| The samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga Rokuemon has been assigned a mission: to establish commercial ties with the Spanish government and to bring back "padres" to the region of Sendai. With that purpose he crosses the Pacific, Mexico, and the Atlantic in a trip towards Madrid, Barcelona and Roma full of sacrifices and spiritual challenges. This is the account of a historical mission that failed from the start. The exposure of the samurai to Christianity marks in him a path that will accompany until his last days once back in Japan. Although most of the tale reflects the historical facts, some parts of Shusaku's novel were of his own making. It is a book of adventure but as many reviewers I was drawn by the religious inside which looks for a purpose of existence in each of its characters. I missed a more in depth intrusion into the Spanish culture of that time. Cities like Madird, Toledo, and Seville... were at that time filled with strong cultural, political and economical changes. It was close to the time when Cervantes wrote his Don Quijote de la Mancha and I'm sure the "real" emissaries where also swapped into those events: the homeless in the streets, people that abandoned the villages to find better chances in the cities... |
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