Song of the Samurai

Overview

Song of the Samurai, is a sweeping historical epic about the legendary shakuhachi master and samurai monk Kurosawa Kinko. After being expelled in disgrace from his temple in Nagasaki, he embarks on a journey across feudal Japan to reclaim his honor, discovering the complexity of the human spirit in a tale of adventure, love, and redemption.

Reviews

"C.A. Parker is either a thoroughly accomplished novelist or an out-and-out time traveler, for he has given us the kind of window into 18th-century Japan that suggests he lived and walked there. With this engrossing debut, Parker proves himself a master at reanimating lost worlds." — Louis Bayard, author of Pale Blue Eye and Jackie & Me

"The author’s quiet prose artfully evokes Kurosawa’s world, in which every space and person has a spiritual dimension... the novel succeeds in re-creating a time and, perhaps more importantly, a worldview that many readers will enjoy getting lost in. An immersive and cerebral historical novel steeped in Zen Buddhist ideas." — Kirkus Reviews

Author Biography

For over twenty-five years, C. A. Parker has studied both the shakuhachi (an end-blown Japanese flute) and the martial art of Aikido, both in the United States and Japan. Prior to life as an author, Dr. Parker spent his career at the intersection of spirituality and social justice, and he has spent many years exploring the commonalities between Christian and Buddhist contemplative traditions. He lives in Washington, DC, with his two amazing and creative children, and two rescued pets (a grumpy old dog named Chewbacca and a neurotic cat named Luna).