![]() ![]() The astonishing success of the Clavell novel inspired publishers to issue this abridged translation of ''Musashi,'' Eiji Yoshikawa's ''epic novel of the Samurai Era.'' The blurb is quite shameless about motive: ''For all those who were introduced to the Samurai tradition by 'Shogun,' this monumental adventure story of a wandering swordsman who rises to greatness enables the reader to truly understand the Japanese heroic tradition.'' Conceivable, but this true understanding requires readers who can survive this 970-page version of Yoshikawa's 26,000-page opus. ![]() ![]() And, at the same time, millions of Americans buy ''Shogun,'' a huge novel about the Way of the Samurai in 16th-century Japan, and millions more sit entranced before the television version of James Clavell's epic. Awed by Japan's ability to produce cars and cameras, stereos and silicon chips both better and cheaper than our own, we pore over articles and books on the mysterious art of Japanese management. By SHELDON FRANKĪMERICA has become intoxicated by Japanese culture. ![]() New York: Kodansha Inte rnational/Harper & Row. ![]()
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