The novel is filled with distinctive characters, shady dealings, women of moral ambiguity and heroes and villains alike.

While haiku poets like Basho extolled the virtues of tranquility, premodern Japan was likely a noisier affair than most ...

Founded in 1590 as the seat of the warlord Tokugawa family, Tokyo, then called 'Edo, ' was the locus of Japanese trade, economics and urban civilization until 1868, when it mutated into Tokyo and ...