Editor Reviews:

Book Description:
"Just remember," Yoshio said quietly to his grandsons. "Every day of your lives, you must always be sure what you're fighting for." It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers are growing up with their loving grandparents, who inspire them to dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows unusual skill at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of creating hard-carved masks for actors in the Noh theater. Across town, a renowned sumo master, Sho Tanaka, lives with his wife and their two young daughters: the delicate, daydreaming Aki and her independent sister, Haru. Life seems full of promise as Kenji begins an informal apprenticeship with the most famous mask-maker in Japan and Hiroshi receives a coveted invitation to train with Tanaka. But then Pearl Harbor changes everything. As the ripples of war spread to both families and quiet neighborhoods, all of the generations must put their dreams on hold---and then find their way in a new Japan. In an exquisitely moving story that spans almost thirty years, Gail Tsukiyama draws us irresistibly into the world of the brothers and the women who love them. It is a world of tradition and change, of heartbreaking loss and surprising hope, and of the impact of events beyond their control on ordinary, decent men and women. Above all, The Street of a Thousand Blossoms is a masterpiece about love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers.

Rating : - Wrestling Made Beautiful By Tsukiyama
Street of A Thousand Blossoms is an epic work spanning the pre and post war years in Japan. History comes to life through the everyday struggles of ordinary people trying to cope with the destruction,deprivation and misery of war.The topics of sumo wrestling and mask making at first did not appeal to me ,but in the deft hands of Tsukiyama I was drawn in and won over.It occurred to me that these two topics offer wonderful analogies to the many themes running though the novel. Sumo wrestling represents strength and honor...... attributes of the main characters......Hiroshi, Haru,Kenji and the nurturing grandparents, Yoshio and Fumiko.......... Mask making provides a cover for the realities of war........as well as a cover for the truths that are so difficult to cope with in the main characters......the mangled hand of Haru , the unrealized true nature of the mask maker, Yoshiwara,the heartbreaking guilt of Aki,and the unattainable love of Haru for Hiroshi.......Tsukiyama has a way of telling a story that draws you in and holds you there and forever changes the way you think afterwards.