The Iroha Maru Journal and Other Writings

A shipwreck becomes a test of patience, persuasion, and duty. In his account of the Iroha Maru affair, Sakamoto Ryōma records repeated meetings, offers, refusals, and the difficult question of how to complete his master’s business after the loss of a ship.

The other writings reveal a less ceremonial voice. Ryōma jokes with his elder sister, boasts of naval training, asks for books and family poems, tells of a woman who confronted the men who sold her sister, and worries about the nurse he has left behind. Fragmentary travel notes record ports, hot springs, money, ships, and lost lives; brief poems turn toward love, changing hearts, and the passage of time.

A leading figure in Japan’s final years of shogunal rule, Ryōma appears here through his own supplied words rather than a later heroic retelling. This new English collection includes all thirty texts in their supplied order, with traditional dates retained and brief notes for historical terms, uncertain readings, and textual contradictions. AI-assisted translation.