Essays on Samurai

Musui’s Story is the autobiography of Katsu Kokichi, a low-ranking samurai who lived from 1802 to 1850, during the Tokugawa Period. He was from Edo, modern day Tokyo, and spent most his life there, except for excursions across the country. Musui’s Story is an interesting...

Nara, the Samurai, and the Japanese Shogun Japan’s first capital city, Nara, was directly modeled after the Tang capital city, Chang’an. Out of the total Japanese population of about 5-6 million residents, Nara constituted for some 20,000 of them. Within that time period (710-784 C.E.),...

Sachi’s Stages of Grief In The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, Stephen, the main character, contracts tuberculosis and recovers in a remote area, which is his enemy’s country, before World War 2 starts. Sachi goes through several stages of grief in the book. Through the...