Shiba Ryotaro, “Ryoma Goes his Way”, 1963 was a historical fiction biography of Sakamoto Ryoma. The book has sold twenty-two million 22,000,000 copies.
In Japanese history Sakamoto Ryoma is the founder of the the modern Japanese Navy. Ryoma is the protagonist in many novels, films, and television in Japanese cultural media.
Tosa, Japan was the birthplace of Ryoma were strict samurai segregation was enforced. Sakamoto Ryoma was born into the lowest samurai caste. The caste system was a dichotomy of low and upper class samurai. The Meiji era of Emperor rule, versus Shogunate rule was brought into existence due to Sakamoto Ryoma
The Tosa, Japan clan of Sakamoto Ryoma toppled the Shogunate and brought in Emperor rule as means to modernize Japan’s Navy. The Shogunate had unified the country, however the Western isolation of 250 years left Japan backwards technologically. Shiba Ryotaro, “Ryoma Goes his Way”, 1963 as a historical fiction biography has sold millions of copies in the Japanese language; and an ebook English translation was published in 2018.
One thought on “Shiba Ryotaro, “Ryoma Goes his Way” 竜馬がゆくRyoma Ga Yuku, 1963.”