The Ronin tells the story of a masterless samurai who lives a violent, debauched life until one day he is made aware of the enormity of his crimes. As a sort of penance, he decides to dig a tunnel through a mountain which can only be crossed by a high and dangerous pass.
The book is based on a Zen koan (a problem which cannot be solved by logic, on which practitioners of Zen meditate in order to find enlightenment).
The Ronin is a fascinating book and many years later, I am still troubled by the tough questions that it posed, such as: are we only good because we have to be; is there justice in revenge; and can human beings ever really make up for the terrible things that they do?
This was my favourite book when I was in high school and although now that I am older and can see that there are a lot of weaknesses in the book, I still say that it has the best ending of any book I have ever read and highly recommend it.

I've been studying this culture for years, but this book is the best book I've read over here. It's not educational in the sense that you'll understand Japan more, but you will understand a little more about life afterward.

A rare book, dazzling prose, brutally graphic and yet alive with the subtlety and understatement appropriate to the Zen aesthetic. So good I read it twice in a row, starting over as soon as I had finished!