So lonely am I
My sul is a floating weed
Severed at the roots

tThis is how Lady Asano has felt ince the forced suicide execution of her father. Adrift in a dangerous world, Lady Asano vows to avenge her father's death and restore his name to honor. To do so she will have to travel the Tokaido Road.

Lucia St. Clair Robson is renowned for her beautifully written and carefully researched historical novels about the American Indian: the Washington Post proclaimed Walk in My Soul 'a richly detailed, rousingly good story' and : The Kirkus Reviews praised Light a Distant Fire for its 'briliant word-portraits of memorable characters,' Now, Robson has turned her remarkable storytelling gifts and her passion for historical accuracy to a place and time that have been long close to her heart, feudal Japan.

As the novel opens, Lady Asano has transformed herself into Cat, a high-rankng courtesan, to support her widowed mother. Yet Cat's career is temporary; the powerful Lord Kira's campaign against her family is continuing and she must find Oishi, leader of the samurai of the Asano clan, weapons master, philosopher and Cat's teacher. Cat believes he is three hundred miles to the southwest in the imperial city of Kyoto.

Disguising her loveliness in the humble garments of a traveling priest, Cat begins her quest. All she has is her samurai training-in Haiku and Tanka poetry, in the use of the deadly six-foot weapon, the naginata, and in Japanese Zen thought. And she wil need them all, for a ronin has been hired to trail her.

The ronin, a lordless samurai, is Tosa no Harushiro. His weapon is the traditional long-sword, a two-hundred-year old Kanesada blade. But he will find cunning adversaires in Cat and her faithful taveling companion Kasane. A peasant girl, Kasane is simple, her poetry a little crude. But her devotion to Cat runs deep.

Both picaresque and tagic, filed with the grand poetry, chivalrous love, adn rollicking goings-on of the era. The Tokaido Road is a stunning achievment by a noveist writing at th peadk of her considerable powers.

Lucia St. Clair Robson is the author of the New York Times bestseller Ride the Wind, and of Walk in my Soul and Light a Distand Fire. She has lived and taught in Japan, and made three trips there during the writing of The Tokaido Road.

Robsen lives in Arnold, Maryland, with her longo-time companion, the science fiction novelist Brian Daley.

Contents

Chapter One Beware the Stopping Mind
Chapater Two; A State of Confusion
Chapter Three: Aim for his weak point
Chapter Four: The Burglar in the House
Chapter Five: A Beggar's Bag
.......
Chapter Seventy-eight The Ultimate of Swordsmanship
Chapter Sseventy-nine Spring Dwells Inside The Strugging Buds
Epilogue

I could have walked the Tokaido Road many times over myself in the time it took me to read this book lol. Despite that, it really is good. I loved that we get to see the story of the 47 ronin through the perspective of a woman. And I'm always impressed when someone can craft a novel after real people and events and do them justice. Read my full review here. ( )

This is a very good historical novel of feudal Japan in the early 1700's.

It is based on true events. There was a Lord Asano , and there was a vendetta over his death led by Oishi and 47 Ako ronin resulting in the death and beheading of Kira's head. There is doubt about a daughter by Lord Asano and the author postulated a second "outside" wife for Lord Asano in this novel called Cat.

The novel is basically a chase scene. Cat was sold to a pleasure house to allow her to support her mother. An attempt is made on her life and she escapes the "floating world" to enter a world that she has no knowledge of. She doesn't know how to communicate properly, doesn't know the value of money, and cannot even buy food or clothing without compromising her disguise as a young male priest (one of many disguises). She is being chased by samurai from her enemy Lord Kira, and a ronin, Hanshiro, who acts like a modern day detective is hired by the pleasure house to track her down. She must travel the Tokaido Road from Edo to Kyoto with 53 check points which she must pass to see her master Oishi and organize a vendetta for her father's death... and she has no travel papers.

She receives help along the way from unlikely sources in the peasantry she meets. Viper and Cold Rice are men who are hired by travelers to transport them by foot and are quite influential in their own right.

She helps a young peasant woman, Kasane, escape being sold into the life of a comfort woman. Kasane is like a puppy dog in loyalty and she will not leave her master...you see a change in this woman and more than once this puppy becomes a pit bull in helping Cat.

If you like a Historical novel FULL of description of the life and times of a period of time then The Tokaido Road is a MUST read for you. Every character is extremely well drawn down to the lowest peasant. There is action in the form of martial arts and romance but neither is described gratuitously, your imagination fills in the gaps ...as it should. There is humor just as subtle in the inner thoughts of Cat as she expresses frustration in situations.

I could not put this book down. Any negative review here is given by someone who is looking for gratuitous action and romance and cannot use their imagination. I gave it 4.5 stars deducting a 0.5 star because of the last 75 pages. No spoiler here but let us say the ending was a bit of an anti-climax for me.

That aside, this is one of the best historical fiction novels I have read. ( )

A romance novel set in Feudal Japan, raised from mediocrity by its rich vividness of description. ( )

I started this book and got about half-way through when I gave up. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't keeping my interest. (Although I suppose it could be argued that this is one definition of "bad" where books are concerned). It's a novel about feudal Japan, which can be an interesting topic; this book just didn't grab my interest. ( )