48 pages • 1 hour read
Erik Christian HaugaardThe Samurai's Tale
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1984A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Role of Mentorship in Personal Growth
Orphaned by war and pressed into work as a servant before the age of five, Harutomo could easily have lived his life in poverty. Even though he is intelligent and ambitious, he has neither status nor connections in a society where both are crucial. The fact that he is taken far from his village and dropped into a different cultural context makes his situation more complicated. He survives and succeeds largely because he has a series of mentors who teach, nudge, and support him at critical points in his journey.
His first mentor is Togan, the cook. As the lowest servant on Akiyama’s estate, Harutomo (then known as Taro) would have been easy prey if Togan had not protected him. Togan gives the young boy a positive example when he is vulnerable. The cook encourages him, gives him a shoulder to cry on (after the archery competition, for example), and treats him respectfully. As a former member of the samurai class who still feels that he should have status, Taro could easily have gotten himself into trouble or fallen into despair. Instead, Togan nurtures his confidence while modeling the behavior that will help him succeed. Togan also provides useful connections for Taro. After Togan is killed, a Buddhist priest he knew teaches Taro to read.
Another mentor, Yoshitoki, helps Taro understand unwritten rules. When Taro first becomes a messenger, for example, Yoshitoki explains that he should take bribes because even Akiyama expects messengers to do so. It is important for Taro to understand how his society functions, and why. Later, Yoshitoki gives Harutomo insight into his position as Kansuke’s assistant. In this case, Yoshitoki explains that he should be prepared for people to try to buy rice illicitly, but that his boss expects him to reject those attempts and remain scrupulously honest. This knowledge helps Harutomo understand that bribes are accepted in some contexts but not in others, and it earns Kansuke’s respect.
Similarly, Kansuke gives Harutomo invaluable guidance that sets him up for success. For example, when a cavalry captain tries to undermine Harutomo in Chapter 23, Kansuke advises Harutomo to see Akiyama, explain the situation frankly, and not blame the cavalry officer too much. When Harutomo follows this advice, Akiyama recognizes his leadership qualities.
The Development of Personal Honor and Integrity
During the Sengoku period in which the novel is set, honor and integrity represented a delicate balance for samurai. On the one hand, they were expected to give lifelong loyalty to their lords, follow strict rules of conduct, and obey orders without hesitation. On the other, they navigated a politically complex time full of infighting and betrayal. Maintaining one’s humanity amid the brutality of war added an extra layer of complexity. In The Samurai’s Tale, Harutomo walks this tightrope by following the examples of his mentors and creatively interpreting orders in ways that honor his personal moral code.
Growing up as a servant before becoming a samurai, Taro develops empathy for people at different levels of his stratified society. While opposed to cruelty, Harutomo serves in an army that causes suffering to his family and others. In this context, he finds his path by mirroring those he admires. Like Togan, he respects people of different statuses; like Kansuke, he protects his men; and like Akiyama, he tries to achieve his aims through diplomacy. These traits can be seen in Chapter 21 when Harutomo decides to stay with his men rather than retreat with the cavalry. He then shares food with the archers who are part of the decoy group. After Harutomo gains the archers’ trust, they are willing to join him and his men, enabling them to survive the battle while still contributing to Akiyama’s plan.
Harutomo knows he must obey his superiors to survive and earn respect, so he finds ways to comply without betraying his values. For example, when Kansuke tells him he must kill anyone who steals rice, he beats and demotes a thief instead. When Kansuke asks why he didn’t follow his order, Harutomo says he didn’t want to get blood on the rice, which is technically true, although it wasn’t his true motive. By making an example of the thief without killing him, he follows the spirit of Kansuke’s order without killing one of his men. He explains his creative thinking in Chapter 21 when, after a defensive maneuver, he reflects that “the plan was that we were to stay and die, but I had not been informed of this plan, so I was not disobeying it” (148).
Rites of Passage in a Warrior Culture
Rites of passage often include tests, and in the warrior culture of the Sengoku period, the trials are particularly harrowing. Samurai must be disciplined, brave, and willing to die for their lords. Reaching warrior status requires young people to demonstrate they are ready to face death. Taro has to show patience to receive the new name that marks him as an adult; he has to defeat an enemy to earn the right to go into battle; and he has to show leadership in battle to earn full warrior status.
When Taro is a teenager, he is impatient to go into battle and receive an adult name. He watches as boys younger than himself are given names, and he is left behind when Akiyama takes armies into battle. He is so desperate for recognition that he contemplates dying by ritual suicide if he is left behind again. While this impatience is perhaps the opposite of discipline, he isn’t mature enough to recognize it. Taro has carried messages and faced danger, and the novel doesn’t reveal why Akiyama made him wait for a name. However, when Taro asks Yoshitoki if he should request one from Akiyama, his friend advises patience, saying, “To get the attention of the great you must handle them like fishes you want to catch” (85). Though it is a struggle, Taro follows his friend’s advice, and Akiyama gives him a name. The reader can infer that by waiting Harutomo showed the necessary patience and discipline to be considered an adult.
Harutomo’s next rite of passage is becoming a warrior. Assigned to be assistant to the supply train commander, Harutomo wants to fight, but he doesn’t have the necessary armor for battle. It’s possible Akiyama gave him the position to protect him or because he is seen as trustworthy and intelligent. Still, in Harutomo’s society, winning glory on the battlefield is part of earning respect. He achieves this rite of passage by defeating a ronin. After the injured ronin dies by ritual suicide, Kansuke gives the ronin’s helmet to Harutomo. This is a rite of passage in a direct sense because it gives him a piece of armor he can wear into battle. Yet, he feels grief instead of elation after the incident, which shows a more concrete understanding of war’s cruel reality. Yoshitoki confirms that his society sees killing as a step toward adulthood by comparing it to having sex for the first time: “The first man killed is like the first woman slept with—unforgettable” (121).
In another step toward full status as a warrior, Harutomo receives a suit of armor from Akiyama after he saves his men during the battle for Iwamura Castle. This incident marked the first time Harutomo was placed in command of troops on the battlefield, and the armor represents a recognition that he could be brave and make intelligent decisions in the heat of combat.
