Shisendo Book Review

I found an insightful book review of Shisendo: Hall of the Poetry Immortals written by David Pollack (University of Rochester) in Early Modern Japan, Volume 6, Issue 1, Summer 1997. Visitors to my website will know that I consider this book the best English language reference about Shisendo and Ishikawa Jozan. What I most enjoyed about Pollack’s review was the critical eye he applies to Ishikawa and the book itself. Pollack adds fresh translations for some of Shisendo’s locales as well as an English version of Jozan’s “Six Be Nots” poem not included in the Rimer book. Pollack elaborates on the points made by each contributor and extends them by adding insights from his own research and knowledge of the subject.

The only problem I had with the review is the line about Jozan “saving the life of one of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s own sons in battle” (45). This conclusion appears to be drawn from an admittedly ambiguous sentence in the Rimer essay: “Jozan was praised for his nimble actions during the battle [of Sekigahara]; and on one occasion when he saved the life of a son of Ieyasu, he was publicly feted” (7). According to Yamamoto Shiro’s book, Ishikawa Jozan and Shisendo, he actually saved the life of Ieyasu’s eleventh son, Tokugawa Yorifusa, during the fire of Sunpu Castle in 1607. It is unfortunate that Rimer does not provide any details about Ishikawa’s accomplishments at Sekigahara, because Yamamoto’s book is silent on this subject.

Travis Belrose is the author of The Samurai Poet, a work of historical fiction based on the life of Ishikawa Jozan. Learn more here.