The main summary that can be made of Sergio Vega's life is that he was born, lives, and will surely die. There is little more important than that. Perhaps it might interest you that he has a degree in history, has never visited Japan, isn't the descendent of a long line of Samurais, nor is he a Zen Buddhist and in your hands you hold the first novel he has written. Given this information, it is feasible that you might ask why he has undertaken such an ambitious historical journey, which aims to convey the thoughts and emotions of a time and place so very distant and has also managed to get a publishing house such as Quaterni, specialising in Japanese literature, to back his novel. All these questions will have little importance when you start to read the first pages of this trilogy and learn that Sergio Vega is a mere intermediary through whom the reader will enjoy an exciting story, set in a turbulent time in which loyalty, valour and a sense of honour formed part of a society that has transcended far beyond its own time.