SOLVED. Adult Paranormal - Japanese movie director plans to publicly commits seppuku and uses the soul of a old samurai reincarnated in a 10 year old boy as his second. Read in 2000s but was older. Spoilers ahead. [s]

[David]

The book starts in the feudal times Japan, a lord's castle is being attacked, the lord commits seppuku to avoid capture, one of his samurais (probably named Benkai/Benkei?) despite an arrow in the eye and betrayal from one of the lord's concubines fights killing a lot of men. The attackers had problems putting him down.

I remember everyone in the scene impressed with the samurai having an arrow through the eye and being still alive, with the head of the treacherous concubine on his belt.

Then we get to present time, around late 80s/90s? A japanese movie director plans to commit seppuku to protest... something, not very relevant to the story. His mentor gives him a bone from the samurai, tells him the bone will lead him to a protector.

The protector ends out being a 10 or year old boy, son of an American journalist. He is kidnapped by the director and possessed by the soul of the samurai. Maybe there is a Muramasa blade involved.

Read about 15 years ago, but pretty sure it was located around late 80s/90s.

There is a woman the American is in love with and PR/producer of the movie.

Don't remember the name of the American, I think the woman producer was Kay or something. The son might have named Todd.

There is something in the middle part about the American participating in a japanese sword-making process, because a police friend is the sword-maker's nephew.

The American uses a cane and is an expert in swords, so he might have been a writer instead of a journalist.

The movie director has what is basically a group of ninja under his command, which are the ones that kidnap the boy. Later, one of them, which is envious of the role of the boy in his master's plan, is killed by the boy.

SPOILERS AHEAD






The last part of the book is the American trying to rescue his son before the movie director can commit seppuku. There are some kind of parallels with the initial scene. I think the climax occurred either in the lord's old castle, or maybe in a location in Osaka. The producer also kidnaped a lot of people as witness for his seppuku. The woman producer behaves similar to the concubine of the past, betraying the movie director. However, I seem to remember that the mentor was the one that killed the director, not sure why.

[Kris]

Can we eliminate author Yukio Mishima?

[Angela]

Dai-sho by Marc Olden?

[Kris]

Angela's suggestion of Dai-sho by Marc Olden sounds like your book.

Google Books has a snippet preview. You might get lucky searching for keywords:
https://books.google.com/books?id=eOk... There are different cover images.

Quotes from the book:
- The sight of the arrow in his eye kept them rooted in place.
- ... a reincarnation of an ancient samurai warrior? Would they believe this warrior was alive in the body of an eleven-year-old boy? And about to take part in another seppuku within the walls of Ikuba Castle?
- ...sight of the ugly and shapeless bone had caused the boy Todd to become temporarily possessed by a samurai warrior who had been dead four hundred years.
- At the sound of a key in the bedroom door Yoshiko and the film director froze. When the door opened, her father stood in ...

[David]

Awesome! Dai-sho it is!

I wasn't aware there was second book, wow.

[David]

Kris wrote: "Can we eliminate author Yukio Mishima?"

While not the author I was looking for, his books look interesting as well.