The 47 Ronin Story Essay

The Samurai’s Tale by Erik Christian Haugaard is about a boy named Taro, the protagonist in the story. The major characters in the story are Taro, Yoshitoki, Lord Takeda Katsuyori, Lord Akiyama Nobutomo, and Togan. The setting of the story is in Japan, in around the 16th century. In the beginning of the story he was presented as a gift by the great Lord Takeda Shingen to Lord Akiyama after his parents had been killed. By using his wits and suppressing his fierce pride, Taro slowly escalates the ranks of his lord’s household until he achieves his greatest goal—becoming a samurai like his father and Lord Akiyama, whom he has come to admire. The life of a samurai is not so easy, Taro finds himself sacrificing opportunities of love and friendship

While ongoing change became the status quo in late-Tokugawa era Japan the ideals of the samurai—and the respect they receive—endured. And, because samurai could still fall back on the prestige their class represented, members of society still

In 1159, Kiyomori of the Taira clan was victorious over the Minamoto clan. Kiyomori murdered all the adults of the Monamoto clan and forced the children into exile. The emperor rewarded Kiyomori victory by giving him an advisor position in the government. This event was significant because Kiyomori was the first warrior in Japan’s government. Like the Fujiwara family, Kiyomori desired a royal bloodline within the Taira clan. So the Taira clan consorted with the imperial family in efforts to secure an imperial bloodline. Later, Kiyomori obtain a higher government position and more importantly a grandson was born and is heir to the throne. Feeling cheated an imperial prince sought the exiled Minamoto to overthrow the Taria clan. In 1180, Yoritomo of the Minamoto clan formed an army and battled with Taira clan that is known as the Genpei War. Eventually, Kiyomori died and the Taria clan shortly declined after him. During these battles warriors ran amok pillaging the Japan’s cuntryside. To end the chaos and violence the imperial turned to Yoritomo. Yoritomo in return raise an army of samurais and took complete control of the government and transformed it into a military government. The Kamakura government consisted of the emperor, shogun, and the house men. The emperor served merely as a figurehead, he little to no control of his government. The shogun had

The samurai were the feudal warriors of ancient Japan. For thousands of years they upheld the code of bushido, the way of the warrior. Samurai were around for thousands of years, but when did they disappear? Does the code of bushido still exist to this day? Exploring the history of the samurai will give an explanation to what has happened to these formidable warriors.

Two ships can arrive at the same destination; however that does not necessarily mean that they used the same route on their journey. Such is the same with the industrialization of Britain and Japan. Both rose to become the two great pioneers of the modern world; however the paths they took to success were different. This paper will compare Japan and Britain, exploring the causes of its industrialization, and how the countries drastically changed because of it. What sets Britain’s industrialization process apart from Japans is that it did not have a role model to base its development on; it was the first industrial nation. Therefore the cause of its industrialization must have much

The Samurai’s Tale is about a young boy named Taro, who had became the hero of the story. The main characters in the story was Lord Akiyama, Lord Takeda Shingen, and Togan. This story took place in Japan around the 16th century. The story began with Taro, Murakami Harutomo, arguing with his mother about what she had been telling him to wear for an event that was going to happen without him knowing about. Later that day Taro saw that soldiers came attacking his house, his mother leaving him with Yone in a chest trying to keep them safe in a storehouse that had laid behind the house. A soldier then found them both and took them out of the chest, then as they walked out of the store hold, he found his mother on the ground dead. A plot twist that

Musui 's Story is a samurai 's autobiography that portrays the Tokugawa society as it was lived during Katsu Kokichi 's life (1802 - 1850). Katsu Kokichi (or Musui) was a man born into a family with hereditary privilege of audience with the shogun, yet he lived a life unworthy of a samurai 's way, running protection racket, cheating, stealing, and lying. Before we discuss how Musui 's lifestyle was against the codes that regulated the behavior of the samurai, it is essential that the role of the samurai in Japanese society be understood.

After delivering the message about the disloyal ronins who had harassed him, Taro became Akiyama's messenger and befriended Yoshitoki, a young samurai. At age 15, he was sent with Yoshitoki to carry a message to Tsutsujigasaki Castle. On the way, they escaped from two bandits disguised as monks. A strange old man invited them into his hut and predicted that neither Lord Oda Nobunaga nor Lord Takeda Shingen would rule Japan. On their return from the castle, Yoshitoki and Taro found the hut of the strange man empty and decided that the man had been a ghost. Lord Akiyama gave Taro back his family name- Murakami- and presented him with a sword.

In Giles Milton’s novel, Samurai William, the reader is taken to the other side of the globe to experience the history of old world Japan. Though out the book, Milton provides reason for complex historical events and actions, while still communicating the subtleties and mysterious customs of the Japanese. The novel also closely examines the wide range of relationships between different groups of Europeans and Asians, predominantly revolving around the protagonist, William Adams. The book documents the successes and failures that occur between the two civilizations, then links them back to either the positive or negative relationship they have. As the book goes on, the correlation is obvious. Milton shows us the extreme role that religion,

We can also see the decline of the bushido way of life of the samurai by looking carefully at Katsu's life. The ideal samurai was supposed to be self-sacrificing, pure, modest, frugal, honorable and affectionate. With these values in mind Katsu could almost be seen as the antithesis to the samurai way of life. He stole from others, fought people for no reason or for prideful reasons, lied often and it seemed as though the people closest to him didn't really like him at all. He also spent times in the Edo red-light district and was actually the self-proclaimed

Cameron, C. M. (2002). American samurai: myth, and imagination in the conduct of battle in the First Marine Division, 1941-1951. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tsurumi says that only three options were given to most young women in Japan in the Meiji period: work at a textile mill, weaving house, or a house of prostitution. Tsurumi says that women in all three cases had effectively been “sold” by their parents into the workforce, and were without the ability to choose where they wished to work (Tsurumi, 187). To detail even further, Tsurumi says that girls working in any of these fields were effectively “purchased commodities” to their employers, and were treated as objects (Tsurumi, 188). This continues to support the idea that these women were victims of a society determined to society’s vulnerable populations for their labor and ignore their humanity. Despite this, the women of Japan’s textile mills worked tirelessly in harsh circumstances in an effort to support their families, and, as a result, also supported the larger local and national communities of which they were a part. In conclusion, Tsurimi says that a woman working in Japan’s textile mills “made [her contributions to the industrialized economy] for her family and herself, and not for the country or company” (Tsurumi, 198). Even if their contribution was not intentional, however, the impact the factory girls of Meiji Era Japan had on the industrialization of Japan’s economy is irrefutable, and showcases

With the new dominance of the samurai, it faced many problems relating to any government. Rebellion and civil unrest were not uncommon, and throughout the superiority of the Samurai, there were many different periods of rule, each facing their own dilemmas. Attacks from external threats such as the Mongols among other things, weakened samurai rule and at a certain point, Japanese imperial rule regained power. As samurai rule continued, internal problems such as disloyalty among officials caused instability in their government. Regional officials called Daimyo’s were ignoring orders from the Shogun (head of government) and supported

The primary beneficiaries of the emerging money economy were the merchants. Daimyo and samurai traded their rice for money with the merchants who soon became very rich. Merchants, cashing in on daimyo debt attained positions of authority within the daimyo households. Many were living lavish lifestyles only dreamt of by samurai. This caused resentment in Japanese society because, although they were socially inferior, merchants enjoyed an elevated status economically (Kunihiko 1997). Perhaps the social class that suffered the most indignities was the samurai who, lacking the means to earn a living on their regular income, indulged in the lifestyle of Edo. Many had to resort to engaging in handicraft for income vice training at the martial arts thus leading to inherent corruption (Nobumitsu 1997).

The movie “All Quiet on the Western Front” can provide us with a lot of insight about the soldiers experience in World War I. The movie and what we learned in class can help us out with this. In the movie there were a lot of kids and just by looking at their face you could tell what they were thinking. Some of them were very scared of what might happen to them, some of them were determined to come home well and alive, and some of them looked excited to be serving the Fatherland and doing their duty. Back in Germany they told the students over and over that it was their duty to fight in the war and that is what men do in Germany. They were told they were serving the Fatherland and bringing glory back to