Author John Burnham Schwartz is a Harvard graduate whose pursuit of a degree in East Asian Studies resulted in his living abroad in Tokyo and loosely basing his story The Commoner off the scant details revealed about the current Japanese royal family. The true story is from 1957, when the Japanese crown prince, Akihito, met a beautiful young woman, Michiko Shoda, on a tennis court. She became the first commoner to marry into the imperial family. Despised by her mother-in-law as an upstart and interloper, Michiko eventually succumbed to a depression so intense that she temporarily lost the ability to speak. A generation later, her eldest son, Prince Naruhito, also fell in love with a commoner which also resulted in unhappiness when she was unable to produce an heir.
In the story, Haruko is born in Japan to a well-off family. She attends private school and a prestigious college, and she rejects the arranged proposals of a handful of successful and prestigious Japanese men. Called “Gazelle” by her high school track friend, she remains active throughout her young adult life by playing tennis as a semi-professional hobby. When the Crown Prince is set to be her opponent, she wins the match. This victory making her an intriguing woman in the eyes of the Crown Prince. It took many attempts on the prince’s behalf, and her father cautions her: “More than a man, he’s an institution and a symbol,” but she agrees to become the Princess of Japan.
Once inside the closed world of the palace, however, Haruko cannot be protected by her family. Even her new husband cannot shield her from the sharp tongue of Mrs. Oshima, her aristocratic chief lady-in-waiting, although he defies much tradition to do so in a very subtle way. Haruko’s sole duty is to produce a male heir, and she duly becomes pregnant. But soon after her son’s birth, she realizes that she will have to give him up. “He may be yours,” Mrs. Oshima icily reminds her, “but he does not belong to you.” There are many haunting scenes where her son is weaned from her at just a few months old and how she is reprimanded for just picking the child up out of his pram that the reader is not surprised when Haruko eventually has a breakdown and stops talking. Though she regains her voice, she is unable to fully regain her spirit. As the years pass, she achieves a fragile emotional balance, only to watch in pain when, a few decades later, her son meets a beautiful commoner called Keiko and the dreadful pattern is repeated.
The story is told in vivid detail and imagery that slowly unfolded the story. This led some of the women in my book club to want the story to hurry up and get going. Even the dramatic moments revolved around her walking ahead of her husband or supplying witty banter with her antagonist in the palace that was told in a quiet lilting way.
The theme of freedom, flight, and gilded cages was woven throughout the story. I was especially touched by Haruko’s relationship with her father who was so moving as he loses access to the daughter he so loved.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and recommend if you would like to know more that you pick up Ben Hill’s biography, Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne.
GENRE: Historical Fiction
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Like millions of viewers last night, I stayed up late to finally put an end to my six year investment of watching Lost. Well to be honest, it was actually four years, as I watched the first two seasons over a summer to catch up and get ready for season three.
