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Originally Posted by LoathsomePete
Basically it's a biographical book with the structure of a fictional story. According to the opening forward, the book is a really good counter-point to the more popular Shogun novel by Australian author James Clavell, who was willing to distort history in order to give the story more appeal. Apparently all Yoshikawa really did was change a few names out of respect for the real people they were based on, and then added in the dialogue. In either case, I've heard Shogun is fantastic and look forward to reading it at some point, but for right now I can't wait to delve into the history of one of Japan's greatest Samurai's.
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Shogun is definitely worth your time. I'm not a huge buff on feudal Japanese history, at least not more than the passing interest of a Japanophile, but it definitely isn't particularly accurate, and the portrayal of Japanese and samurai culture is more based on Japanese nationalist WW II propaganda than actual history from what I've heard. Still, it's fantastic stuff.