Download or read book Clouds Above the Hill written by Ryōtarō Shiba and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clouds above the Hill is one of the best-selling novels ever in Japan, and is now translated into English for the first time. Volume I describes the growth of Japan's fledgling Meiji state, a major character in the novel. We are also introduced to our three heroes, born into obscurity, the brothers Akiyama Yoshifuru and Akiyama Saneyuki, who will go on to play important roles in the Japanese Army and Navy, and the poet Masaoka Shiki, who will spend much of his short life trying to establish the haiku as a respected poetic form. An epic portrait of Japan in crisis, Clouds above the Hill combines graphic military history and highly readable fiction to depict an aspiring nation modernizing at breakneck speed.