Sword of the Samurai: Adventure Stories from Japan ANNOTATION
Seven short stories about samurai warriors, their way of life, courage, wit, and foolishness.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The way of the Warrior
The samurai warriors of ancient Japan were taught to fight with their hearts and minds as well as with their swords. But even the best of training doesn't prepare a samurai for every situation...
A lone samurai is attacked by two Ronin—can he keep his head and come out of it alive?
Can a samurai with a reputation for being unlucky to defeat a ferocious dragon and regain his honor?
A brave girl fights tradition to learn swordmanship, but can she master the arts of the samurai?
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature - Laura Hummel
Tomoe Gozen refused to learn womanly arts and thus becomes a courageous warrior who fights beside her husband and brother. She would not give up and after all the others fell in battle, she galloped up a ridge and disappeared forever. In another tale, one general loyal to the emperor, outwits his opponents using samurai dolls. A third story teaches the reader that human spit can be fatal to dragons and that anyone can change luck. These are just three tidbits from a group of eleven samurai tales the author collected after a visit to Kyoto, the former capital of Japan. Some of the stories have a colorful folk tale twist and others are based on factual accounts. Humor and elements of magic are entwined in several tales while others contain moral lessons and messages. Kimmel's book would be an excellent source for a study of Japan as the stories are accompanied by historical information and a glossary of terms. There are some violent scenes involving beheadings, but children seemed to accept them as part of the plot.
School Library Journal
Gr 4-8Readers who delight in stories of knights will be happy to discover this collection of 11 tales about the medieval Japanese warriors whose exploits rival those of their European counterparts. These well-documented stories of adventure and misadventure are not only good tales, but they also provide a look at a way of life bound by ironclad tradition. Kimmel begins each selection with a brief introduction that explains something about the history or culture of these warriors. Some stories, like The Samurai and the Dragon, are fantastic adventures; others, like The Coward, who escapes execution because he has been a careful observer of nature, are tales of cleverness; a few, like Tomoe Gozen, the story of a woman who is one of the greatest of samurai heroes, seem like historical recountings. Though the stories vary in tone and intent, the book, whose elegant emblematic designs have the look of Japanese woodcuts, offers a serious and respectful look at a fascinating aspect of the countrys history.Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
This accessible anthology of traditional stories about samurai illustrates the ideals of a proud and formal culture. Kimmel (Seven at One Blow, 1998, etc.) limns the code of the samurai that was embodied in the idealistic notions of "courage, loyalty, endurance, patience, humility, hard work and self control," in 11 stories that dramatize how that code played out in samurai life. In tales that range from comical to coldly somber, readers meet Bokuden, a famous warrior who cleverly demonstrates that a person's wit is mightier than his weapon, a tea master whose fierce concentration frightens a more skilled warrior, and Yorinobu, who shows the value of a cool head in a stressful situation. Each story begins with a compact, user-friendly introduction where Kimmel skillfully explains unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary, imparting a fair amount of easily digestible information. As with any anthology, some of the stories are more appealing than others, but on balance, the bulk of them are engrossing, and several are surprisingly funny. Readers will gain a sense that they've sampled the glories of a bygone era, as well as absorbed information about Japanese culture today. (glossary) (Folklore. 8-12)
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