Dustin Dye answers “For those who have read Musashi as well as...”

ajaygee asked this question about Musashi:

For those who have read Musashi as well as Taiko, which would you recommend reading first?

Dustin Dye I'd recommend Taiko first, as historically the events in Musashi follow those in Taiko. Musashi appears to have been written earlier, but the precedin…moreI'd recommend Taiko first, as historically the events in Musashi follow those in Taiko. Musashi appears to have been written earlier, but the preceding historical events would have been well-known to its Japanese audience, whereas foreigners might feel lost without the context. Both are stand-alone novels, however, and can be read, understood and enjoyed in any order.

I personally enjoyed Taiko the most, and would recommend that if you had to choose only one of them. I found it more epic and the translation was stronger. Taiko was highly edited from the Japanese original, which was sprawling and had a lot more subplots and minor characters than the better-focused English translation. Musashi is a full translation. Keep in mind both were serialized, and there are some problems in that format, which are more evident in Musashi. The book contains a few too many coincidences to completely suspend disbelief. This would have been less obvious to an audience reading it piece-by-piece in a newspaper than reading it consolidated in novel form with the ability to flip back. And while Yoshikawa remained amazingly consistent in the characters and subplots, no small feat for a story this size, some characters are dropped with no explanation (Musashi's sister), and he does have to do some backtracking at times when a certain detail from Musashi's past becomes important, but Yoshikawa had neglected to include it in earlier installments, so he has to elude to an episode that didn't happen in the book.

If you have to read anything first, The Heike Story is another good starting place. It is a well-known story in Japan, but Yoshikawa gives it a compelling twist by telling it from the point-of-view of its traditional villain (for that reason, the Japanese title literally translates to NEW Heike Story). The English translation actually came out before Yoshikawa had finished the Japanese version, so it is definitely not a complete translation, but that's OK, as it ends in a good spot. Heike's translation isn't as stong as Taiko or Musashi, however. You might also consider reading Shogun by James Clavell in between Taiko and Musashi as it is a fictionalized version of the events between the two novels (use Google to connect the fictional characters with their historical counterparts). But flip past the laughably bad romantic subplot.(less)

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