The Samurai’s Tale, by Erik Christian Haugaard, describes the life of Taro, who later becomes Murakami Harutomo. Taro is a boy who Takeda Shingen, a warlord of Japan, had captured. His father had been ruthlessly murdered, as was the case with most of feudal Japan’s tradition of war, which was that one was to die with honor rather than continue serving a new master. Taro becomes a servant boy of Lord Akiyama, a general of Takeda Shingen. He meets Togan, the cook, a wise man who befriends Taro and becomes a critical part of how Taro acts. Taro learns of Buddhism, and he learns how to think with reason and rationality through Togan’s teachings. Togan dies from a man unlike himself, boastful, sly, and dishonorable. Togan challenges the man to a wrestling match, and when the man threatens Taro, Togan starts to fight, though the crooked man strikes a knife into Togan's heart. Taro’s personality is built through this experience as he learns to never trust the dishonorable. As Taro grew, he became fit for a stable boy who cared for horses and was above the social level that he once inhabited. As the incoming war glooms on, Taro is sent to various castles and settlements as a messenger to orchestrate Takeda Shingen’s eventual war while becoming a samurai. He is given the name Murakami Harutomo of his father's clan, as he, too, was a samurai. After a short victory, grave news is brought to the new samurai. Lord Takeda Shingen has died and has been succeeded by his incompetent son. The enemies of Lord Takeda laid siege to the castle Harumoto was in charge of guarding. Lord Akiyama dies through the siege, and the climax of the story is reached when the declining Takeda clan has a short victory through Murakami Harutomo’s leadership. He settles down in a town after the defeat of the Takeda clan, who had eventually been defeated by foolishness from Takeda Shingen’s son. Murakami Harutomo settles down in a village, content with his life of adventure and fighting. He is moving onto a new chapter in his life to pursue peace and liberty, which he now craves after his grueling life as a samurai. Through this, Murakami Harutomo developed honor, loyalty, and ambition, which represent the social culture and structure of feudal Japan.
This book was interesting for many reasons, as it accurately depicts many parts of various warlords’ conquests and lives while simultaneously weaving Murakami Harutomo as a part of an ongoing conflict. It symbolizes the values, morals, and methodology in which feudal Japan was run. It was a place of honor, and many would rather die valiantly than serve another master. The book involves multiple depictions of suicide and beheading. This was common practice in feudal Japan, as many of the soldiers at that time who had returned unsuccessfully would rather die than live on with failure.
This book allows readers to dive deeper into feudal Japan and how many of the soldiers, peasants, and warlords lived and operated at that time. This is also interesting for non-Japanese readers, as it displays the strict, honorable, and sometimes cruel way the ancient Japanese acted. This also helps readers draw connections and improve the way they view people above them, as Japanese culture values utmost respect, dedication, and strategy rather than pure strength alone. I disagree with some information the author decided to bring up, such as the seemingly random love that Murakami Harutomo finds in the last two chapters of the novel. It seems unrelated, pushed out there, and love for the sake of love as it is a fiction novel. Additionally, there was no plot, structure, or suspense in his love, which creates a lackluster addition to a book so full of bloodshed and conflict anyway. The writing style could more effectively include context information so the reader did not have to go scrounging for context online. There are multiple instances where Japanese tradition and cultural practices could have briefly been explained to signify the events and reasons behind the plot and its outcome. To summarize, The Samurai’s Tale, by Erik Christian Haugaard, allows readers to draw connections from Japanese culture and use it to improve and reflect on how they act and what they can do to become more efficient, respectful, and steadfast as a person.
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