Hobby Talk: A Wild Historical Novel
Hello, this is Cahoot.
Today, I'd like to introduce a book I read recently that I found interesting: Daiki Inaba's Oedo Futures.
・You find standard work techniques or organizational management self-help books a bit hard to read, or you've grown tired of them. But you are interested in
business perspectives and the intrigue of organizational reform. ・You are interested in
historical novels but dislike anything too stiff.
・You like novels with unusual settings.
Even if you fit these descriptions, this book makes it easy to dive into the world of the story, and it's educational too, so I highly recommend it!
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~Amazon Book Version~
~Rakuten Books~
Winner of the 67th Mephisto Prize, I bought it because I was drawn to the high-impact, wild premise of
"modern consultants (called 'Imazaru' in the novel)" ✖️ "the Edo period".
The Mephisto Prize often features novels with quite wild settings, so I can see why this won.
The story is set during the time of the eighth shogun of the Edo period, Tokugawa Yoshimune.
It follows how the shogunate, which was on the verge of financial collapse due to chronic deficits caused by the sloppy management of previous generations, is turned around. This is the so-called
"Kyoho Reforms." Although it's a historical novel, it uses a lot of modern business terminology, so it was easy for me to read even though I'm not great with historical fiction. While it is based on historical facts, it's a story about "what if a consultant (Imazaru) had been an advisor to the shogunate," so it features reforms that Yoshimune actually led, such as:
・Major restructuring of the Ooku (women's quarters)
・Sumptuary edicts
・New rice field development
・The Age-mai system
・The suggestion box (Meyasubako)・The Dojima Rice Exchange
. In the story, many of these are devised by the consultants, but surely there must have been excellent brains back then too. I majored in Japanese history in high school, so I felt nostalgic thinking, "Oh, I remember these policies." Back then, however, I was just desperate to memorize terms and didn't deeply understand their meaning. Studying them again through this book is interesting because these are all measures that are still used in modern organizational management. For better or worse, perhaps
"the essentials of organizational management remain universal regardless of the era"
. And, of course, these Imazaru consultants are incredibly talented.
They look at the big picture, break down the elements, identify the issues within them, set priorities, and execute solutions.
It depicts work techniques that are important but often forgotten, which really struck a chord with me.
The truly amazing part starts here.
Beyond just sharp policy proposals, it delves into how to
get key people on board, and
how to handle those who aren't happy about it, providing support by stepping into those areas properly.
Ultimately,
an organization is a collection of people, so no matter how excellent a policy is, without people to cooperate, it remains a mere armchair theory and produces nothing. It is wonderful that this story focuses so firmly on
the most difficult execution phase.
I haven't had any contact with the consulting industry in my work, but it would be very reassuring to have an advisor like this.
However, the appeal of this work is not just in its business techniques.
Yoshimune's own struggles and conflicts in carrying the heavy mission of rebuilding the Shogunate are also depicted with care.
If it were only about the work, it would tend to be inorganic, but because of those emotional depictions, I felt it became a wonderful, flesh-and-blood novel.
"What are we aiming for?" "What do we want to become?"
Struggling with such universal human worries while facing them head-on makes him appear as a relatable figure, a human being, forgetting his title as Shogun.
That said, since he is the Shogun, there are moments where descriptions like "I'm jealous lol" appear, haha. Especially in his interactions with
the women of the Ooku
, haha.
This was a book I would recommend not only to those interested in historical novels, but also to those interested in work and organizational management. ...Of course, also to those who want to enjoy the Ooku parts, haha.