Song Of The Samurai [TRADE PAPER ]

Japan, 1745, is a land under the iron grip of the Tokugawa shoguns. Roads are monitored, dissent stifled, and order maintained through blackmail and an extensive network of informers. Amid rumors of rebellion, Kurosawa Kinko– samurai and monk– is expelled in disgrace as the head music instructor of his Zen temple in Nagasaki. He begins an odyssey across Japan, dogged by agents and assassins from an unknown foe. Along his journey, Kinko encounters a compelling cast of merchants, ronin, courtesans, spies, warriors, hermits, and spirits, on a quest to redeem his honor. Inspired by the life of the historical Kurosawa Kinko (1710-1771), master of the shakuhachi flute and founder of the Kinko-ryu school, Song of the Samurai takes the reader on a richly-textured exploration of feudal Japan and the complexities of the human spirit."C.A. Parker is either a thoroughly accomplished novelist or an out-and-out time traveler, for he has given us the kind of window into 18th-century Japan that suggests he lived and walked there. With this engrossing debut, Parker proves himself a master at reanimating lost worlds."— Louis Bayard, author ofPale Blue EyeandJackie & Me

"The author’s quiet prose artfully evokes Kurosawa’s world, in which every space and person has a spiritual dimension... the novel succeeds in re-creating a time and, perhaps more importantly, a worldview that many readers will enjoy getting lost in. An immersive and cerebral historical novel steeped in Zen Buddhist ideas." — Kirkus ReviewsFor over twenty-five years, C. A. Parker has studied both the shakuhachi (an end-blown Japanese flute) and the martial art of Aikido, both in the United States and Japan. Prior to life as an author, Dr. Parker spent his career at the intersection of spirituality and social justice, and he has spent many years exploring the commonalities betw