Sword of the Samurai: Adventure Stories from Japan

by Eric A. Kimmel

Book Overview

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?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064421317
• ISBN13: 9780064421317
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.1" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 7 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Grades 2 to 5

Customer Reviews

The true way of the samurai, a sharp contrast to the popular depictions

This book should be mandatory reading for all elementary school boys. The western movies depicting martial arts fighting always seem to have the warriors making all kinds of wild moves and shouting some form of guttural Asian gibberish. Samurai did not behave in that manner at all. The true Samurai warrior was a person of great internal strength and control. Fighting was done in a silent and deadly manner, with few sounds other than those that were a consequence of the battle. Furthermore, a Samurai engaged in deadly combat only when it was absolutely necessary. This book contains twelve short stories based on actual Japanese folk tales with the Samurai demonstrating the true way of the honored warrior. Like folk tales from every point of the world, there is generally a moral to the story, one that people should pay attention to. While the way of the samurai was a hard one, their code of self-discipline contains many lessons for the modern child.

the rating of the gratest book in the world

the sword of the samurai is agrste book becouse if you like fighting or advencher this will be the book you should read this book the rating i give the book is a 7 becous i like advencher and stuff but the book could be beter if they would told us if the samurai got killed or not becouse he got staved in the last fight and they also could have told us if the boy and his dad ever stoped fighting and got over ther deferences.

Sword of the Samurai

Sword of the Samurai is a great book. It is a series of several stories about samurais. Even though this book is fantasy it brings in life lessons that you can relate to in real life. Like when 3 samurai trick someone into a ride in their oxcart because they don't want to walk to a festival their journey ends up to be a misrable one. That is why you should not trick people into doing something for you because the samurai almost lost face. You'll have to read this book to find out why. This book brings out many journeys with weak and brave samurais but I think you will love every one. Each and every one has a different moral to it and it makes you think about real life situations. If you like action adventure and fictional books I think you should read Sword of the Samurai by Eric A. Kimmel.

Far better than Pokemon and Digimon

This collection of Samurai stories is written for a child to read themselves. The stories are short and entertaining - a head severed and reattached, a tea master frightening a swordsman, an unluckly samurai accidently finding the secret to destroy a dragon, a no-sword samurai master outwitting a braggart samurai, a female samurai ... all in all good fun for the right child.The author has provided a very short introduction to each story to place the story culturally - this keeps the "Japanese" aspect from provided a cultural barrier to the reader's understanding. The author has used a few Japanese words and provide a glossary of them ... just enough to remind the reader these are samurai not knights.