is a novel by Jun'ichirà  Tanizaki. It was serialized in publisher Hakubunkan's magazine Shin Seinen from October 1931 to November 1932. Initially, it was planned to be serialized for one year, but it was interrupted at the twelfth installment because it had not been completed within the planned period. In the February 1933 issue of Shin Seinen, Tanizaki wrote of completing the work, but he ended it without writing significantly more. After some additions and revisions, it was published as a novel by Chuokoronsha in October 1935. The book included a prologue written in Chinese by âÂÂSetyo Gyofuâ (âÂÂFisherman SetyoâÂÂ, Tanizaki's own pseudonym), and a footnote by the novelist Masamune Shiratori.
Set in the Sengoku (âÂÂWarring StatesâÂÂ) period, it depicts the life of a samurai warlord or daimyo with a perverse amorous life.
The narrator explains that the story is based on the memoirs of the nun Myà Âkaku, who was once in the service of the Lord of Musashi, and the lordâÂÂs former servant Dà Âami.
Hà Âshimaru, heir to the Lord of Musashi, is held hostage as a child in Oshika Castle, the seat of the neighbouring Lord Tsukuma Ikkansai. In 1549, when he is aged twelve, the castle is besieged by Yakushiji Danjà  Masataka. Hà Âshimaru is not allowed to enter the battlefield but observes the castleâÂÂs women cleaning and dressing the severed heads of the enemy samurai who have been killed. He is excited by the smile of a beautiful girl as she dresses a manâÂÂs head which is noseless, a so-called âÂÂwoman-headâ whose nose had been removed in the heat of the battle as a substitute for the entire head which would be retrieved later. He wishes to repeat the excitement, and secretly enters the enemy camp so he can claim a head and bring it back to the girl and make her smile again. In the camp, he kills Lord Masataka, but is only able to claim his nose. The Yakushiji leaders abandon the siege in fear that their lordâÂÂs ignominious fate will be revealed. Hà Âshimaru does not get his head and remains silent.
At fifteen, Hà Âshimaru comes of age and takes the name Terukatsu. He is Lord IkkansaiâÂÂs page and starts to earn a reputation as a warrior. The beautiful Lady Kikyà Â, daughter of the slain Lord Masataka, marries Tsukuma Oribenoshà  Norishige, who succeeds his father Lord Ikkansai. The purpose of the marriage is to reconcile the two families; however, Lady Kikyà  wants to avenge her fatherâÂÂs humiliating but secret death and arranges for her husband to be attacked by bow and arrow in order to sever his nose. Two attacks narrowly fail: in the first Norishige is injured with an arrow in his upper lip, disfiguring him and severely affecting his speech; and in the second he loses an ear. Terakatsu discovers her plan, and sexually fantasises about the smile on her face if Norishige were to lose his nose.
Norishige withdraws with his wife to the inner castle. Terakatsu, now aged eighteen, discovers a secret entrance to Lady Kikyà ÂâÂÂs rooms under her toilet. He meets her and presents her with her fatherâÂÂs nose. To satisfy Lady Kikyà ÂâÂÂs desire for revenge and TerakatsuâÂÂs lust, they conspire to sever her husbandâÂÂs nose. They are successful and become lovers.
Terakatsu returns to his fatherâÂÂs castle, separated from Lady Kikyà Â. Aged twenty-one, he marries the fourteen-year-old Lady Shà Âsetstuin. He tries to teach her and her handmaidens how to âÂÂdress the headsâ and demonstrates by placing his servant Dà Âami so that only his head is above the floor and forcing him to impersonate a corpse. Terakatsu fantasizes about cutting off Dà ÂamiâÂÂs nose, so he looks like a âÂÂwoman-headâÂÂ. However, Shà Âsetstuin cannot satisfy TerakatsuâÂÂs weird longings or replace Lady Kikyà Â.
Terakatsu succeeds his father as Lord of Musashi and attacks NorishigeâÂÂs castle, intending to take his possessions and his wife. Norishige and Lady Kikyà  are captured and confined for life but are drawn closer now her father has been avenged. She rejects Terakatsu, who subsequently âÂÂsought out new women, one after another, with whom to share his bizarre stimulus and revolting dissipation.âÂÂ
The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi was one of several of TanizakiâÂÂs works in âÂÂessay-fictionâ between 1930 and 1950, combining experimentation and tradition, including Mà Âmoku Monogatari (A Blind Man's Tale, 1931), Ashikari (The Reed Cutter, 1932), Shunkinsho (A Portrait of Shunkin, 1933), and Shà Âshà  Shigemoto no haha (Captain Shigemoto's Mother, 1949âÂÂ1950).
The narrative technique of The Secret History may have been inspired by StendhalâÂÂs The Abbess of Castro, which Tanizaki translated into Japanese in 1928. Tanizaki had originally planned to write a long historical novel and expressed a desire to include a portrayal of a real individual woman rather than one of the anonymous figures in traditional literature.
In 1948 Tanizaki wrote that The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi was one of his favorite works. He spoke of writing a sequel, and an outline for it was found after his death.
The Secret History both supplements traditional Japanese histories and burlesques them, by outrageous exaggeration and by never questioning the veracity of the preposterous events uncovered.
In his commentary in the Chà «kà  bunko edition, Shoichi Saeki compares the narrative of this work with that of Alfred Hitchcock.