To clarify some possible misunderstandings about this book:

1. This is not an "old" book, like The Book of Five Rings or Hagakure. It was written in the 1900's.

2 It's a book of short stories, not a novel or even a novella (together the stories total only 109 pages.)

3 Yes, Kurosawa's film was based on one of the stories, "In a Grove," which examines the circumstances of a rape from differing points of view. This story is about 13 pages. While the story is not bad, I would imagine that one would have to be a pretty hard-core fan of that film to buy this book just for that.

4. There is, however, a story called "Rashomon" in this collection, but this heavy-handed tale has little connection to the Kurosawa film, though Kurosawa may have lifted the tone and setting of his film's opening from the opening of this story. For you to decide.

5. What is or was the "Rashomon"? This is something I didn't know... To quote from the book (31n): "The 'Rashomon' was the largest gate in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. It was 106 feet wide and 26 feet deep, and was topped with a ridge-pole; its stone-wall rose 75 feet high. This gate was constructed in 789 when the then capital of Japan was transferred to Kyoto. With the decline of West Kyoto, the gate fell into bad repair, cracking and crumbling in many places, and became a hide-out for thieves and robbers and a place for abandoning unclaimed corpses."

The book clocking in at only 110 pages is my only complaint. The stories in the book are wonderful, my favorites being: "In the Grove," "Yam Gruel," and "The Martyr." "In the Grove" deals with the murder of a samurai and the many different tellings of his death; I refuse to go into detail here because that would ruin the story for those who hgave not read it, but let me say that explanations come from all sides. "Yam Gruel" deals with a 5th ranked official/samurai called Goi whose only desire in life is to eat his fill of yam gruel, but given the opportunity to do so causes him to reflect on his life, and to see hor horrible it has been. "The Martyr" deals with Lorenzo and how he was excommunicated from a Jesuit church because it was believed he impregnated an umbrella maker's daughter, and how he redeems himself. The monks are definately in for a shock at the end, Great reading, but too bad it can be read in only a couple of hours by a fast reader.

This book is a collection of short stories written by the eminent Japanese author, Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927). These six stories tend to revolve around moral ambiguities. 1) In A Grove is the story of a murder, whose witnesses all tell different, often mutually exclusive stories. 2) Rashomon is the story of a discharged servant who must choose between death and a life of crime and dishonor. 3) Yam Gruel tells the story of Goi, a samurai whose life falls to pieces as he dreams of the rare delicacy yam gruel, and who finds that having is not always as wonderful as wanting. 4) The Martyr reaches back to the 16th Century, to tell the story of a model Christian young man, who is excommunicated when he refuses to recognize a child attributed to him, but the truth he hides is not what everyone thinks. 5) Kesa And Morito is a tale of lust and betrayal. 6) The Dragon is the story of Hanazo, or priest who sets out to play a joke, but learns the power of belief.

These stories are quite varied from each other, and all are excellently written. In A Grove is confusing (as is life), while Rashomon is somewhat depressing, and The Martyr is uplifting. But, all the stories are excellently written, and quite interesting. I highly recommend this book.

To demonstrate the excellence of these stories, let me submit to you the following line from The Martyr: "For the sublimity of life culminates in the most precious moment of inspiration. Man will make his life worth living, if he tosses a wave aloft high into the starry sky, o'er life's dark main of worldly cares, to mirror in its crystal foam the light of the moon yet to rise."

Kojima's book is short, but teaches nearly everything you need to add, subtract, multiply, and divide on the Japanese soroban. Missing is how to handle negative numbers when adding and subtracting. (Perhaps this is covered in Kojima's advanced book.) The other review is correct to say that what Kojima teaches can be applied to the Chinese suan pan. The exercises are a valuable part of the book. Mental calculation is presented, but the use of "abacus thinking" for paper calculations is absent. It would be nice to see this book in print again.

This is one of the few books about how to use an abacus around. Even though there aren't that many books out there, Kojima does a very good job of explaining how to use the abacus, in a step by step manner. The book starts off with a brief history of the abacus then proceeds to how to use it for addition, subtraction, multiplication and then division. The book also goes into cube roots! The book also has some simple tests after each chapter and at the end of the book to see how much you have improved. All in all the book is very well written and if you have any interest in the abacus, this is a good book to have.

If you want a book on how to use a Japanese abacus this is the bible for it. I see other books written that have not been properly researched and really teach usage technique wrong. If you really want to learn how to use a Soroban or even a Chinese Suan Pan this is the book to get. The challanges listed between the Soroban and calculator were before the days of modern pocket calculators but with practice you can still get real fast. Practice the exercises in this book and you can rely on a Soroban just like a pocket calculator. If you have a 2/5 Chinese Suan Pan don't worry this still applies. Actually the 2/5 was developed for the Chinese weight system that was based on 16. It's actually a hexidecimal calculator! If you do computer hex math a 2/5 might actually be very helpful! The 1/4 and 2/5 refer to the number of beads on the top and bottom. Top beads count as 5 and bottom as 1.