It's a thorough narration of the history of Japan's "warring states" period of the late 1500s, which, I believe eventually ended in the famous Tokogawa shogunate which then lasted for about 250 years. At first I was sympathetic with none of the characters. It was either side with a collection of murderous warlords, or the main character, who seemed to have an inordinate love for pottery.

But then I recalled that in those days EVERYTHING that was made was made one by one, by hand, and when a product of all that patient labor turned out very aesthetically pleasing, some people were truly thrilled. Also, after many decades of fighting and murdering, anything beautiful that had been produced by their culture had to have seemed inordinately precious to many, including the m. c., as a symbol of the part of Japanese culture that didn't involve killing.

Once a reader gets on the side of the main character, a samurai who is both an ambitious Organization Man and a true aesthete, he becomes the center and anchor of the proceedings, which are otherwise so complex that without someone to identify with, many non-Japanese would feel hopelessly lost.

It's a dramatic, amazing, exciting, sometimes funny, and often very sad story.

... Last updated on March 21st, 2018, 6:56pm

At v.5 c.45, I can admit this story got me hooked. I tried the anime first but for some reason, storywise, I could not get what was going on. It's only after trying out the manga that I could come to admire the genius of the author at depicting interpersonal relationships.