Library Journal Book Review

THE FOURTH TREASURE

by Todd Shimoda

This is a love story that spans three decades and both sides of the Pacific as well as a mystery that revolves around a legendary ink stone and the lineage of a renowned school of Japanese calligraphy, or shodo. Shimano, a Japanese shodo teacher and master of the Daizen school, has an affair with Hanako, one of his pupils and the wife of a construction magnate who banishes her to America when he discovers her infidelity. Shimano follows Hanako to San Francisco, taking with him the ink stone that is the symbol of his school's prestige. In the present time of the novel, Shimano is a shodo teacher in Berkeley, while Hanako continues to live in San Francisco, their lives never intersecting. When Shimano has a stroke and loses the ability to speak and write, one of his students takes over the administration of his school and discovers the Daizen ink stone hidden among some old letters. Thus unfolds a chain of events that will bring Shimano and Hanako together one last time. A third-generation Japanese American and cognitive scientist, Shimoda keeps the plot elements in perfect balance, and the marginalia provide some interesting information about shodo that add depth to the narrative. Recommended for all collections.

Philip Santo, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information