A Daughter of the Samurai
A Daughter of the Samurai
A Daughter of the Samurai
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A Daughter of the Samurai tells the true story of a samurai's daughter, brought up in the strict traditions of feudal Japan, who was sent to America to meet her future husband. An engrossing, haunting tale that gives us insight into an almost forgotten age. Madam Sugimoto was born in Japan, not in the sunny southern part of the country which has given it the name of "The Land of Flowers," but in the northern province of Echigo which is bleak and cold and so cut off from the rest of the country by mountains that in times past it had been considered fit only for political prisoners or exiles. Her father was a Samurai, with high ideals of what was expected of a Samurai's family. His hopes were concentrated in his son until the son refused to marry the girl for whom he was destined and ran off to America. After that all that was meant for him fell to the lot of the little wavy-haired Etsu who writes here so delightfully of the things that happened in their childhood days in far-away Japan.
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“Perhaps it would be better not to look back with such pride to a glorious past; but instead, to look forward to a glorious future. One means quiet satisfaction; the other, ambitious work.”
Etsu grew up the daughter of a samurai at a point in time when samurai are no longer needed. Regardless, she grew up learning those ideals, and took them with her into adulthood and America. She had a remarkably pragmatic and insightful way of looking at the world around her, and it was really interesting to me to read her thoughts on her American way of life when compared with her Japanese upbringing.
She was educated (beyond what women in that period were), kind, and generous with those around her. I learned many things about Japanese history and folklore through the stories she'd tell her family and friends, and I loved her insight into things I wouldn't have considered. For instance, she told a story about how an American friend of hers had pretty rosary beads displayed next to an intricately carved Japanese backscratcher. The woman had no idea it was something so mundane, she saw it as an object of beauty and not a tool. Etsu likened its oddity to someone displaying the Holy Bible next to a toothbrush. I appreciated that honesty, and Etsu and the friend laughed about it together.
The really only strike I can give this book is that its rather mundane. There's no struggles or trials to overcome here, just a nice Japanese woman living a nice life and having good things happen to her as a result. Depending on what you're reading for, it might come off slow and boring to some.
