The Samurai's Garden

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1994

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Autumn: September 15, 1937-Autumn: September 29, 1937Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Autumn: September 15, 1937 Summary

The novel opens during the first year of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Stephen Chan, a thin, wavy-haired 20-year-old Chinese student and oil painter, introduces his method of storytelling: a newly purchased book of Japanese parchment paper in which he will record his journey of recovery from an unknown illness. Stephen contracts this illness in the spring, while studying at Lingan University in Canton. After two weeks of argument, Stephen has convinced his stubborn, short, bespectacled and tightly-suited import-export businessman father, “Ba-Ba,” to allow him to travel alone from the apartment his father keeps in Kobe, Japan to his grandfather’s beach house in the village of Tarumi.

Stephen notes that his father, with homes in both China and Japan, “makes his life in both places and the way he bows low with eyes averted seems at times more Japanese than Chinese to me” (4). This sense of duality continues in the Western names Stephen’s father has given to all of the children – Stephen; Penelope (“Pie,” twelve years old); Anne (the elder sister); and Henry (the younger brother). Stephen’s father is affectionate and overprotective; he sees Stephen’s painting as a time-wasting hobby.

Before his trip to Tarumi, Stephen recounts the story of his illness so far.

When Stephen contracted his illness, he was sent away from university by his instructors. He traveled under the care of his friend King to his family’s home in British-sovereign Hong Kong, where many Chinese were taking refuge in the streets from the Japanese invasion. There, through the hot summer, during which the Japanese captured Tientsin and surrounded Peking, Stephen’s mother (“Mah-mee”) and her servant Ching isolated and worried over him. He suffered coughs and fevers, which were first misdiagnosed by an English doctor as tuberculosis. Pie – round-eyed, pigtailed, intelligent, frail but feisty – was kept from entering his room; Anne and Henry return to school in Macao.

In August, as the Japanese invade Shanghai, where “a bloody standoff continues” (4), Stephen’s father sends for him by letter, saying he will take him from Kobe to Tarumi, where the climate is drier. Ching, Stephen’s mother’s servant, travels with Stephen to Kobe, where she comments on the “Japanese devils” who have “driven our Chinese out of their homes” (5).

In Kobe, transportation and thus Ba-Ba’s business have been interrupted by the war. Due to working long hours, Stephen’s father is unable to take him to Tarumi as hoped. Instead, Michiyo, Stephen’s father’s servant, cares for him as one lonely week after another pass.

Having recounted the story of his illness so far, Stephen returns to his journey of recovery. Having convinced his father to allow him to go to Tarumi on his own, he packs light for the train and is on his way. His father asks if he has given Stephen enough money, warns him not to tire himself out with his painting, reminds him that he may contact him by phone at work, and pays a porter to look after him.

On the train ride to Tarumi, Stephen reflects on his recent solitude and the “fear and attraction of facing the unknown” (6). A little girl on the train reminds him of Pie, and he remembers her sneaking into his room in Hong Kong to whisper goodbye.

At the tiny village station in Tarumi, Stephen meets Matsu, a weathered, gray-haired man in his sixties who is the caretaker of his grandfather’s beach house and lives there alone. Matsu’s parents served Pao-Lin Chan, Stephen’s grandfather, before Matsu did. Matsu has now served Chan for thirty years. Matsu is brusque, in sharp contrast to the women who’ve been fawning over Stephen. The two men walk briskly in the heat, over white sand and past the village, then past a number of bamboo-gated beach houses. They arrive at the house Stephen remembers from his childhood.

The traditional house and small grounds are lovely and harmonic, with a koi pond and bridge shaded by trees. At the door, the men follow the Japanese custom of replacing their shoes with slippers. Matsu runs an outdoor Japanese bath for Stephen, and Stephen washes before stepping into the steaming-hot cedar tub, which functions as a soothing transition: “when I sat perfectly still as Matsu advised, my body calmed. Matsu stood to the side and almost smiled as I leaned back, letting the hot water embrace me” (10-11).

Autumn: September 16, 1937 Summary

Stephen wakes in his room the next morning with his book across his chest, feeling healthier and hungry. He walks through the immaculate house, noting the traditional décor – tatami mats, shoji screens, zabuton cushions, and scroll paintings. One of the paintings, by his grandfather, is in a tokonoma (recessed alcove) in his room. It especially pleases him. He pauses in his grandfather’s once-forbidden study, seeing his reflection in the lacquered desk.

After a simple breakfast and simpler conversation with Matsu (Stephen doesn’t speak much Japanese), Stephen walks with his sketch pad down a sandy path to the wide beach. The other beach houses are empty in the off-season save for those inhabited by servants like Matsu. Stephen thinks of being alone: “I suppose I might get used to it, like an empty canvas you slowly begin to fill” (13).

Becoming hot after sketching the ocean and mountains, Stephen goes for a naked swim. The bracing cold and exercise give him energy and a sense of freedom. He floats, remembering his time in Hong Kong missing his friends while bedridden from illness. When he sees two girls on the beach, he wants to call out to them, glad to know other young people are in Tarumi. Remembering that he is naked, he lowers himself in the water until they are out of sight.

When Stephen returns to the house, Matsu is out. Stephen eats a lunch of udon and fish cake Matsu has left him and writes letters to his mother, Pie, and King. He does not know if his letter will reach King; the Japanese had not reached Canton when he heard from his friend last, but things may have changed. He recalls that King is one of the few of his friends who understands how important Stephen’s painting is to him.

When Matsu returns with magazines and items to prepare for dinner, Stephen stands in the kitchen doorway and watches him. He notes how different this feels from his home in Hong Kong, where his Mah-mee doesn’t enter the kitchen except to give instructions on what to serve at her mah-jongg games. As Matsu plucks a chicken, he asks Stephen if he needs anything. Stephen inquires about young people staying in the area. Matsu says that the only young people left in this season live in the village.

Stephen asks Matsu if he gets lonely here and if he has friends with whom to pass the time. These are rather personal questions, but Stephen persists. Matsu tells Stephen that he gardens and reads magazines that his sister sends from Tokyo and that he has two sisters, one dead now. Stephen tells Matsu that he has two sisters and a brother, which Matsu, of course, already knows. Matsu clears his throat and turns away to continue cooking. Stephen remains: “Matsu didn’t look up or say another word. Still, it was a start” (16).

Autumn: September 20, 1937 Summary

Stephen has been in Tarumi less than a week, but it feels longer to him. He gives up on a frustrating drawing session after a night of difficult sleep. He imagines that painting would be easier than drawing, but canvases his father promised to send from Kobe have not arrived, and his father will not be able to visit until the following week. There has been no word from his mother and Pie in Hong Kong.

Conversations with Matsu have become slightly more productive during the day, but Matsu spends most of his time at night in the kitchen or listening to classical music and news of the invasion on the radio. Stephen asks Matsu what he thinks about Japan’s victories in China. Matsu responds, “Japan is like a young woman who thinks too much of herself. She’s bound to get herself into trouble” (17).

Stephen swims every morning, hoping to see the girls from the beach again. So far, they have not appeared. He notices that, unlike himself, Matsu seems at peace in the quiet of the house.

Autumn: September 29, 1937 Summary

His loneliness continuing, Stephen resolves to become well through rest, exercise, and his art. As he returns from a morning swim, Matsu tells him that a package has arrived for him. Stephen discovers a parcel of canvases and a letter from his mother and Pie. He sits in the garden near the pond to read the letter.

Mah-mee inquires about his health, promises to visit, updates him on Anne and Henry in Macao, and speculates that the Japanese will not enter Hong Kong due to British sovereignty. As for Pie’s portion of the letter, she is designing dresses like Shirley Temple’s with her dressmaker, Anne has fainted and been resuscitated with brandy and smelling salts during a blackout, and Pie would like to faint in order to try some brandy. Stephen is at once comforted and troubled; he feels isolated from his family and the larger world.

Stephen closes his eyes to nap, then hears whispering voices outside the fence. He sees two shadows, then feels something brush against his head – a tossed shower of white petals. Hearing laughter, he darts to the gate and calls out to the two girls from the beach, who run away without looking back.

Autumn: September 15, 1937-Autumn: September 29, 1937 Analysis

The first five chapters of The Samurai’s Garden establish Stephen’s life before Tarumi, then his day-to-day life in Tarumi. We learn the basics of his family and school relationships and, through them, begin to understand Stephen’s cultural, economic, and political contexts. His once-traditional country is westernizing: “my parents gave us all Christian names at birth, since my father believes it an asset in the business world to be addressed with ease by Westerners” (4).His family is privileged. His world is becoming polarized by war. Overarching all individual stories in the novel is this war, the Second Sino-Japanese, the largest Asian war of the 20th century. It began as a conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan and was ultimately resolved by the Japanese surrender to the Allies at the end of World War II. The Japanese army’s encroachment on China is evident in Stephen’s worries about, and delays in, communications with his family in Hong Kong and Kobe, in addition to his school friend King in Canton: “I had no idea if my letter would ever reach him there, with the Japanese swarming all over China” (14).

Isolation becomes apparent as a theme from the novel’s outset. Stephen is isolated first by his illness, then by being a Chinese stranger in Tarumi: “For the past week, I’ve endured all the quiet and loneliness like a blanket covering me until I’m well again”(17). We learn that Matsu lives a fairly solitary life as well. As the servant and the son orbit each other, it seems their solitudes may begin to intersect, encouraging the hope of connection. The relationship between Stephen and Matsu, like those explored so far between Stephen and Ching and Stephen’s family and Matsu’s father, is predicated on service. This theme of service – its power dynamics and possibilities for transcendence – will entwine with the theme of isolation as Stephen’s story continues.

The novel is highly visual, with detailed imagery revealing inner and outer worlds and supporting themes. A few motifs gain traction in the first five chapters. Food, like the udon and fish cake Matsu serves Stephen, is pleasant and grounding, a common language. Flowers, like the white petals tossed by the girls from the beach suggest grace in hard times. Stephen’s journal and art are his sanctuaries, and his gifts during a period of global and personal change.

Weather and seasons establish themselves as symbolic in these chapters; changes in temperature, precipitation, and the local flora correspond directly with Stephen’s inner journey. Autumn is cool and brings a sense of solitude to Tarumi with the exit of holiday travelers; the season is transitional, presaging the idea of death inherent in winter.