Today it's been more then a month since I got my 'Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration' book, but it takes a long time for me to read it. But it's in English after all so what did I expect?

But I've soon read half the book and I've learned a lot.

I've learned that Sakamoto Ryoma was a very funny person in his twenties. Let me show you by show you something from my book.

"Sakamoto continued his work in kendo. He also delved into serious reading, but without, startling results. An engaging story that dates from this period illustrates the relative amounts of self-confidence and learning which Sakamoto possessed.

To one of his friends who visited him, he announced that he had begun to read books, and showed him a copy of the Tzu-chih t'ung-chien. The friend admired the work, but admitted it was beyond him. Thereupon Sakamoto picked it up and began readingat the top of his lungs, making any number of of mistakes in reading and paying no attention to the punctuation indicated. "Do you mean to say that you can understand it that way" asked the startled visitor. "Well," Sakamoto replied, "I get the general idea."

This is from the diary of a messenger that once meet Sakamoto Ryoma

"The two outsiders (Tosa men) don't know a thing about their han's affairs; Sakamoto Ryoma dosen't even know the names of any of the ministers. We wasted several days; it's a great shame."

I hope I'm not the only one who find Ryoma quite funny?