My favorite books

 One of my favorite books is Kashin written by Ryotaro Shiba.  The story is about a man, named Zoroku Murata, who was a wise doctor in a village in countryside.  He was very intelligent and studied at Tekijuku in Osaka where was held by Koan Ogata.  The story based on the end of the Edo Era, what is called Meiji-Ishin.  His prefectural office needed someone who could read and translated foreign languages.  He is the very man.   He was not kind, not talkative, and not good-looking.  But he was wise, had a skill to be needed, and understood what he should do.   He was like a machine to succeed Meiji-Ishin.
 He was not famous and is not famous.  In fact, I had never heard about him until when I read this book.  Some of other characters are very famous, for example, Takamori Saigo, Kogoro Katsura, and Kaishu Katsu.  The main character, what I mean him, is not famous.  However, this book says that Meiji-Ishin would not have succeeded if he hadn't been, or even if it had succeeded, it would have lost the Seinan War.
 The title, Kashin, means that the god to make plants bloom.  His life is like that.  He didn't appeal himself and stand out conspicuously.  In the deathbed, he left a message to get artillery guns for the Seinan War that he foresaw it would happen.
 I thought that he was very intelligence and the interesting person.  The point he is not famous is  also interesting.  It is nice to make not oneself but others stand out conspicuously like his life.

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