Across the Nightingale Floor Literary Elements

Young adult, fantasy, historical fiction

A fictional area set in feudal Japan; the year is unclear, but it's clearly historical

First-person point of view from the perspective of Takeo, a young man who discovers his hidden abilities and fights for justice and revenge. The novel occasionally shifts to a third-person limited point of view following Kaede, his love interest, when they are apart.

Dry, matter-of-fact, serious

This novel's protagonist is Takeo (formerly Tomasu), a sixteen-year-old Japanese boy whose village is razed by the evil Tohan, and who trains his new abilities in order to take his revenge on Iida Samadu, the leader of the Tohan and the primary antagonist of the novel.

Takeo must train his newfound abilities in preparation for the coming conflict with Iida and his men of the Tohan. He must also learn to deal with the grief of losing his family and his village while moving on.

Takeo and Iida engage in a battle, in the course of which Shigeru is killed and Lady Maruyama drowns. Iida attempts to rape Kaede, who kills him with a dagger; Takeo and Kaede make love before Takeo leaves with the Tribe at the novel's end.

The confrontation between Iida and Takeo at the beginning of the novel, during which Takeo unhorses Iida, foreshadows their long, inevitable conflict that results in many deaths.

“They would never get up again, and it did not matter that their clothes were getting wet.” - Narrator, Ch. 1

Being set in a fictional land in feudal Japan, a few references are made to various aspects of Japanese culture. There is an implied allusion to Jesus Christ in the crucifixion of Shigeru at the novel's end, but other than that, there are few explicit allusions in the book.

Lord Shigeru is this novel's Christ-figure, and the author makes it quite obvious (despite the Eastern setting). He intervenes in Tamasu's life, defending him against the evil men of the Tohan, and essentially sacrifices his own life for Takeo's in the grand scheme. The most striking imagery, however, is the picture of Shigeru crucified alive to the side of the palace. This blatant Christ imagery solidifies his role in the novel while alluding to the events at Golgotha in 33 AD.

The merchant Takeo meets in the city who recognizes him as Tomasu tells him that his mother is dead. It is reassuring to see a familiar face, but paradoxically, to preserve his identity, Takeo is forced to convince him that he is mistaken, and this is the only reason he does not have to kill the merchant.

Early in the novel, a guard tries to rape Kaede, and she stabs him in the neck with a knife. This event parallels the death of Iida near the novel's end: he tries to rape Kaede, and she stabs him in the eye with a needle before finishing the job with a knife in the heart.

“It was considered inauspicious to travel, except to temples and shrines, until the Festival was over.” - Narrator, Ch. 7 (referring to the Festival of the Dead)

“But at that moment Revenge took me as a pupil.” - Narrator, Ch. 1