"I lived during a time when the great lords of Japan fought over that land like dogs over a bone. A time when blood flowed like rivers and no man knew at sunrise if he would be alive when it set."

So begins the boy Taro's tale of warlords and poets, of stable boys and courtiers, of spies and assassins and monks. When the powerful Lord Takeda's soldiers swept across the countryside, killing and plundering, they spared the boy's life and took him along with them. Thus Taro became first a servant in the household of the noble Lord Akiyama and then, as he grew into manhood, a trusted aide.

Out of the tumultuous history of sixteenth-century Japan, Erik Christian Haugaard has fashioned an epic novel, rich in drama and excitement and, as always, the poetic insight of a master storyteller.

From the dust jacket