Three samurai cats : a story from Japan

When a nasty rat overruns his castle, the daimyo, a powerful lord, enlists help from three samurai cats in this wonderful, humorous and very eastern tale with a powerful Zen message. Wildly popular with 1st graders for social studies or writers workshop, this is one of my FAVORITE stories and most

Show More

successful classroom units. Great of reading, for read alouds, for telling, for group writing, for art, for folktales, for country study, for everything. Eric Kimmel is the best!

Show Less

This type of story is known as a Zen story which are passed down through the generations to teach lessons. This is also known as a legend. This story is a legend because is has been told throughout the generations and because it has historical connections (Samurai).
The illustrations are very

Show More

colorful and show the traditional that the Samurai knights wore. Having the main characters be cats and dogs also draw in young readers. The illustrations show the reader the strength of the first two cats and the frailty of the third cat and the reader can understand why the daimyo doesn't think the third cat will do any good.
Media: Mixed- Pen and ink with oil paint

Show Less

Genre: Folktale
Critique: This is a good example of a folktale because this story has been retold in Japan for many generations and contains characters who are animals. The details of the story of not incredibly precise because they have been lost throughout generations.

The Zen philosophy of passive resistance may lost upon young readers, but the humorous illustrations will and comical actions of the characters will undoubtedly engage them. The illustrator does a great job of showing exaggerated facial expressions and body language, incorporating at times elements

Show More

of manga and anime by using comic-strip frames to highlight the action.

Show Less

The castle is being taken over by a giant rat. The daimyo goes to the docho and asks for a samurai cat to come and get rid of it. After two different cats come and the rat remains a third cat is sent. The third cat that comes waits the rat out without trying to overcome the rat with force. IN the

Show More

end the rat does himself in. It is explained to the daimyo that sometimes it is better to act without acting and draw strength from stillness.

Show Less

Genre: folktale

This is a good example of a folktale because it takes a Japanese wise tale and makes it child friendly. Under the author's note, it said that many Zen masters used stories like this to teach their students to be patient and still rather than head on violence. I think that even though

Show More

all students don't have the knowledge about Japan, they can learn the lesson that violence is not the only answer.

Rubric: 26

Show Less

age app: primary

Genre: Folklore

Review: This is a good example of folklore. There is no author, and the story has a moral. Through this humorous story the reader learns that violence is not always the best way to accomplish things.

Kimmel, Eric. Three Samurai Cats, a story from Japan. (2003). New York. Holiday House.

This is a retelling of a folktale from Japan. A daimyo, a powerful lord, has a rat in his castle. He is a bold and strong rat and he takes over the castle, eating from the daimyo’s own plate and sitting in his

Show More

chair. The daimyo travels to a shrine known for its samurai cats who are skilled fighters. First one, then another samurai cat tries to fights the rat, but he defeats them. Next the docho, the shrine’s senior monk, sends Neko Roshi, the greatest living martial arts master. The daimyo must wait several weeks for Neko Roshi to arrive at the castle and when he does, he’s shocked at his appearance. Neko Roshi is an elderly samurai cat with no teeth and who walks with a limp. For weeks, Neko Roshi doesn’t so anything but lay on a mat and sleep and eat. When the rat asks if he wants to fight, He says, “Later.” Eventually, the rat, who runs freely through the castle now, traps himself underneath a rice ball. Neko Roshi simply extends 1 claw toward the rat and he is able to get the rat to promise to leave the castle. The daimyo learns the simple lesson that strength is drawn from stillness and to act without acting.

Younger and older elementary students will enjoy this folktale. The illustrations are beautiful and detailed watercolor drawings that take the scenes from the story and expand their detail to increase the readers’ understanding of the story. What makes this story unique is not just its talking and thinking samurai cats, but that it is an old and decrepit cat who uses patience and wisdom to defeat the out-of-control rat.

Show Less

This story is quite strange, but is a great example of a Japanese folktale. A daimyo has a rat in his castle who refuses to leave. No one can get rid of this rat and he is beginning to become a nuisance, so he seeks help from the docho. For he send three different Samuri cats, all of which try to

Show More

defeat the ray in different ways. The lesson of the story is to defeat your opponent, you must let them first defeat theirselves and violence doesn't solve the problem.

Show Less

Three Samurai Cats tells a Japanese story about a daimyo (a feudal lord) whose palace gets overtaken by a giant rat who refuses to leave. The daimyo seeks help from a docho (a senior monk) who sends three samurai cats to defeat the rat. The first cat was big and fought the rat to no success. The

Show More

second cat was bigger and stronger, but also failed at fighting off the rat. The third cat was much smaller, weaker, and terribly decrepit. This cat did not try to fight the rat. Instead he gave him the choice to leave. The story teaches the reader "..to draw strength from stillness and learn to act without acting." It shows that fighting isn't always the answer. I really enjoyed the lessons that came from this book and I would love to pass it on because it goes along with my quiet ways to resolving issues.

Show Less

This is a story from Japan, retold by an author and published in the United States. In this story, a Japanese lord finds a humongous rat to be living in his castle. The lord sends for a Samurai cat to come and extinguish the rat. It takes three different Samurais to come until the rat is finally

Show More

taken care of. This tale will teach students about patience because it takes until the third Samurai cat to come, wait around, and then finally trick the rat into leaving the castle. I loved how the book gave a background information section and definitions of important vocabulary that will help students with anything they need to know before reading. The illustrations are also done in a cartoonish style that make it fun for older students to read as well.

Show Less

I have mixed feelings about this book. In my opinion, the book has various strengths, but there are things I dislike about it as well. For example, I feel that certain portions of the plot were slightly complex and difficult to follow, but I also think the moral of the story was clear. Initially, I

Show More

disliked the illustrations, but as I continued to read the book, they began to grow on me. Artistically, the book resembles a graphic novel in that there are boxes of text and information, and thick borders boxed around the images. At the end of the book, I really liked the idea and I feel that the style of the illustrations were unique and appropriate for the text. One of my favorite aspects of this book is that the story is an Americanized version of a Japanese folktale; I really enjoy the multicultural aspect of this text. In the story, Eric Kimmel incorporates the Japanese language often. For example, he writes, “’The dōchō sent me,’ the cat told the daimyo.” The greatest thing about this book, in my opinion, is the central message it conveys because it is a complicated theme that is difficult to teach. The big idea of Three Samurai Cats is that strength can be drawn from stillness, meaning that sometimes it is better to retreat and allow your enemies to defeat themselves.

Show Less

I love this book! It's such a good read aloud and there are lots of pictures on each page. Some of the words are a little difficult (like daimyo), but it's nothing that a little pre-teaching won't fix. It would be a great book for a "guess what happens next" type writing/picture drawing activity.

Another retelling of the three little pigs but this time it is three cats. The cats are samauri's living in japan. It is creative and brings a twist in the ordinary western fairy tale, but I did not enjoy it. It was a little too out there for my taste. But, some child might enjoy it.

This is a cute little story about a bad rat and three samurai cats. It introduces some good Japanese vocabulary as well as some Zen Buddhism concepts.

You know what, I'm not going to check on how 'true' this folktale is. I love the humor of it, and the Zen lesson we can learn from it, just the way it is. The pictures are a lot of fun, and they sure look sufficiently authentic to me.

Thank you Mr. Kimmel for bringing so many uncelebrated folktales

Show More

to the picture-book collection of my library.

Show Less

The story of the three Samurai Cats is about a lord who's home is being tormented by a giant rat. The rat eats whatever he wants and no one can stop him. The lord goes to a monk and asks for his best samurai cat to stop the rat. He send one that fails and then he sends a bigger with armor, who also

Show More

fails. The monk sends one more cat who is old and does not want to fight the rat. He waits and eats rice balls. The lord is angry that the samurai isn't fighting the rat. Finally, the rat makes a giant rice ball that accidentally rolls on top of him. The cat sees his chance and refuses to help the rat unless he agrees to leave.

Show Less

A daimyo, or feudal lord, is driven to distraction by the advent of a rapacious rat who takes over his castle in this traditional Japanese tale. Traveling to a distant shrine, he implored the dōchō, or senior monk, to send one of his famous samurai cats to drive out the intruder. When the first

Show More

two feline warriors fail in their task, the dōchō sends the famous Neko Roshi, the greatest cat master of the martial arts. The daimyo is incensed when this legendary figure turns out to be an old and decrepit cat, one who seems to have no interest in battling the rat. Does Neko Roshi have a hidden plan, or is he just not up to the job...?

The answer to that is revealed at the end of Three Samurai Cats: A Story from Japan, and is explored more fully in author Eric Kimmel's brief afterword, in which the Zen Buddhist beliefs embedded in the story are discussed. Kimmel also mentions his source - George and Loretta Hausman's The Mythology of Cats: Feline Legend and Lore Through the Ages - which greatly pleased me, given the absence of such information in some other titles from the author that I have read recently. The story here is engaging, the conclusion somewhat unexpected, and the artwork from Mordicai Gerstein, done in pen and ink and oil paint, accentuated the humor of the text. Recommended to young folklore lovers, and to anyone seeking Zen Buddhist stories.

Show Less