Ayako Miura (1922–1999)

Ayako Miura is a Japanese novelist and this is her autobiography where she tells how she became a Christian and a bit of the beginning of her Christian life.

I enjoy conversion memoirs, and that's all I really knew about the book going in. I didn't realize Miura had tuberculosis, and that made the book much more impacting for me, as I'm also dealing with illness.

She talks about how she wanted to die for a long time and essentially "checked out" of life, and shares how the people in her life taught her about Christ and loved her as He did. It was a very encouraging read that I recommend!

A few quotes I liked:

"When I talked to friends about God, I was often told, 'There can't be a God. In today's scientific, progressive world, if something cannot be proved it is the same as not existing.'
Then suddenly I wanted to laugh. Has this world made so much scientific progress? Are men as clever as that! They think they understand every single thing when they do not even understand their own bodies. Science is no more than man's inventions.... 'All right. Since we cannot prove God's existence, if you say there is no God, I want you to prove that.'
Then most of my friends would pause and scratch their heads. If there was no scientific proof that God did not exist, then it was unscientific to say that He did not." (p 81-82)

"For the believer, thinking and praying may appear to be the same thing, but actually they are quite different. It is no easy thing to have the sincerity and love needed to pray, 'You can take my life.' " (p 155)

"At such times it is miserable to be ill. If you know the cause of the [symptoms] you can treat it and bear with some suffering, but to become weaker, with the doctor insisting that nothing is wrong, is far more distressing." (p 81)… (més)

The book is a look at one of the most famous time periods in Japan: the 16th century where the three most famous generals -- Ieyasu, Hideyoshi and Nobunaga -- were all discovering their fate. I've read a book like this before -- Eiji Yoshikawa's [Taiko] which takes place in the exact same time period but focuses on the strategy that saw Hideyoshi become the great leader.

But this time the era is shown via the perspective of Tama Hosokawa, daughter of the great daimyo, Mitsuhide, who was allied with Nobunaga. Instead of the military strategy that dominated the great book, Taiko, we get the perspective of a woman as she learns what her role is in 16th century Japanese society. And not only do we get to see this but we also get to see her adaptation to the Christian faith that was being introduced at the time.

So overall, a fascinating look at the era via a great new perspective that is excellently crafted by the author, Ayako Miura. Definitely a must read.… (més)

Although not a page turner, I was fascinated by this woman's story, a Japanese woman who was in her early 20s when WWII ended. She doesn't talk a lot about the war other than her own shame that they lost, but tells her own story which includes 12+ years fighting TB in pre-antibiotic world, and, amazingly, romance--Japanese style. The translator kept a lot of Japanese style and used footnotes to explain cultural meanings which gave greater understanding and insight to a culture so different from my own. Ayako Miura has written novels as well, which I have never seen.… (més)