Shiba Ryōtarō - Clouds Above the Hill: A Historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War, Volume 3

Clouds above the Hill

Clouds above the Hill, a longtime best-selling novel in Japan, is now translated into English for the first time. An epic portrait of Japan in crisis, it combines graphic military history and highly readable fiction to depict an aspiring nation modernizing at breakneck speed. Acclaimed author Shiba Rytar devoted an entire decade of his life to this extraordinary blockbuster, which features Japans emergence onto the world stage by the early years of the twentieth century.

Volume III finds Admiral Tg continuing his blockade of Port Arthur. Meanwhile, a Japanese land offensive gains control of the high ground overlooking the bay as the Russians at last call for a ceasefire. However, on the banks of the Shaho River, the Japanese lines are stretched, but the Russian General Kuropatkin makes a decision to flank the troops to the left and in doing so encounters Akiyama Yoshifurus cavalry.

Anyone curious as to how the tiny, rising nation of Japan was able to fight so fiercely for its survival should look no further. Clouds above the Hill is an exciting, human portrait of a modernizing nation that goes to war and thereby stakes its very existence on a desperate bid for glory in East Asia.

Shiba Rytar (19231996) is one of Japans best-known writers, acclaimed for his direct tone and insightful portrayals of historic personalities and events. He was drafted into the Japanese Army, served in the Second World War, and subsequently worked for the newspaper Sankei Shimbun. He is most famous for his numerous works of historical fiction.

Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, Andrew Cobbing, and Paul McCarthy Edited by Phyllis Birnbaum

Shiba Rytar is Japans best-loved author, and Clouds above the Hill is his most popular and influential work. In it he celebrates the transformative spirit of Meiji Japan and examines Japans unexpected victory in the Russo-Japanese War, providing a thoughtful and thought-provoking perspective on those dramatic times and the people at their center. This distinguished translation of a modern classic is a landmark event.

Donald Keene, University Professor Emeritus, Columbia University, USA

Shiba Rytar wrote that from the Meiji Restoration of 1868 through the Russo-Japanese War of 19041905, Japan transformed its premodern brown sugar society into a modern white sugar one, eagerly scooping up crystals of the new substance in the drive to create society anew. During the Pacific War, by contrast, the nations leaders merely went through empty motions, and Japan collapsed. This book looks back on that earlier era through the lens of the later tragedy, depicting the struggles and growth to maturity of Japans young men.

Tanaka Naoki, President of the Center for International Public Policy Studies, Japan

When the siege of Port Arthur was over and Japan had won, the commanding generals from both sides came together face to face at Shuishiying. They paid honor to each others bravery and expressed mutual condolences, and before parting they shook hands. I have visited that very place, which seems to me less the site of a Japanese victory than a monument to the souls of fallen soldiers on both sides. I have no doubt that Clouds above the Hill was also written to honor those souls.

Anno Mitsumasa, author and illustrator of childrens books in Japan

Clouds above the Hill

A historical novel of the Russo-Japanese War, Volume III

Shiba Rytar

Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter

Edited by Phyllis Birnbaum

First published in hardback 2014
First published in paperback 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1979 The original work in the Japanese language, Shiba Rytar
2014 For the translation of the work in the English language, Japan Documents

The right of Shiba Rytar to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Shiba, Rytar, 19231996.

[Saka no ue no kumo. English]

Clouds above the hill: a historical novel of the Russo-Japanese War/Shiba Rytar; translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, Andrew Cobbing and Paul McCarthy; edited by Phyllis Birnbaum.

p. cm.

Saka no ue no kumo, Shiba Rytar. 1. Shiba, Rytar, 19231996.Translations into English. 2. JapanPolitics and government18681912. I. Carpenter, Juliet Winters II. Cobbing, Andrew. III. McCarthy, Paul. IV. Birnbaum, Phyllis. V. Title.

PL861.H68S2513 2012

895.635dc23

2012033404

ISBN: 978-0-415-50887-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-85892-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-88350-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Scala Sans and Times New Roman
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon

Cover image: Kobayashi Kiyochika, Japanese, 18471915
Great Battle for the Occupation of 203-Meter Hill (Dai gekisen Nihyakusan Kchi senry)
Japanese, Meiji era, 1905 (Meiji 38)
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Vertical ban triptych; 35.4 71 cm (13 15/16 27 15/16 in.)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Collection
2000.77a-c

CONTENTS

Abo Kiyokazu (18701948): lieutenant commander, chief of artillery for the entire Japanese fleet.

Akashi Motojir (18641919): colonel and agent provocateur who helped foment revolution in Russia.

Akiyama Saneyuki (18681918): Yoshifurus younger brother; staff officer of Japans Combined Fleet at the time of the Russo-Japanese War.

Akiyama Yoshifuru (18591930): Saneyukis older brother; father of the modern Japanese cavalry; defeated Russian Cossacks in the Russo-Japanese War.

Alexeyev, Yevgeny Ivanovich (18431918): Russian tsars viceroy in the Far East.

Clapier de Colongue, Konstantin Konstantinovich (18591944): chief of staff to Rozhestvensky in the Russian fleet.

Felkerzam, Dmitri Gustavovich von (18461905): commander of the Russian fleets Second Division; died from illness just before the battle of Tsushima.

Fok, Aleksandr Viktorovich (18431926): the highest-ranking officer in Russias Port Arthur army after Stoessel.

Fujii Shigeta (18581945): chief of staff of General Kurokis First Army.

Gapon, Georgi Appollonovich (18701906): Russian Orthodox priest who organized the march that led to Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg on January 22, 1905.

Grippenberg, Oskar-Ferdinand Kazimirovich (18381916): commander of the Russian Second Army in Manchuria; very critical of Kuropatkins tactics of drawing the Japanese Army deep into Manchuria.