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In this unit, students will read The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, identifying the central themes of the text. Over the course of the unit, the students will explore various secondary texts to support their reading of the book. The culminating assessment will be an essay in which they craft an argument that analyzes how Tsukiyama develops a theme using narrative techniques, literary devices, and setting and why that theme is universally significant.

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20-year-old Stephen has been sent from his home in Hong Kong, China to the small Japanese village of Tarumi to aid in his recovery from tuberculosis. He feels like an exile from his family and his home, a feeling that is exacerbated by the Japanese invasion of China, further isolating him from the Japanese villagers he is residing among. It is not until his caretaker, Matsu, introduces him to a leprosy-afflicted woman named Sachi and the leper colony of Yamaguchi that Stephen begins to realize that he is not as alone as he first thought.

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The Japanese Invasion of China, 1937-1941

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The Japanese Invasion of China, 1937-1941

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Students will watch this video as they read the first few chapters of the novel so that they can understand the historical context of the novel.

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WW2 - Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1941

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This short interview of the author of The Samurai's Garden explains her connection to her heritage and how it influences her writing. As critical readers, we try to separate the writer from the writing when exploring themes, but having an understanding of who the author is and why they write helps readers connect with the text.

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Just as our students spent a year in social isolation and had their school years cut short in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, so too did Stephen have to leave university and spend a year in isolation to recover from tuberculosis. This text serves as a point of connection between the students and the text, as well as functioning as an introduction to the kinds of reading they will be required to complete at the university level.

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The Nanjing Massacre, or Rape of Nanking, is mentioned repeatedly in the novel and further alienates Stephen from his Japanese hosts. The spread of leprosy in the novel is a metaphor representing the spread of Japanese imperialism and a punishment for the atrocities they committed during this time.

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The Unspeakable Things That Happened At The "Nanking" Event

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Historical Shifts in Remembering China's Nanjing Massacre

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Historical Shifts in Remembering China's Nanjing Massacre

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Students will read pages 1-7 of the article to gather background information on the initial and post-war estimations of Chinese casualties during the Nanjing Massacre. They will use this information to make inferences into how Stephen would be feeling in the novel when he learns about the massacre.

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The Bushido code by which the samurai lived influences the actions and fears of the characters in the novel: namely, the ideas about honor and shame, and ritual suicide as a means of atonement for one's sins. This chapter from Bushido: The Samurai Code of Japan by Inazo Natobe will help student readers understand the cultural influences of a significant plot point within the novel.