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A review by alundeberg
A Daughter of the Samurai by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto
5.0
There should really be a sub-genre called the "time-travelogue" for books that transport the reader to the past and long ago ways of life. Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto's wise and poignant memoir "A Daughter of the Samurai" takes the reader back in more ways than one. Born shortly before Japan's Civil War that abolished the feudal, Samurai traditions and gave rise to the Meiji Restoration, Sugimoto experienced a life of constant transitions, and her tale is one of how to navigate change with grace and curiosity. Raised to be a priestess in rural northwestern Japan, she received both a boy's education and a girl's lessons in refinement. As she was arranged in marriage to a Japanese man living in America, her family realized that she needed a Western education and sent her to missionary school in Tokyo. Here she experienced her first culture shock of Japan's embrace of modernity and Western culture. In 1898, she left her family behind and traveled to Cincinnati to meet the man who would be her husband and be thrust into the American ways of life. There they raised two daughters. After his death, she took her children back to Japan, but this time seeing it with American eyes and having to navigate her old culture and traditions with her daughters whose heritage now spanned two countries. It is an illuminating and fascinating story. When I was growing up, I would always ask my Granny to tell me stories "from her brain" about growing up on a Nebraskan homestead. Reading Sugimoto's account fed that same need for me; it's a window into how life once was.
There is much about this book that is remarkable, but what really stands out is her desire to understand people. This did not come naturally to her at first. Coming from the slower pace of life bound by tradition and conservative values of rural Japan, she was taken aback by Tokyo's fast-pace and its people's open and free natures. Shy and reserved at first, she watched carefully and finally recognized the benefits their ways. She also learned that women there had voices and she learned to use her own. Once in America, which was Tokyo on steroids, she saw much more that confused and confounded her. Instead of clutching to her ways, she sought out similarities between America and Japan, often poking gentle fun at both. Instead of being fearful of losing her old ways, she realizes how her Samurai upbringing gave her the strength to bear the changes in her life and how understanding both cultures shows her the drawbacks and benefits of each. She is a keen, compassionate, and sympathetic observer and a model for how to move about in the world and how to maintain a sense of self while upholding traditions.
This is a deeply moving and inspiring work. I highly recommend.
There is much about this book that is remarkable, but what really stands out is her desire to understand people. This did not come naturally to her at first. Coming from the slower pace of life bound by tradition and conservative values of rural Japan, she was taken aback by Tokyo's fast-pace and its people's open and free natures. Shy and reserved at first, she watched carefully and finally recognized the benefits their ways. She also learned that women there had voices and she learned to use her own. Once in America, which was Tokyo on steroids, she saw much more that confused and confounded her. Instead of clutching to her ways, she sought out similarities between America and Japan, often poking gentle fun at both. Instead of being fearful of losing her old ways, she realizes how her Samurai upbringing gave her the strength to bear the changes in her life and how understanding both cultures shows her the drawbacks and benefits of each. She is a keen, compassionate, and sympathetic observer and a model for how to move about in the world and how to maintain a sense of self while upholding traditions.
This is a deeply moving and inspiring work. I highly recommend.