Harp of Burma

by Michio Takeyama

Book Overview

Harp of Burma is Japan's classic novel of pathos and compassion in the midst of senseless warfare.

Winner of the prestigious Mainichi Shuppan Bunkasho prize and the basis for the critically acclaimed film The Burmese Harp by Ichikawa Kon, Harp of Burma shares a powerful human story about Japanese soldiers on the front lines in WWII. Losing a desperate battle against British forces in the tropical jungles of Burma,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804802327
• ISBN13: 9780804802321
• Release Date: December 1989
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece of WWII literature

At the end of WWII, Corporal Mizushima, the pride of his unit, accepts an assignment to convince another Japanese unit to surrender to British forces. Mizushima's unit goes to a POW camp and spends its days tormented by the fate of their missing comrade, who had become something of a symbol of good luck and hope for them. About this time, they also become aware of a travelling Burmese monk who often wanders through the area and bears a striking resemblance to...could it be? I don't want to reveal too much, but what these soldiers learn will affect them deeply and give them a new understanding of what it means to be faithful to one's countrymen--an understanding that is entirely different from the patriotic nationalism that caused them to go to war in the first place. Michio Takeyama's novel includes sequences of high adventure as well as beautiful, elegiac passages and meditations on spirituality and responsibility. A highly entertaining and rewarding novel.

A remarkable book

Harp of Burma is a tragic and heartbreaking book. The striking originality of the story is a perfect antidote to the overblown and overripe pretentiousness of most of the books as well as films about the causes and effects of the Second World War (Saving Private Ryan, Sophie's Choice, Schindler's List, Diary of Anne Frank, Pearl Harbor, etc. etc.). A very fine work of art to be savored by all. It has been required reading in honors English and History high school classes throughout the United States. One final note: the 1956 film version is excellent.

A classic anti-war story

One of my favorite books. It contains one of the most brilliant and moving scenes ever written. Far from nationalistic propoganda, I found this to be a moving portrayal of the pacific war and how the Japanese troops felt during the closing stages of it. Rather than faceless, evil minions dominant in American popular culture, this book employs well shaped characters to explore what people do when a war is lost and their country lays in ruins. This book asks important questions about whether war is inherent to materialistic societies and whether human beings can kill each other once their humanity is revealed. The answers to these questions shape this book and form the thoughtful basis of an engaging story.

The most influential book I ever read

Some may feel that the Japanese still haven't come to grips with what their nation did in World War 2, and this book will only reinforce that view. If you think that everything Japan does from now until the end of time should, in some way, be an apology for the role Japan played, then you will hate this book, but you'll only be hurting yourself. I only read the book because I had to for a class, but that didn't keep me from falling in love with it. The way the author describes things like the terror the Japanese soldiers had for the Gurkas, or how the main character convinces his surrounded friends that the war is over and that they can surrender are scenes I will never forget. Most of all, the burning desire of the Japanese to go home and start over will move anyone. No, these Japanese soldiers aren't the monsters that some think they all were, but that doesn't make it a bad book.

Far more than meets the eye

This book challenges your preconceptions, demands that you rethink what war is. More than anything, this book investigates the problem of meaning - what does it mean to be human? Examining the problem of meaning, particularly in the context of war and contrary to many persons preconceptions, this book opens the mind if one lets it. While superficially the story of Japanese soldiers at the end of World War Two, the underlying message should disturb one and all: the "enemy" is often all too human and all too humane. Highly recommended.