With support from the University of Richmond

New perspectives on how history is made

China's business leaders seek advice from Japan's Tokugawa Ieyasu

China's aggressively ambitious business community, tormented by the global financial crisis, is turning to an unexpected mentor for advice: a 17th-century Japanese feudal warlord.

Despite its bulk, the 13-volume epic Tokugawa Ieyasu, a work that charts the struggles of one of Japan's most famous historical figures, has proved an explosive commercial success in China. In Ieyasu's difficult and stressful quest, say his modern-day Chinese fans, lie the secrets to prosperity, order - and, ultimately, domination.

Sohachi Yamaoka's Tokugawa Ieyasu was written 50 years ago. The first Chinese translation appeared on bookstore shelves at the beginning of last year - since when it has shifted more than two million copies, and continues to sell at an extraordinary pace for a foreign work.
Read entire article at Times (UK)