草原の記（新潮文庫）

by Ryōtarō Shiba

史上空前の大帝国をつくりだしたモンゴル人は、いまも高燥な大草原に変わらぬ営みを続けている。少年の日、蒙古への不思議な情熱にとらわれた著者が、遥かな星霜を経て出会った一人のモンゴル女性。激動の20世紀の火焔を浴び、ロシア・満洲・中国と国籍を変えることを余儀なくされ、いま凜々しくモンゴルの草原に立つその女性をとおし、遊牧の民の歴史を語り尽くす、感動の叙事詩。

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1992

About the author

Ryōtarō Shiba (司馬 遼太郎) born Teiichi Fukuda (福田 定一 Fukuda Teiichi, August 7, 1923 – February 12, 1996) in Osaka, Japan, was a Japanese author best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the rest of the world.

Shiba studied Mongolian at the Osaka School of Foreign Languages (now the School of Foreign Studies at Osaka University) and began his career as a journalist with the Sankei Shimbun, one of Japan's major newspapers. After World War II Shiba began writing historical novels. The magazine Shukan Asahi printed Shiba's articles about his travels within Japan in a series that ran for 1,146 installments. Shiba received the Naoki Prize for the 1959 novel Fukuro no Shiro ("The Castle of an Owl"). In 1993 Shiba received the Government's Order of Cultural Merit. Shiba was a prolific author who frequently wrote about the dramatic change Japan went through during the late Edo and early Meiji periods. His most monumental works include Kunitori Monogatari (国盗り物語), Ryoma ga Yuku (竜馬がゆく; see below), Moeyo Ken, and Saka no ue no kumo (坂の上の雲), all of which have spawned dramatizations, most notably Taiga dramas aired in hour-long segments over a full year on NHK television. He also wrote numerous essays that were published in collections, one of which—Kaidō wo Yuku—is a multi-volume journal-like work covering his travels across Japan and around the world. Shiba is widely appreciated for the originality of his analyses of historical events, and many people in Japan have read at least one of his works.

Several of Shiba's works have been translated into English, including his fictionalized biographies of Kukai (Kukai the Universal: Scenes from His Life, 2003) and Tokugawa Yoshinobu (The Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, 2004), as well as The Tatar Whirlwind: A Novel of Seventeenth-Century East Asia (2007).

(from Wikipedia)

Alternative Names:

Fukuda, Teiichi
Ryotaro, Shiba
Shiba, Ryoutarou
Ryoutarou, Shiba
Sima, Liaotailang
司馬遼太郎
司马辽太郎
Shiba, Rëotaro
Шиба, Рёотаро
司马辽太郎
司馬, 遼太郎
司馬遼太郎
司場遼太郎

Reviews

[Baasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

モンゴル国籍を有する者、モンゴルに興味を持つ者の必読冊。

草原に住む民が匈奴、モンゴル帝国、そして現在のモンゴルに至るまでどの道を辿っていったかについて、著者は巧みに元のオトダイハーンと知的な女性ツェベクマという2人の生涯を照らし合わせながら記する。周辺国（ソ連、ロシア、満州、中国、日本）の歴史についても学ぶことが多い。

著者の通訳は務めたツェベクマさんは、ロシア、満州、中国の国籍を転々とし、日本の歯科医、ソ連の侵攻、中国文化大革命の嵐を次々に経験した。政治には裏切られ続け、故郷も夫も奪われ、生涯、不遇に甘んじながら、草原の天幕に戻った女性。10年も無国籍のままウランバートル・ホテルで働き、やってモンゴル国籍を取得する。母の子供（イミナ）への愛はいかに素晴らしいもので、苦境に屈しない力を与えてくれるものだと改めて感じた。

再婚してしまった夫と26年ぶりに再会するシーンは心を打った。まさに「元の北帰」そのものだ。

流石日本を代表する作家 司馬遼太郎。目頭が熱くなった。

[Tuyana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book about Mongolians, even though there were several parts that I cannot agree with.