Gate to Kagoshima
Japan 2005. Intrigued by long-standing family lore, Scottish student Isla MacKenzie temporarily leaves her Tokyo university course to travel to Kagoshima, birthplace of Samurai leader Takamori Saigo, alongside whom her three times great-grandfather is rumoured to have fought in the 1877 Satsuma rebellion. To unwind from her research, she goes for an evening run, and suddenly…BOSH! Her life takes a thunderous turn as a fantastical anomaly in the space-time continuum whisks her back to that very same year. Isla is found by locals who, due to mounting political tensions and superstition, keep her under observation in the small town, as a possible spy, or demon, so incongruous does she appear with her red hair, leggings, trainers and hoodie. Although bewildered by her situation, she settles in, enjoying not only the slow tranquillity of 19th-century Japanese rural life but also the ministrations of Keiichiro, the young warrior with whom she’s ‘billeted’. With war imminent, the proud Samurai anticipate fulfilling their honourable destinies or die valiantly defending them. Isla becomes increasingly involved, ultimately discovering those ancestral truths while facing her own life, love and death decisions.
This story exhibits high respect for Samurai history, exemplifying their traditions of discipline, honesty, kindness and invincibility. The uncomplicated narrative maintains political simplicity, confronts war’s gruesome brutalities, and entertains with Isla’s necessarily restrained romance. The time-slip conceit is well handled as Isla wonders, as do we, how, or even if, she’ll ever return to the 21st century. A promising series awaits.
