A Daughter of the Samurai - (Tuttle Specials) by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Her life was a bridge from the nineteenth century to the twentieth, from the time-hallowed beauty and rigidity of a samurai household to the disorienting, forward-looking freedoms of the West." --Janice P. Nimura, from the foreword.

This classic memoir tells the story of a remarkable Asian-American woman navigating two very different cultures--a loyal wife, a widowed mother, and a bilingual breadwinner--who finds her voice in a strange new world.

Follow her journey as she:

• Witnesses her father prepare and perform ritual seppuku, and her mother burn down the ancestral home
• Bids an emotional farewell and sails across the ocean to marry a wealthy merchant in a new land
• Returns to Tokyo with her two daughters and mother-in-law, only to find her homeland as alien as America, forcing her to reinvent herself to provide for her family
• Eventually returns to America with her children after the death of her mother-in-law

An international bestseller when first published a century ago, A Daughter of the Samurai remains a testament to a woman's resolve, strength, and endurance. This edition includes a new foreword by 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist Janice P. Nimura.

Review Quotes

"A book of extraordinary general interest, great historical value, and considerable literary merit." --South China Morning Post

"Her life was a bridge from the nineteenth century to the twentieth, from the time-hallowed beauty and rigidity of a samurai household to the disorienting, forward-looking freedoms of the West." --Janice P. Nimura, from the foreword

"It is never wise for a Japanese woman, if she wishes to retain a position of influence and dignity, to say much on any subject. Actions, not words, are her most successful means of expression; but the time came when I saw that I must speak." --Estu Inagaki Sugimoto

"What a lovely book it is..." --Christopher Morley

About the Author

Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto (1874-1950) was a Japanese-American writer and educator. She began writing essays on Japan for local Cincinnati newspapers to practice her English, then for the magazine Asia, which were later published in book form as A Daughter of the Samurai. This book became an international bestseller. Sugimoto went on to publish several other novels and eventually moved to New York where she taught Japanese language and history at Columbia University.

Janice P. Nimura is the author of Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back, a New York Times Notable book in 2015. More recently, she received a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities in support of her work on The Doctors Blackwell, a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in biography.

Christopher Morley (1890-1957) was a journalist, author, lecturer and theatrical producer best known for the novels Parnassus on Wheels, The Haunted Bookshop and Kitty Foyle.