Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune - Softcover

Turner, Pamela S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580895859 ISBN 13: 9781580895859

Publisher: Charlesbridge, 2018

Synopsis

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 family—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.

About this title

About the Author

PAMELA S. TURNER is the author of Life on Earth—and Beyond, The Dolphins of Shark Bay (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), and the Orbis Pictus Honor Book The Frog Scientist (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Pamela lives in Oakland, California.

Gareth Hinds is the creator of critically-acclaimed graphic novels based on literary classics, including Beowulf (Candlewick), which Publisher’s Weekly called a “mixed-media gem”, King Lear (Candlewick), which Booklist named one of the top 10 graphic novels for teens, The Merchant of Venice (Candlewick), which Kirkus Reviews called “the standard that all others will strive to meet” for Shakespeare adaptation, The Odyssey (Candlewick), which garnered four starred reviews and a spot on ten "best of 2010" lists, Romeo and Juliet (Candlewick), which Kirkus Reviews called "spellbinding", and Macbeth (Candlewick), which the New York Times called "stellar" and "a remarkably faithful rendering".

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Few warriors are as famous as the Japanese samurai. We remember those beautiful swords and those fearsome helmets. We recall, with both horror and fascination, how some chose to end their own lives. But no one can understand the Japanese samurai without knowing Minamoto Yoshitsune. Yoshitsune’s story unfolds in the late twelfth century,during the adolescence of the samurai. Yes, cultures have their youth, maturity, and old age, just as people do. During Yoshitsune’s lifetime the samurai awakened. Their culture was bold, rebellious, and eager to flex its muscle. The samurai would ultimately destroy Japan’s old way of life and forge a new one using fire and steel and pain. Yoshitsune was at the very heart of this samurai rising. Hostage, runaway, fugitive, rebel, and hero, he became the most famous warrior in Japanese history. The reason is simple: Yoshitsune was the kind of man other samurai longed to be.

Edition details

• Publisher: Charlesbridge
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1580895859
• ISBN 13: 9781580895859
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Hinds Gareth
• Number of pages: 256