Samurai Commissariat

Shōgun by James Clavell has been on my reading list forever. I was curious to read it mainly because it’s been hailed as one of the best literary works of the 20th century. Some put it in the category of fiction novels which are mandatory reading for business people, with Atlas Shrugged inevitably leading the list.

Shōgun reminds me of figure skating. To score high, skaters have to perform a certain number of jumps, spins, turns, lifts, etc, which seem to get progressively more sophisticated and dangerous. The music stops, but the skater keeps jumping and spinning until she drops breathless. That, in a nutshell, is Shōgun.

There’s no shortage of spins and jumps in the book. It has so many turns of the plot, that by the 1,200th page I was ready to scream, “Just order them all to commit seppuku and let’s be done with it!” It seems Mr. Clavell was reluctant to cut out several superfluous episodes which added little to the storyline.

The author’s choice of words seems funny at times. For example, one episode describes how villagers stole rice from the local “samurai commissariat.” That’s a funny combination. What do samurai have in common with bolsheviks? Did they call each other “comrade” or “tovarisch”? Grammar gets funny once in a while as in, for example, “he had had her sunk” or “he had also had the same ringing in his ears.”

Some history buffs go on and on debating if certain types of marine vessels were equipped with cannon and built a certain way in 1600s. Shōgun is no history book and I can’t vouch for its accuracy. Nonetheless, the book is immensely absorbing.

Where’s the business value of the book?

Shōgun, with its never-ending sequence of plot twists, is about group dynamics we often derisively refer to as politics. Software development is a social activity. No matter where you work, you have to deal with politics, i.e. relationships within the org. In the sense of dissecting group dynamics, Shōgun is executed masterfully. In my opinion, that’s what makes the book so valuable.

A memorable quote:

“When the storm’s the worst and the sea the most dreadful, that’s when you need your special wits. That’s what keeps you alive and your ship alive—if you’re the pilot. Get your wits about you and take the juice out of every day, however bad…”

Would love to hear from fellow Shōgunners what you thought about the book.