Harp of Burma

Harp of Burma is Japan's classic novel of pathos and compassion in the midst of senseless warfare.

Winner of the prestigious Mainichi Shuppan Bunkasho prize and the basis for the critically acclaimed film The Burmese Harp by Ichikawa Kon, Harp of Burma shares a powerful human story about Japanese soldiers on the front lines in WWII. Losing a desperate battle against British forces in the tropical jungles of Burma, the young soldiers discover that the trials of war involve more than just opposing the enemy.

Distressed and disoriented by the alien climate and terrain, strange behavior of foreigners and the emotions stirred by the senselessness of war, their commander's ability to lead them in song helps them discover music's power to make even the most severe situations more tolerable. Even though they face the inevitability of defeat, singing the songs of their homeland revives their will to live.

Through the story of these men and of the music that saw them through the war, Takeyama presents thought-provoking questions about political hostilities and the men who unleash them. Harp of Burma is Japan's classic novel of pathos and compassion in the midst of senseless warfare.


About the Author
Michio Takeyama (1903 - 1984) spent his early years in Seoul, Korea, then a Japanese colony. Primarily an essayist and a scholar of German literature, he was for a time professor of German at elite universities in Tokyo. Takeyama won the prestigious Mainichi Shuppan Bunkasho prize for the Harp of Burma, and its publication propelled him to fame.