Samurai Rising-The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune

by Pamela S. Turner

2016

Description

Biography & Autobiography. History. Geography. Young Adult Nonfiction. HTML:Minamoto Yoshitsune should not have been a samurai. But his story is legend in this real-life saga. This epic warrior tale reads like a novel, but this is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history. When Yoshitsune was just a baby, his father went to war with a rival samurai familyâ??and lost. His father was killed, his mother captured, and his surviving half-brother banished. Yoshitsune was sent away to live in a monastery. Skinny, small, and unskilled in the warrior arts, he nevertheless escaped and learned the ways of the samurai. When the time came for the Minamoto clan to rise up against their enemies, Yoshitsune answered the call. His daring feats and impossible bravery earned him immortality. From the Hardcover edition.… (more)

Library's review

Child exile.
Teenage runaway.
Military genius.
Immortal hero.

Yoshitsune had little going for him. Exiled to a monastery, he had no money, no allies, and no martial training. He wasn't big or strong or good-looking. His only assets were brains, ambition, and a dream. But childhood dreams can change
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history.

At the age of fifteen, Yoshitsune excaped. Blow by painful blow, he learned the art of the sword. Fall after bruising fall, he mastered mounted archery. He joined his half brother Yoritomo in an uprising against the most powerful samurai in Japan.

This is a story of insane courage and daring feats, bitter rivalry and fatal love. Based on one of the great works of Japanese history and literature, Samurai Rising takes a clear-eyed, very modern look at the way of the samurai-and at the man who became the most famous samurai of all.

Pamela S. Turner is the author of several award-winning books for young readers, including Life on Earth-and Beyond: Astrobiologist's Quest, Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog, and the ALA Notable Children's Book and Orbis Pictus Honor Book The Frog Scientist. Pamela first encountered Minamoto Yoshitsune's story while living in Japan. She now lives in Oakland, California, where she is a black-belt practitioner of kendo, the way of the sword.

While in College Gareth Hinds made artwork inspired by legends about Yoshitsune. He was therefore thrilled to return to twelfth-century Japan in Samurai Rising, this time illustrating Yoshitsune's real-life adventures. Gareth is a third-degree black belt in aikido and the award-winning creator of graphic-novel adaptations of Macbeth, Beowulf, The Odyssey, and other classics. He lives in Washington, DC.

Contents

Characters adn places
Map of Japan
Introduction
1 Disaster in Kyoto-Kyoto 1160
Headless ghosts-Kurama 1160-1174
3 Samurai boot camp-Hiraizumi 1174-1180
4 Brothesrs-in-arms-Kamakura 1180-1184
5 Perilous river-Kyoto 1184
Map of the Battle of Uji River
6 Midnight strike-Ichi-no-Tani 1184
Map of the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani
7 Hooves like hailstones-Ichi-no-Tani 1184
8 Into the storm-Kyoto, Shiroku and Yashima 1184-1185
Map ot the Battle of Yashima
9 The dropped bow-Yashima1185
10 The drowned sword-Dan-no-Ura 1185
Map of the Battle of Dan-no-Ura
11 Assassins in the dark-Dan-no-Ura, Kyoto and Koshigoe 1185
12 Shizuka's song-Koto, Kamakura, and he Yoshino Mountains 1185-1186
13 The fugitive-Locations unknown 1185-1187
14 Feast of arrows-Hiraizumi 1187-1189
Epilogue: The samurai weeps
Acknowledgments
Author's notes
A note on names
A note on dates
A note on the status of women
Re-creating Yoshitune's world
Time lines
Yoshitsune and the wider world
Major periods of Japanese history
Timelineo fSamurai Rising
Glossary of Japanese words
Chapter notes
Bibliography
Index
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User reviews

LibraryThing member imtanner2
A very interesting account of how samurais were trained as well as their personal history.
LibraryThing member MaowangVater
Yoshitsune Minamoto’s life was the stuff of legends, the ideal to which all later samurai would measure themselves. His “inheritance arrived early. They boy could not yet walk when his father left him a lost war, a shattered family, and a bitter enemy.” Sent by his father’s beheader to a
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Buddhist temple to be raised by monks he eventually escaped north to be taken in by a wealth noble and there trained as a warrior, and commander. Furious, fast and famously brave he specialized in the surprise attack coming down at his enemies from mountain heights and across supposedly impassible bodies of water. Ultimately defeated and fleeing into exile, he fought on to the last, and then committed ritual suicide rather than surrender to his enemies.

Turner’s well documented biography of the iconic samurai presents a wealth of information presented in a lively style accessible to twenty-first century youth. For example, to describe fighting style of the samurai she writes of these medieval oriental knights:

"Large scale tactics maneuvers weren’t part of their playbook. In fact, if history’s great fighters were gathered together, Yoshitsune’s men would find a lot more in common with fiercely independent Comanches than disciplined Roman legionnaires."

And as rivals in war sneered and insulted each other before a battle, the author notes, “Trash talk, it seems, is not a modern invention.”
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LibraryThing member ewyatt
An amazing survival and war story about a samurai who is the stuff of legends. I didn't know any of this history before reading the book. It was slow at times, but the thick book ends about half way through. The research notes are thorough and impressive.
I don't know how well this will play with
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middle school students, but the students who gravitate toward this type of nonfiction will enjoy it. I learned a lot from reading the book.
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LibraryThing member MontzaleeW
Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune by Pamela S. Turner is a children's nonfiction but it is written so well that it could be for anyone at all. I learned so much and didn't feel it was talking down to me. Through this book you could feel the social life, the strange customs, and
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the barbaric life it was back then. The role of the warrior and power and family was very powerful things. This books takes you into the background that leads up to Yoshitsune being a samurai, his childhood and on. Very wonderful work! Thanks NetGalley for suggesting this book! Truly an amazing book!
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LibraryThing member AnnaWaffles
This book was AWESOME. I'm normally a bit leery of middle grade biographies, but this was spot on for both content and tone. I just wish this book had existed during my college Japanese history class.
LibraryThing member Pascale1812
An interesting history, accessible to readers both young and old.
LibraryThing member reader1009
children's middlegrade nonfiction (samurai wars). There are lots of beheadings and sword wounds, and the pacing (with short, action-packed chapters) is excellent, with painted illustrations that complement the subject matter perfectly.
LibraryThing member jennybeast
Initially I thought this was a graphic novel, for some reason. It is not, although the illustrations are spectacular. Great, fast paced and fascinating biography of Minamoto Yoshitsune. I like the somewhat lighthearted tone, the slightly snarky asides, and the well written biographical aspects.
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Given that I find medieval Japan to be an utterly foreign landscape, it was an excellent primer. It also feels like a story that is all horrific violence for the sake of honor and pride -- the more we change, the more remains the same.
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ISBN

9781580895842

Publication

Charlesbridge

Original publication date

2016
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