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Romulus Hillsborough

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.samurai-revolution.com

Twitter

RomulusWriter

Genre

History, Historical Fiction, Biography

Influences

Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, W.B. Yeats, Shiba Ryotaro (Japanese h ...more

Member Since

February 2013

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My books tell the story of the samurai revolution that spanned the third quarter of the 19th century (aka Meiji Restoration). The samurai revolution transformed Japan from a country of hundreds of feudal domains under the control of the Tokugawa Shogun, into a modern industrialized world power under the unifying rule of the Emperor. It is the historical era that Japanese writers generally refer to as the "Bakumatsu."

I grew up in Los Angeles but came of age in Tokyo where I lived for sixteen years after graduating from a California State University with a degree in English. Soon after arriving in Japan I immersed myself in the study of the Japanese language, and later, Japanese history and culture. Most of my reading focused on the Bakumatsu My books tell the story of the samurai revolution that spanned the third quarter of the 19th century (aka Meiji Restoration). The samurai revolution transformed Japan from a country of hundreds of feudal domains under the control of the Tokugawa Shogun, into a modern industrialized world power under the unifying rule of the Emperor. It is the historical era that Japanese writers generally refer to as the "Bakumatsu."

I grew up in Los Angeles but came of age in Tokyo where I lived for sixteen years after graduating from a California State University with a degree in English. Soon after arriving in Japan I immersed myself in the study of the Japanese language, and later, Japanese history and culture. Most of my reading focused on the Bakumatsu.

To get a closer feel for the Bakumatsu, I traveled to historical cities and towns around Japan where my samurai subjects lived and died and where the revolution unfolded. While writing my first book, "Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai," I worked as a writer for a popular weekly magazine in Tokyo and later as a contributing journalist to a number of other Japanese publications.

I published "Ryoma" in 1999, after moving back to California. It is the only biographical novel in English about Sakamoto Ryoma, the most charismatic leader of the samurai revolution. Since then I've written a series of books on the subject. "Samurai Revolution: The Dawn of Modern Japan Seen Through the Eyes of the Shogun's Last Samurai" (Tuttle, 2014) is a comprehensive history of the Meiji Restoration from the perspective of one of its most important men, Katsu Kaishu. It is based largely on Kaishu's journals, memoirs, histories, and letters. My most recent book, "Samurai Assassins: 'Dark Murder' and the Meiji Restoration, 1853-1868" (McFarland, 2017), focuses on the importance of assassination in the samurai revolution to provide an in-depth overview of the era while focusing on significant men and events, and ideology, not expatiated in "Samurai Revolution." The result of thirty years of research and writing, these two books combine to present a comprehensive history of the Meiji Restoration.

So why do I write about a culture and history completely foreign to my own? Because it is spellbinding. And though it's a lot of hard work, hearing from my readers that they have become engrossed in my writing makes my work worthwhile. ...more

Combine Editions
Romulus Hillsborough’s books

Average rating: 3.88 · 983 ratings · 140 reviews · 13 distinct works • Similar authors

	Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps 3.80 avg rating — 628 ratings — published 2005 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Samurai Revolution: The Dawn of Modern Japan Seen Through the Eyes of the Shogun's Last Samurai 4.15 avg rating — 144 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Samurai Tales: Courage, Fidelity, and Revenge in the Final Years of the Shogun by Romulus Hillsborough (Goodreads Author), Romulus Hillsborough (Goodreads Author) 3.74 avg rating — 93 ratings — published 2010 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai 4.09 avg rating — 55 ratings — published 1999 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Samurai Sketches: From the Bloody Final Years of the Shogun 4.05 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2000 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Samurai Assassins: "Dark Murder" and the Meiji Restoration, 1853-1868 4.18 avg rating — 17 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps: The Bloody Battles and Intrigues of the Shinsengumi 4.56 avg rating — 9 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Los Ultimos Samurais 3.67 avg rating — 9 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Samurai Tales: Courage, Fidelity, and Revenge in the Final Years of the Shogun by Romulus Hillsborough (Goodreads Author), Kiyoharu Omino (Foreword) 3.71 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps: The Bloody Battles and Intrigues of the Shinsengumi 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Romulus’s Quotes

“When a human being resists his whole age and stops it at the gate to demand an accounting, this must have influence.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs

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