TRANSLATION: The Kamigata Scroll

The first English publication of the first volume of Naruto Hichō

As the second release in our weekly translation schedule, we have completed the official English translation of 鳴門秘帖: 上方の巻, or THE SECRET SCROLLS OF NARUTO: The Kamigata Scroll, by Yoshikawa Eiji, who is best-known in the West as the author of MUSASHI. The ebook has already been sent out to the paid subscribers. For those who are not paid subscribers of this site but are interested in the new translation, the ebook is now available on Kindle, KU, and audiobook.

EDO NOIR FROM THE TOKUGAWA ERA

Osaka, the 1760s. Two men arrive after dark at a canal-side guardhouse, looking for a room. One is a gruff tile-maker from Edo named Karakusa Gingorō. The other is his man Taichi, who is carrying a great deal of money and would prefer not to be murdered for it. They are bound for Awa — the sealed domain on the island of Shikoku that forbids entry to outsiders — on a mission to find a vanished spy whose disappearance, ten years ago, left behind a grieving daughter and an unanswered question that could bring down the shogunate.

They do not know that a woman is crouched in the shadows beside the guardhouse, listening to every word. They do not know that a killer in a black hood is already following them through the dark streets, choosing his moment to strike.

And they do not yet know about Norizuki Gennojō, the swordsman-monk whose flute can be heard on the road to Awa, and whose sword, when he is finally forced to draw it, is worth the blades of thirty men.

The Kamigata Scroll opens Yoshikawa Eiji’s great adventure in the cities of the Kamigata — Osaka, Kyoto, and the roads between. Here the pieces are set in motion: Gingorō’s dogged attempt to obtain passage into the forbidden domain; the pickpocket Otsuna’s private pursuit of his party, for reasons of her own; the detective Mankichi’s ten-year obsession with the Awa conspiracy, suddenly reignited by a stolen letter; and the silent, lethal convergence of the Lord of Awa’s agents — the street-killer Ojūya Magobei, the spear-fighter Tendō Ikkaku, the predatory ship’s officer Mori Keinosuke — on anyone foolish enough to ask questions about Shikoku and its secrets.

This is the first English translation of Naruto Hichō, the novel that made Yoshikawa Eiji the most widely read author in Japanese history. Written in 1926–27 and never before available to English-language readers, it is the book that created the modern Japanese adventure novel. The Kamigata Scroll is the first of the book’s six volumes. The second volume, The Edo Scroll, will be released next week.

Every Monday, Castalia Library will release a new original English translation in ebook format. Many of these works have never been translated into English before, or in some cases, are only available in outdated, abridged editions. Paid subscribers to this site will receive the weekly ebook in their email.

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The Translations

1. Sanshirō by Natsume Sōseki

2. The Kamigata Scroll by Eiji Yoshikawa

3. The Edo Scroll by Eiji Yoshikawa