gained notoriety when he and his publisher went to court in 1959 over his translation of Marquis de Sade’s L’histoire de Juliette ou les Prospérités du vice.
Shibusawa’s courtroom entrance was unforgettable: he wore sunglasses and smoked a pipe, giving off a Japanese Groucho Marx vibe. Side-note: It’s exactly what I could picture Hideo Kojima doing in that scenario.
This was the second obscenity trial in postwar Japan, known as “The Sade Trial”. The first trial, ten years prior, involved Sei Itō facing similar obstacles with the translation of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
According to translator David Boyd, in the decades that followed, Shibusawa established himself as one of Japan’s most shocking and powerful voices.
He wrote translations, essays, and a few fantasy stories. His last story, Takaoka’s Travels, published in 1987, won the Yomiuri Prize. Sadly, he passed away in August of that year, not being able to witness the event.
Takaoka’s Travels follows Prince Takaoka, a fictional character based on a historical figure, on his spiritual journey across Asia towards Hindustan (India).
The historical Prince Takaoka lived in the ninth century and lost his status after his father conspired against the Emperor. As it was customary for disgraced princes, he became a Buddhist monk. Later in life, during his sixties, the prince left Japan.
According to Le Dictionnaire historique du Japon:
Takaoka decided to go to China to study under the masters. [. . .] After three years, however, he had not found what he was looking for, so he left with the intention of going to India. But he died before reaching his destination, in the kingdom of Luoyue, in the vicinity of present day Singapore. The Prince was nonetheless the first Japanese person of his time to venture so far to the west.
David Boyd acknowledges Shibusawa’s thorough research on Prince Takaoka’s life. Yet, it is clear to both him and the reader that Takaoka’s Travels transcends reality, delving into spirituality, mythology, and fantasy, predominantly (but not exclusively) through dream sequences.
Dreams are an omnipresent motif in the story, and the Prince is often called The Dreamer.
There are a lot of supernatural elements and developments along the way, as Prince Takaoka progresses in his journey towards Hindustan. And the way the story ends is nothing short of fantastic, but I will leave you to discover that by yourself. The way he reaches Hindustan is what gives the reader a unique perspective, and the fact Takaoka’s Travels’ ending somewhat reflects Shibusawa’s final days, as he was struggling with being unable to speak (toward the end of his life, he could only write), puts it in a completely different light than any other book I’ve read before.
July 1, 2024
"The reader soon discovers that Takaoka’s Travels is more than fiction framed as a factual travelog. Like the Englishman Sir John Mandeville’s 14th century Travels, it is a tale full of wonders in foreign places that are impossible to believe. Narratives of travels to 'foreign' and 'exotic' places were wildly popular in many medieval cultures—whether based in reality or made up wholecloth. Medieval travelers to such places expected to encounter things too strange to be explained. Takaoka reminds himself as they embark
At the same time, Takaoka’s Travels is a thoroughly modern book. Shibusawa’s dry, straight-forward and faux historical narration leaves room for wry humor throughout the novel. It’s full of crude gags, like the prince breaking wind at inappropriate moments or his companions happily smelling mysterious spheres they find on the ground only to discover they’re scat. Perhaps most amusing and even postmodern are Shibusawa’s frequent and entirely intentional 'anachronisms', such as allusions to historical figures from Mandeville to the 20th century historian Japanese historian Naojiro Sugimoto. (This mixing of carefully researched fact and anachronism calls to mind Fumio Takano’s Swan Knight, published almost two decades after Takaoka’s Travels and released in Sharni Wilson’s English translation earlier this year.) The characters in the novel even comment on these anachronisms, as when one of Takaoka’s companions attempts to express why an animal they’ve discovered in what is now Vietnam cannot be an anteater:
(The animal very reasonably responds, 'It’s foolish to think that the existence of my kind hinges upon being "discovered," as you put it, by Columbus or by any other man.')"
Full review at Asian Review of Books:
https://asianreviewofbooks.com/conten...
As we head south, things will occur that we could never have imagined back in Japan. Perhaps the world itself will turn upside-down! But I mustn’t be alarmed. As we approach Hindustan, things will only become stranger and stranger. And isn’t that exactly what I wanted?
At the same time, Takaoka’s Travels is a thoroughly modern book. Shibusawa’s dry, straight-forward and faux historical narration leaves room for wry humor throughout the novel. It’s full of crude gags, like the prince breaking wind at inappropriate moments or his companions happily smelling mysterious spheres they find on the ground only to discover they’re scat. Perhaps most amusing and even postmodern are Shibusawa’s frequent and entirely intentional 'anachronisms', such as allusions to historical figures from Mandeville to the 20th century historian Japanese historian Naojiro Sugimoto. (This mixing of carefully researched fact and anachronism calls to mind Fumio Takano’s Swan Knight, published almost two decades after Takaoka’s Travels and released in Sharni Wilson’s English translation earlier this year.) The characters in the novel even comment on these anachronisms, as when one of Takaoka’s companions attempts to express why an animal they’ve discovered in what is now Vietnam cannot be an anteater:
At risk of anachronism, let me explain. The great anteater will be discovered roughly six hundred years from now when Columbus arrives in what will then be called the New World. So how can we be staring at one here and now? Can’t you see its very existence defies the laws of time and space?
(The animal very reasonably responds, 'It’s foolish to think that the existence of my kind hinges upon being "discovered," as you put it, by Columbus or by any other man.')"
Full review at Asian Review of Books:
https://asianreviewofbooks.com/conten...
May 16, 2024
Reading this book is quite interesting for me. I regularly lost interest the more I advanced through the story, but in the end, it left me with good feeling.
The story is about Prince Takaoka who set on journey to Hindustan, or India. Along the way, he encountered all sorts of creatures and experienced many situations in different places he visited as he getting closer to India. It was not bad, actually, to "went" on the journey with The Prince and his monks. Although there are parts that made me feel slightly uncomfortable, the story was pretty interesting.
This book could be considered as fantasy, although Prince Takaoka was a real person. What interest me in this book is that in every place that The Prince visited, he always dreamed. Each story also felt like a dream itself — with some sort of magical creatures and magical people — so it's pretty much a dream within a dream kind of story, and I think that's the main attraction of this book. I'm not pretty fond of the time this story took place quite much, so it took me a lot of time to finish it. But I can see the amount of research that the author took and it amazed me. The translation is also fun to read and made the story easy to understand.
The ending is quite something but I think it sort of fit the story. I was very curious about Shibusawa's work and I'm glad I finally had a chance to read it.
Thank you NetGalley and Monkey for the DRC. The book is now available, so if you're curious about this quite bizarre journey, go check it out.
The story is about Prince Takaoka who set on journey to Hindustan, or India. Along the way, he encountered all sorts of creatures and experienced many situations in different places he visited as he getting closer to India. It was not bad, actually, to "went" on the journey with The Prince and his monks. Although there are parts that made me feel slightly uncomfortable, the story was pretty interesting.
This book could be considered as fantasy, although Prince Takaoka was a real person. What interest me in this book is that in every place that The Prince visited, he always dreamed. Each story also felt like a dream itself — with some sort of magical creatures and magical people — so it's pretty much a dream within a dream kind of story, and I think that's the main attraction of this book. I'm not pretty fond of the time this story took place quite much, so it took me a lot of time to finish it. But I can see the amount of research that the author took and it amazed me. The translation is also fun to read and made the story easy to understand.
The ending is quite something but I think it sort of fit the story. I was very curious about Shibusawa's work and I'm glad I finally had a chance to read it.
Thank you NetGalley and Monkey for the DRC. The book is now available, so if you're curious about this quite bizarre journey, go check it out.
November 19, 2024
This is a little charming book that tell the story of a prince, Takaoka, who is now a monk and goes on a pilgrimage and starts meeting all kinds of random people, creatures, situations... In its short length all kind of things happen to Takaoka, some more interesting, some a little bit meh, but Shibusawa doing a good job in creating a world of wonder. It is one of those books where you don't know what is going to happen next (maybe even Shibusawa didn't know) and that adds to the charm of the story, but it also makes it a little bit messy and somewhat difficult to really become engaged in the story, as there is some feeling of detachment in the proceedings.
The translation does a good job in creating a dreamy atmosphere and taking the reader to a world of magic and mystery.
The best: its world of wonder
The worst: it's a little bit shallow, things happening too fast
Alternatives: no idea, right now
6.5/10
(English translation by David Boyd)
*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy*
The translation does a good job in creating a dreamy atmosphere and taking the reader to a world of magic and mystery.
The best: its world of wonder
The worst: it's a little bit shallow, things happening too fast
Alternatives: no idea, right now
6.5/10
(English translation by David Boyd)
*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy*
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March 4, 2024In “Takaoka’s Travels” by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, readers are swept into a mesmerizing narrative that combines the allure of travel with profound introspection. The story follows the journey of Takaoka, a prince-turned-monk on a quest for both external adventure and inner enlightenment from Japan to Hindustan (India).
The author crafts a narrative that is as much about the landscapes Takaoka traverses as it is about the landscapes of his own mind. Takaoka encounters with a diverse array of eccentric characters and mystical occurrences. Each encounter and experience challenges his preconceptions, leading to profound insights and moments of clarity.
For lovers of fantasy, “Takaoka’s Travels” is an exquisite masterpiece presented in the form of a surreal literary journey, making it an essential read that captivates the imagination and delights the senses.
The author crafts a narrative that is as much about the landscapes Takaoka traverses as it is about the landscapes of his own mind. Takaoka encounters with a diverse array of eccentric characters and mystical occurrences. Each encounter and experience challenges his preconceptions, leading to profound insights and moments of clarity.
For lovers of fantasy, “Takaoka’s Travels” is an exquisite masterpiece presented in the form of a surreal literary journey, making it an essential read that captivates the imagination and delights the senses.
January 11, 2024
Takaoka's Travels was a bit of a mix-bag read for me. There were moments I really enjoyed which were fun and entertaining, but overall the story and characters never completely gripped me and I was never fully invested in what was happening. It was an interesting piece, at times amusing, but it's not a book I'd ever feel compelled to pick up a second time. It's short, though, and therefore a quick read, so it's worth a look if you are interesting in more contemporary Japanese fantasy novels. I am giving it 3.5 stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
May 14, 2024
Prince Takaoka sets out in search of the Buddha, but perhaps he does not need to go that far. His travels and especially all his dreams are a fundamental part of the dreamlike atmosphere of the book, which, however, unfortunately bored me.
Il principe Takaoka parte alla ricerca del Buddha, ma forse non gli serve andare tanto lontano. I suoi viaggi e soprattutto tutti i suoi sogni sono parte fondamentale dell'atmosfera onirica del libro, che peró, purtroppo a me ha annoiato.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
Il principe Takaoka parte alla ricerca del Buddha, ma forse non gli serve andare tanto lontano. I suoi viaggi e soprattutto tutti i suoi sogni sono parte fondamentale dell'atmosfera onirica del libro, che peró, purtroppo a me ha annoiato.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
August 12, 2024
I am having a hard time rating this book. I did enjoy it, and it did have some historical lessons. It was a fun kind of fantasy adventure that read almost like a bunch of fairy tales to a point. I picked it up because it was on display in my library and looked like a good quick read. 3.5 stars.
December 1, 2024
Alors, ce n'est pas que ce livre soit mauvais du tout, mais ce n'est pas le genre de livre qui me plaît. Le côté conte est noyé sous les mentions historiques japonaises et les contes sont teintés de lubricité. Un peu fouillis.
May 7, 2024
what a strange little book
August 31, 2025
Some interesting facts about the book is that the main character and his circumstances in the story are actually based on fact. And it is clear that the author, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, did his research. The main character is 9th century Prince Takaoka, who lost his royal title after a failed coup by his father, and ended up becoming a monk under the tutelage of Kukai (a.k.a. Kobo Daishi). In his later years, Prince Takaoka did indeed embark on a journey to India, then known as Hindustan, to try and find the source of Buddhism. This is all indeed true. But the author then adds his own his own presumptions and imaginings as to what happened to the Prince on that journey... Episodic in nature, his adventures take on a fantastical bent, not unlike a story found in the 1001 Arabian Nights. From dog-headed people, to dream-eating tapirs, to human-headed birds... There is a constant air of exoticism in these stories... Many of them encountered in dreams... And dreams within dreams. Not to mention that the book often breaks the fourth wall and calls out its own anachronicities. But there is also something rather familiar and humanistic throughout it all. I really identified with Prince Takaoka's sense of curiosity and lust for adventure! The author himself was seen a counterculture figure of sorts in Japan, getting into legal trouble for translating the Marquis De Sade into Japanese... I think he saw himself as the main character of his own book to a certain extent. I had a lot of fun reading this book. It was indeed full of high and fantastical adventure. And it was especially interesting, as I have visited many of these locations in the present day myself! A very interesting look on how South East Asia was perceived in the past.
October 16, 2024
If you want something different, this is the book for you. Takaoka a 65 year old Buddhist monk is traveling to Hindustan. This is a mixture of Historical Fiction and Fantasy, where reality blends with dreams. I thank Library Thing and Stone Bridge Press for this free book. I think I will find something different each time I read it.
April 12, 2025
What a fascinating book. Much more a book of marvels and dreams rather than a modern novel, Takaoka's Travels reminds me a lot of George MacDonald's longer books, Phantastes and Lilith. We as readers are not meant to follow a character as much as we are steeped in things that are beyond our understanding. There are many doubles or opposites, shadows and mirrors, that seem much more akin to mystical understanding than either the rational modern or the despairing post-modern mind. The meaning is sunken into the story and the wonder we feel at the sights we experience.
October 15, 2024
An interesting fantasy hidden inside distracting exposition.
December 15, 2025
Le voyage sur les mers du prince Takaoka est un très court roman de Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, critique littéraire et traducteur de littérature française en plus d’être romancier. L’auteur japonais a notamment traduit des grands noms comme Cocteau, Bataille, ou encore Sade, ce qui lui a valu entre autres d’être condamné publiquement pour obscénité. Il n’en reste pas moins, selon le traducteur, un auteur incontournable du XXe siècle, qui aura marqué la littérature japonaise.
Fort de ces influences, ce roman fantaisiste retrace le voyage d’un personnage historique où légendes et Histoire s’entremêlent, avec le ton philosophique des contes, tels Zadig ou la destinée ou Candide ou l’optimisme de Voltaire, mais dans un registre effectivement plus proche des écrits érotiques de Sade et de ceux fantastiques de Cocteau. Takaoka Shinno est un personnage qui a bel et bien existé. Fils d’empereur, héritier rapidement destitué, il s’est détourné de la cour pour devenir moine bouddhiste avant de se lancer dans une expédition vers l’Inde, durant laquelle il finira par trouver la mort sans jamais l’atteindre.
Je l’ai un peu pris par hasard, sans rien connaître de l’auteur, de sa réputation, ni du roman. Et si c’était clairement très intéressant d’un point de vue culturel et littéraire, ce n’est pas vraiment ma tasse de thé. Que ce soit l’écriture ou le récit, je me rends compte que je n’accroche pas tellement aux contes fantaisistes, et que j’ai décidément du mal avec la lecture d’auteurs (notamment masculins) japonais du siècle dernier (entre autres, ils ne sont pas clairement pas les seuls). Disons que malgré toute la richesse dont j’ai pu effectivement tirer de ces œuvres, il y a quelque chose qui reste profondément difficile à apprécier. Il s’agit souvent de la place ou, comme ici, de la figure de la femme. Je suis en particulier mal à l’aise vis-à-vis de comment le prince s’éveille à sa sexualité, caressé pendant son enfance par la seconde épouse de son père qui lui inspirera d’une certaine façon son voyage pour les Indes. Je ne sais pas encore trop quoi y penser, malheureusement, mais ça met une barrière nette à mon appréciation, je le crains.
Je vous recommanderai donc volontiers si vous le croisiez en librairie de lire au moins les trois pages de préface écrites par le traducteur lui-même, Patrick Honnoré, dont le travail est incontournable pour qui lit des romans ou des mangas en provenance du Japon. Je pense que plus que n’importe quelle chronique ou avis de lecture - et surtout du mien -, cette préface vous renseignera rapidement sur toute l’importance de cet auteur dans le paysage littéraire japonais et la place particulière de cette œuvre écrite en fin de vie.
Je reconnais avoir été bien surprise par la narration, qui porte à la fois une attention très détaillée aux éléments historiques qui sont retracés, mais qui comportent tout autant de légendes que de faits. Il en résulte un livre particulier qui fait effectivement voyager dans l’imaginaire, tout en donnant envie d’en savoir plus sur les lieux, les époques, les histoires traversées. Il y a aussi une forme assez belle sur le message véhiculé en filigrane du récit et une sacré inventivité.
Mais outre mes réserves partagées plus haut, je n’ai pas forcément apprécié ma lecture. Comme on dit souvent, je suis restée à côté, suivant le fil du voyage, me laissant parfois porter par la plume, par les élans du récit, l’atmosphère particulière et envoûtante. Ça n’a pas suffi à me marquer davantage, cependant. Je reste assez mitigée, ravie d’avoir pu découvrir ce roman, cet auteur, un bout supplémentaire de la littérature japonaise dont je suis encore assez ignorante. C’est une expérience littéraire intéressante, malgré mon appréciation globale.
Fort de ces influences, ce roman fantaisiste retrace le voyage d’un personnage historique où légendes et Histoire s’entremêlent, avec le ton philosophique des contes, tels Zadig ou la destinée ou Candide ou l’optimisme de Voltaire, mais dans un registre effectivement plus proche des écrits érotiques de Sade et de ceux fantastiques de Cocteau. Takaoka Shinno est un personnage qui a bel et bien existé. Fils d’empereur, héritier rapidement destitué, il s’est détourné de la cour pour devenir moine bouddhiste avant de se lancer dans une expédition vers l’Inde, durant laquelle il finira par trouver la mort sans jamais l’atteindre.
Je l’ai un peu pris par hasard, sans rien connaître de l’auteur, de sa réputation, ni du roman. Et si c’était clairement très intéressant d’un point de vue culturel et littéraire, ce n’est pas vraiment ma tasse de thé. Que ce soit l’écriture ou le récit, je me rends compte que je n’accroche pas tellement aux contes fantaisistes, et que j’ai décidément du mal avec la lecture d’auteurs (notamment masculins) japonais du siècle dernier (entre autres, ils ne sont pas clairement pas les seuls). Disons que malgré toute la richesse dont j’ai pu effectivement tirer de ces œuvres, il y a quelque chose qui reste profondément difficile à apprécier. Il s’agit souvent de la place ou, comme ici, de la figure de la femme. Je suis en particulier mal à l’aise vis-à-vis de comment le prince s’éveille à sa sexualité, caressé pendant son enfance par la seconde épouse de son père qui lui inspirera d’une certaine façon son voyage pour les Indes. Je ne sais pas encore trop quoi y penser, malheureusement, mais ça met une barrière nette à mon appréciation, je le crains.
Je vous recommanderai donc volontiers si vous le croisiez en librairie de lire au moins les trois pages de préface écrites par le traducteur lui-même, Patrick Honnoré, dont le travail est incontournable pour qui lit des romans ou des mangas en provenance du Japon. Je pense que plus que n’importe quelle chronique ou avis de lecture - et surtout du mien -, cette préface vous renseignera rapidement sur toute l’importance de cet auteur dans le paysage littéraire japonais et la place particulière de cette œuvre écrite en fin de vie.
Je reconnais avoir été bien surprise par la narration, qui porte à la fois une attention très détaillée aux éléments historiques qui sont retracés, mais qui comportent tout autant de légendes que de faits. Il en résulte un livre particulier qui fait effectivement voyager dans l’imaginaire, tout en donnant envie d’en savoir plus sur les lieux, les époques, les histoires traversées. Il y a aussi une forme assez belle sur le message véhiculé en filigrane du récit et une sacré inventivité.
Mais outre mes réserves partagées plus haut, je n’ai pas forcément apprécié ma lecture. Comme on dit souvent, je suis restée à côté, suivant le fil du voyage, me laissant parfois porter par la plume, par les élans du récit, l’atmosphère particulière et envoûtante. Ça n’a pas suffi à me marquer davantage, cependant. Je reste assez mitigée, ravie d’avoir pu découvrir ce roman, cet auteur, un bout supplémentaire de la littérature japonaise dont je suis encore assez ignorante. C’est une expérience littéraire intéressante, malgré mon appréciation globale.
December 3, 2024
My review first appeared in Kyoto Journal
Prince Takaoka was a ninth-century Japanese prince. The third son of the reigning Emperor Heizei, he longed to see India and finally embarked on the dangerous voyage there when he was around sixty years old. He is believed to be the first Japanese person to have visited Malaysia, where he was eaten by a tiger.
Tatsuhiko Shibusawa’s novel, Takaoka’s Travels, opens when the prince is still a child. His desire for India begins when his father’s favorite consort, Fujiwara no Kusuko, told him about that magical land, whispering in his ear those three magical syllables: Hin-du-stan, which cause him to “quiver with sweet intoxication.”
This is the same consort who is later blamed for the end of his father’s short reign, when in 810, the emperor’s brother Prince Saga demands the throne for himself. This resulted in both the emperor and his son Prince Takaoka removing themselves from power and becoming monks. Reminiscent of the “Kiritsubo” chapter in the Tale of Genji, Kusuko was long seen as part seductress, part witch. She would not only beguile the emperor, but would entrance the prince with her wondrous stories of the holy sites of Bodh Gaya and Nalanda and the miraculous sound of the Kavalinka bird.
How Takaoka pines for India! And so, as soon as he is able to do so—near the end, as it turns out, of his life —he sets sail west and then south and then north and then west again. Like so many travelers before him, the prince is going in search of knowledge; he wants to uncover the roots of Buddhism in the land of Lord Buddha’s birth.
This is a pilgrimage in every way reminiscent of the one undertaken by the Chinese monk Xuanzang, who a century earlier snuck past the gates of the capital in Chang’an to travel to India, where he too hoped to uncover the true nature of the sutras. His story, like the prince’s was one of magical encounters that reads like they are drawn from an Umberto Eco novel. In Shibusawa’s version, for example, Prince Takaoka encounters an ape that guards a harem of beautiful bird-women in Cambodia and a dog-headed man who can tell the future. There are ghosts and pirates and monks mummified in honey. And also one perfectly shaped pearl.
Takaoka’s Travels was the winner of the prestigious Yomiuri Prize in 1987 and the translation by David Boyd was the recipient of the 2022-23 William F. Sibley Memorial Subvention Award for Japanese Translation. He is skillful enough to retain the surreal quality of this novel while doing a fabulous job with the Tang dynasty vocabulary employed in this novel, which purports to be a historical fantasy form the 9th Century.
Shibusawa, who was himself a translator of French literature, would have been pleased. This was his only novel; in Japan he is perhaps best known as the translator of Marquis de Sade. He and his publisher were taken to court for indecency for that translation. Interestingly, as Boyd explains in his translator’s note, Shibusawa was found guilty, not just for the translation but for intensifying the scandalous parts!
Boyd also makes note of the author’s love of curiosities. This was typical of most pre-modern travel literature where pilgrims went out in search of fantastical objects as well as wisdom. As Boyd suggests, the book of Takaoka’s voyage reads like a Cabinet of ancient Asian Curiosities, from Tang China to the Buddhist kingdoms in Malaya and Sumatra.
This is the first work by Shibusawa to appear in English, and one must be grateful to Peter Goodman and the Stone Bridge press for making it available.
Prince Takaoka was a ninth-century Japanese prince. The third son of the reigning Emperor Heizei, he longed to see India and finally embarked on the dangerous voyage there when he was around sixty years old. He is believed to be the first Japanese person to have visited Malaysia, where he was eaten by a tiger.
Tatsuhiko Shibusawa’s novel, Takaoka’s Travels, opens when the prince is still a child. His desire for India begins when his father’s favorite consort, Fujiwara no Kusuko, told him about that magical land, whispering in his ear those three magical syllables: Hin-du-stan, which cause him to “quiver with sweet intoxication.”
This is the same consort who is later blamed for the end of his father’s short reign, when in 810, the emperor’s brother Prince Saga demands the throne for himself. This resulted in both the emperor and his son Prince Takaoka removing themselves from power and becoming monks. Reminiscent of the “Kiritsubo” chapter in the Tale of Genji, Kusuko was long seen as part seductress, part witch. She would not only beguile the emperor, but would entrance the prince with her wondrous stories of the holy sites of Bodh Gaya and Nalanda and the miraculous sound of the Kavalinka bird.
How Takaoka pines for India! And so, as soon as he is able to do so—near the end, as it turns out, of his life —he sets sail west and then south and then north and then west again. Like so many travelers before him, the prince is going in search of knowledge; he wants to uncover the roots of Buddhism in the land of Lord Buddha’s birth.
This is a pilgrimage in every way reminiscent of the one undertaken by the Chinese monk Xuanzang, who a century earlier snuck past the gates of the capital in Chang’an to travel to India, where he too hoped to uncover the true nature of the sutras. His story, like the prince’s was one of magical encounters that reads like they are drawn from an Umberto Eco novel. In Shibusawa’s version, for example, Prince Takaoka encounters an ape that guards a harem of beautiful bird-women in Cambodia and a dog-headed man who can tell the future. There are ghosts and pirates and monks mummified in honey. And also one perfectly shaped pearl.
Takaoka’s Travels was the winner of the prestigious Yomiuri Prize in 1987 and the translation by David Boyd was the recipient of the 2022-23 William F. Sibley Memorial Subvention Award for Japanese Translation. He is skillful enough to retain the surreal quality of this novel while doing a fabulous job with the Tang dynasty vocabulary employed in this novel, which purports to be a historical fantasy form the 9th Century.
Shibusawa, who was himself a translator of French literature, would have been pleased. This was his only novel; in Japan he is perhaps best known as the translator of Marquis de Sade. He and his publisher were taken to court for indecency for that translation. Interestingly, as Boyd explains in his translator’s note, Shibusawa was found guilty, not just for the translation but for intensifying the scandalous parts!
Boyd also makes note of the author’s love of curiosities. This was typical of most pre-modern travel literature where pilgrims went out in search of fantastical objects as well as wisdom. As Boyd suggests, the book of Takaoka’s voyage reads like a Cabinet of ancient Asian Curiosities, from Tang China to the Buddhist kingdoms in Malaya and Sumatra.
This is the first work by Shibusawa to appear in English, and one must be grateful to Peter Goodman and the Stone Bridge press for making it available.
April 7, 2024
Takaoka's Travels (高丘親王航海記), the only novel by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (澁澤 龍彦), and won the prestigious Yomiuri Prize (the Japanese equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize) in 1987. In Japan, the novel is considered a cult classic.
Shibusawa (1928–1987) was primarily known as a Japanese translator of French literature, especially avant-garde and surrealism, and for his essays about black magic, demonology, and eroticism.
This deft translation by David Boyd, who teaches translation at the University of North Carolina won the Sibley Award for Japanese translation in 2022–23
The novel is an imagined 9th century sea voyage of Prince Takaoka Shinnō from China to India. Along the way, the prince meets with many unusual challenges and adventures. If this novel reminds me of anything, it’s the One Piece manga series. Takaoka’s Travels has the feel of a manga adventure deeply rooted in Japanese history, culture, and mythology.
Before diving into the book, I found it helpful to spend a few minutes catching up on Japanese history, particularly the Kusuko Incident which provides the background for why Prince Takaoka is heading to India to study Buddhism from the source.
Prince Takaoka was the son of Fujiwara no Kusuko, a famed beauty who became the consort of Emperor Heizei. When the Emperor retired, things got messy between the former emperor and his brother. Takaoka was named crown prince, but was later disinherited.
As was common for princes who didn’t want to lose their heads, Takaoka became a Buddhist monk and traveled to China to study Buddhism. This is the historical background that Japanese readers will have learned in school.
The novel starts later, in 865, when Takaoka is 65 years old. He decides to sail from Guangzhou to Hindustan, accompanied by two Japanese monks who’d come with him to China.
But the sea is dangerous and the lands they have to cross are filled with mythical creatures. One animal they encounter is the dream-eating baku — a beast with the trunk of an elephant, eyes of a rhino, tail of a bull, and paws of a tiger. When it eats pleasant dreams, it excretes an intoxicating dung. But when it eats nightmares, the dung is horrible smelling.
Unfortunately for the baku, in the heat of the tropics, all the people have nightmares. But Takaoka is a dreamer, always sleeping pleasantly. He’s imprisoned in the Garden of Dreams to feed the baku with pleasant dreams because a happy baku is needed to cure the princess of melancholy.
When they return to the seas, they have to battle ghostly pirates and struggle with supernatural winds to reach Hindustan. As they draw near land, Takaoka falls under a curse that puts his future in doubt.
Overall, Takaoka’s Travels is a fun adventure story filled with amazing and imaginative creatures from Japanese mythology. It does, however, assume familiarity with Japanese history and mythology, and for a general audience, might have benefitted from of few pages of introduction to provide context and as much as I hate footnotes in a novel, that might've been helpful here.
I highly recommend Takaoka's travels to anyone who enjoys Japanese literature or manga-like swashbuckling adventures.
Shibusawa (1928–1987) was primarily known as a Japanese translator of French literature, especially avant-garde and surrealism, and for his essays about black magic, demonology, and eroticism.
This deft translation by David Boyd, who teaches translation at the University of North Carolina won the Sibley Award for Japanese translation in 2022–23
The novel is an imagined 9th century sea voyage of Prince Takaoka Shinnō from China to India. Along the way, the prince meets with many unusual challenges and adventures. If this novel reminds me of anything, it’s the One Piece manga series. Takaoka’s Travels has the feel of a manga adventure deeply rooted in Japanese history, culture, and mythology.
Before diving into the book, I found it helpful to spend a few minutes catching up on Japanese history, particularly the Kusuko Incident which provides the background for why Prince Takaoka is heading to India to study Buddhism from the source.
Prince Takaoka was the son of Fujiwara no Kusuko, a famed beauty who became the consort of Emperor Heizei. When the Emperor retired, things got messy between the former emperor and his brother. Takaoka was named crown prince, but was later disinherited.
As was common for princes who didn’t want to lose their heads, Takaoka became a Buddhist monk and traveled to China to study Buddhism. This is the historical background that Japanese readers will have learned in school.
The novel starts later, in 865, when Takaoka is 65 years old. He decides to sail from Guangzhou to Hindustan, accompanied by two Japanese monks who’d come with him to China.
But the sea is dangerous and the lands they have to cross are filled with mythical creatures. One animal they encounter is the dream-eating baku — a beast with the trunk of an elephant, eyes of a rhino, tail of a bull, and paws of a tiger. When it eats pleasant dreams, it excretes an intoxicating dung. But when it eats nightmares, the dung is horrible smelling.
Unfortunately for the baku, in the heat of the tropics, all the people have nightmares. But Takaoka is a dreamer, always sleeping pleasantly. He’s imprisoned in the Garden of Dreams to feed the baku with pleasant dreams because a happy baku is needed to cure the princess of melancholy.
When they return to the seas, they have to battle ghostly pirates and struggle with supernatural winds to reach Hindustan. As they draw near land, Takaoka falls under a curse that puts his future in doubt.
Overall, Takaoka’s Travels is a fun adventure story filled with amazing and imaginative creatures from Japanese mythology. It does, however, assume familiarity with Japanese history and mythology, and for a general audience, might have benefitted from of few pages of introduction to provide context and as much as I hate footnotes in a novel, that might've been helpful here.
I highly recommend Takaoka's travels to anyone who enjoys Japanese literature or manga-like swashbuckling adventures.
March 15, 2024
My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Stone Bridge Press for an advance copy of this fantasy novel with a lot of travel and many wonders, the first translation into English by a very renowned Japanese author.
As one writes the reality of one's surrounds tend to make there way onto the the page. Fiction, nonfiction, fantasy or history, the experiences of the author, the life and times, highs and lows begin to show. One can start with a firm idea, this book will go from A to B to C, and end this way. Once the implement hits the page, or the fingers type the words, all bets are off. When one knows an author this is apparent, but when is new to a writer, or even in translation, this can be missed. One might enjoy the story but not get the story, or even wonder why something that seemed so linear went so askew. And became something even more beautiful and full of meaning. Takaoka's Travels by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa and translated from Japanese by David Boyd seems a book of magical realism about travels around Asia, but by the end becomes something far more.
Prince Takaoka grew up in a life of privilege, with every desire given to him. Takaoka's days were spent in leisure, or with an older woman who he loved, who shared stories about the countries far from Japan. Until she went away, leaving him with a strange story. Takaoka's father backed the wrong person in a game of politics, and Takaoka to survive becomes a monk. After a few years Takaoka asks for permission to travel to China, which takes time, and from there permission to travel to India, which takes more time. The day they leave his party of three if joined by a runaway slave boy, who talks of a mean master, but has secrets of his own. Upon landing they are attacked by tall men, and this only the start of their odd adventures in lands not their own, with a strange feeling that Takaoka is missing something.
The story is really well written in a style that seems removed as if told by a court chronicler to a group of people. However underneath it all is strong love of life, and an emotional feelings keep coming to the surface while reading, that one does not expect. Even in translation this comes across, so I must praise the translation. Upon reading some of the endnotes certain points of the story make sense, I won't ruin it, but suddenly odd things and choices fit perfectly, and even if at all possible hit harder. There is a love of life here, that magic is all around us if we just look, and don't wait until it is too late.
This is not a long work, but I found myself slowly reading different passages, and upon finishing reading the last third once again. I really enjoyed this work. I'm not sure if it is for everybody, but this will be one of the books I will recommend quite often.
As one writes the reality of one's surrounds tend to make there way onto the the page. Fiction, nonfiction, fantasy or history, the experiences of the author, the life and times, highs and lows begin to show. One can start with a firm idea, this book will go from A to B to C, and end this way. Once the implement hits the page, or the fingers type the words, all bets are off. When one knows an author this is apparent, but when is new to a writer, or even in translation, this can be missed. One might enjoy the story but not get the story, or even wonder why something that seemed so linear went so askew. And became something even more beautiful and full of meaning. Takaoka's Travels by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa and translated from Japanese by David Boyd seems a book of magical realism about travels around Asia, but by the end becomes something far more.
Prince Takaoka grew up in a life of privilege, with every desire given to him. Takaoka's days were spent in leisure, or with an older woman who he loved, who shared stories about the countries far from Japan. Until she went away, leaving him with a strange story. Takaoka's father backed the wrong person in a game of politics, and Takaoka to survive becomes a monk. After a few years Takaoka asks for permission to travel to China, which takes time, and from there permission to travel to India, which takes more time. The day they leave his party of three if joined by a runaway slave boy, who talks of a mean master, but has secrets of his own. Upon landing they are attacked by tall men, and this only the start of their odd adventures in lands not their own, with a strange feeling that Takaoka is missing something.
The story is really well written in a style that seems removed as if told by a court chronicler to a group of people. However underneath it all is strong love of life, and an emotional feelings keep coming to the surface while reading, that one does not expect. Even in translation this comes across, so I must praise the translation. Upon reading some of the endnotes certain points of the story make sense, I won't ruin it, but suddenly odd things and choices fit perfectly, and even if at all possible hit harder. There is a love of life here, that magic is all around us if we just look, and don't wait until it is too late.
This is not a long work, but I found myself slowly reading different passages, and upon finishing reading the last third once again. I really enjoyed this work. I'm not sure if it is for everybody, but this will be one of the books I will recommend quite often.
December 4, 2025
Una delle cose più sorprendenti di questo libro è il legame stretto tra fantasia e realtà storica. Il protagonista non è una figura inventata: Shibusawa sceglie di ispirarsi al principe Takaoka, vissuto nel IX secolo, un nobile che, dopo la caduta in disgrazia dovuta al fallimento della rivolta guidata dal padre, abbandonò la vita di corte per farsi monaco sotto la guida del celebre Kūkai. Nella sua maturità intraprese davvero un viaggio verso l’India alla ricerca delle radici del Buddhismo. Fin qui, la storia segue i fatti documentati. Da questo punto in avanti, però, l’autore lascia correre liberamente la fantasia e immagina ciò che potrebbe essergli accaduto lungo il cammino. Il risultato è una serie di episodi quasi fiabeschi, che ricordano l’atmosfera meravigliosa delle Mille e una notte: creature dai tratti animaleschi o impossibili, sogni che si intrecciano ad altri sogni, personaggi che sembrano emergere da un mondo sospeso tra mito e leggenda. A rendere il tutto ancora più particolare c’è il continuo gioco metanarrativo, con il libro che non esita a mettere in luce le sue stesse incoerenze temporali. Nonostante questa cornice immaginifica, persiste un filo conduttore profondamente umano: la curiosità insaziabile del principe e la sua voglia di scoprire ciò che si nasconde oltre l’orizzonte. È un tratto in cui mi sono rivisto molto. Del resto, anche Shibusawa era una figura controcorrente nella cultura giapponese del suo tempo, noto perfino per le controversie legali nate dalle sue traduzioni del Marchese de Sade; forse proprio per questo sentiva di condividere qualcosa con il suo protagonista. La lettura è stata un vero spasso: avventura pura, piena di fantasia, ma anche ricca di riferimenti a luoghi che ho avuto la fortuna di visitare di persona. Un modo davvero stimolante per osservare come il sud-est asiatico fosse immaginato e raccontato nel passato.
June 21, 2024
Okay this book takes the cake on most bizarre book I’ve read! I mean I could’ve expected it since it’s Japanese surrealism written in the 1980’s by a man dying of cancer whose vocal cords had been removed, so writing was his only way to express words.
Even so, I went into this read naively, the cover has a tiger on it, good enough reason to pick up I thought! Hah! Tigers do play a major role it turns out but that’s for spoilers.
The bawdy humor in this story revolves around the irony of all these sexual and sexualized beings being juxtaposed with this Buddhist monk of a prince who wants nothing more than to reach his destination of Hindustan and have adventures along the way. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt super uncomfortable reading about beastiality and the bodies of underage girls, ahhh but after researching the author and learning he’d literally been sued for writing obscenities and reacted to the court like a real rockstar for freedom of speech and art, like, I get it. It just makes this book hard to recommend, I guess?
The structure of the book leaves you wondering how time works, what was real, what was imagined; in a way the whole book reads like a series of dreams.
I’m sure a lot of this book went over my head, and I may revisit it in the future. That said the translation was easy to read and delivered some powerful imagery. I’m grateful Shibusawa’s work is finally being translated to English at all, that seems a huge win!
Even so, I went into this read naively, the cover has a tiger on it, good enough reason to pick up I thought! Hah! Tigers do play a major role it turns out but that’s for spoilers.
The bawdy humor in this story revolves around the irony of all these sexual and sexualized beings being juxtaposed with this Buddhist monk of a prince who wants nothing more than to reach his destination of Hindustan and have adventures along the way. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt super uncomfortable reading about beastiality and the bodies of underage girls, ahhh but after researching the author and learning he’d literally been sued for writing obscenities and reacted to the court like a real rockstar for freedom of speech and art, like, I get it. It just makes this book hard to recommend, I guess?
The structure of the book leaves you wondering how time works, what was real, what was imagined; in a way the whole book reads like a series of dreams.
I’m sure a lot of this book went over my head, and I may revisit it in the future. That said the translation was easy to read and delivered some powerful imagery. I’m grateful Shibusawa’s work is finally being translated to English at all, that seems a huge win!
May 18, 2025
--Thanks for the ARC provided by Stone Bridge Press and LibraryThing.--
I think it best to be clear about what Takaoka's Travels is not before proceeding to discuss what it is. Not a linear narrative, rather it is recursive and reflective; it is certainly not a travelogue or Asian Odyssey, the actual places and actions bear less weight than the mental and spiritual effect engendered; most obviously, this is not a Western tale with Judeo-Christian signposts and Common Era calendar milestones.
This is a cheeky and sometimes carnal pilgrimage through lands simultaneously earthly and dreamscape, as if Candide wandered into Yellow Submarine. The very counter-reality elements that can catch a reader unawares become the spice that make the story really blossom, and STORY it truly is. I found that the structure and tone of the telling -- I can only guess that David Boyd's translation preserved this -- really felt as if this was a story being told to listeners (remember Kipling's Just So Stories, o best beloved?). As such a story, and like the Beatles on their winding way to Pepperland, it's best to just let it take you along. This is a story I'll return to, and maybe I'll even find something new next time.
I think it best to be clear about what Takaoka's Travels is not before proceeding to discuss what it is. Not a linear narrative, rather it is recursive and reflective; it is certainly not a travelogue or Asian Odyssey, the actual places and actions bear less weight than the mental and spiritual effect engendered; most obviously, this is not a Western tale with Judeo-Christian signposts and Common Era calendar milestones.
This is a cheeky and sometimes carnal pilgrimage through lands simultaneously earthly and dreamscape, as if Candide wandered into Yellow Submarine. The very counter-reality elements that can catch a reader unawares become the spice that make the story really blossom, and STORY it truly is. I found that the structure and tone of the telling -- I can only guess that David Boyd's translation preserved this -- really felt as if this was a story being told to listeners (remember Kipling's Just So Stories, o best beloved?). As such a story, and like the Beatles on their winding way to Pepperland, it's best to just let it take you along. This is a story I'll return to, and maybe I'll even find something new next time.
February 17, 2024
Takaoka’s Travels is unlike any other book I’ve read. In the afterward, it’s described as a “cabinet of curiosities,” which is a good way to put it. Each section of the book is its own story, sometimes somewhat separate from the others, other times referencing earlier sections. It’s unclear what parts are dreams and what parts are reality. It had some rather bizarre sexual scenes, but the afterward discusses the original author having been tried in Japan for obscenities in a different translated work, so perhaps this is intentional (like a stick it to the man type of thing). It was an odd but interesting read.
May 23, 2025
TW: there are a few instances of bestiality and child sexual abuse that are not portrayed as so.
Otherwise, the book feels like a dream like sequence of events on a long torturous and wonder-filled journey. It’s also an easy and quick read. A Japanese prince in real life went on a trip to reach India, the land of Buddhist enlightenment but died before getting there. This is a fantastical and mystical adaptation of his journey. Our prince did the most unexpected thing at the end to reach his destination. Was this unexpected ending fulfilling for me ? Not quite, but it is metaphorical and elusive like most things that happened in this book.
Otherwise, the book feels like a dream like sequence of events on a long torturous and wonder-filled journey. It’s also an easy and quick read. A Japanese prince in real life went on a trip to reach India, the land of Buddhist enlightenment but died before getting there. This is a fantastical and mystical adaptation of his journey. Our prince did the most unexpected thing at the end to reach his destination. Was this unexpected ending fulfilling for me ? Not quite, but it is metaphorical and elusive like most things that happened in this book.
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September 8, 2024Takaoka's Travels is a dreamscape that is cleverly disguised as a travel log. The story blends the physical with the Prince's inner world as he embarks on a journey to Hindustan. While his destination and title as a monk make those around him assume that his motives are religious, this is far from the truth. His encounters with various creatures and people make up the bulk of the novel, and is what keeps it intriguing. Shibusawa has written a novel that can be described as an anachronistically displaced epic.
August 19, 2024
This was an interesting book, but also kind of frustrating. It is a sort of fantasy, but in a very old, broad sense of the word, and not like the modern genre/marketing category; not necessarily a bad thing, but a very different feel. It also has aspects of a historical novel, though that is more of a veneer than anything. The translator's notes point out some parallels with the author's own life and I wonder if there aren't more aspects connecting the book and biography. Of course, the main influence appears to be the author's work translating French surrealists; the story is sort of unstable, shifting between dreams and actual events, frequent digressions to memories or past events and with numerous anachronisms or other oddities that characters call out as such. That last part especially may be intended as humorous, but falls flat to me, and the overall effect is that the story treats itself as somewhat absurd and unimportant, and I found that it made me care about it less as a result.
January 22, 2025
Hmmm, interesting book. I have to read ot once more to give valid appreciation. This was my review last year. I noticed it, and also found it strange that I could not remember anything from it, so I started reading it again...
Alas, I found the reason why I didn't remember anything: I never finished it out of boredom. And I'll do the same this year....
Alas, I found the reason why I didn't remember anything: I never finished it out of boredom. And I'll do the same this year....
December 8, 2024
Hypnotic, hallucinatory, more a series of interconnected dreams than travelogue. I was immediately hooked by the premise of a 10th century Japanese monk making his way across southeast Asia on a Buddhist pilgrimage. I'll be thinking about what on earth it all symbolized for a long time.
October 7, 2023
Très étrange, mais si enchanteur à la fois. On s'y perd, mais ça remplit tellement d'imagination nos esprits. Belle étrangeté recommandable
January 6, 2024
4.5 Stunning, gorgeous, well done, suirreal. The one big weakness is it's too short (to me), i feel like it wants another 20-30 pages? idek. thanks for the arc
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