Ry?tar? Shiba - Clouds above the Hill: A Historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War, Volume 2

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.

In Volume II, Meiji Japan is on a collision course with Russia, as Russian troops stationed in Manchuria ignore repeated calls to withdraw. Admiral Tg leads a blockade and subsequent skirmish at the strategically vital and heavily fortified Port Arthur, while Yoshifurus cavalry in Manchuria maneuvers for position as it approaches the Russian Army lines. The two armies clash at the battle of Liaoyang, where Japan seals a victory that shocks the world.

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, famous 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, former member of the Japanese parliament
and President of the Center for International Public
Policy Studies, Japan

When the Russo-Japanese War was over and Japan had won, the commanding generals from both sides came together face to face at Suishiying. 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