Margi Preus - Heart of a Samurai

AN ACTION-PACKED HISTORICAL
NOVEL SET ON THE HIGH SEAS!

In 1841, fourteen-year-old Manjiro and his four friends find themselves stranded on a deserted island after a storm at sea. Beyond the island is the unknown, filled with monsters, demons, and barbarians. Or so theyve been told. They know they cannot return to their homes in Japanthe countrys borders are closed both to foreigners and to citizens who have strayed. No one may enter, under penalty of imprisonment and even death!

One day an American ship passes near the island and takes the castaways aboard. Manjiros curiosity overcomes his fear of the barbarians. He joins in the work of the whaling vessel, eager to learn everything he can about this new culture. Over the next ten years, Manjiro travels the high seas, visiting places he never dreamed existed, including America. It is a time filled with new experiences and adventure, as well as friendship and treachery. Manjiro sustains himself on a dream of returning home and somehowthough he knows it is impossible for a simple fishermanbecoming a samurai.

Will he ever be able to go back to his native land? And if he does, will he be welcomed or condemned?

PRAISE FOR HEART OF A SAMURAI

* Preuss excellent first novel mixes fact with fiction in a tale that is at once adventurous, heartwarming, sprawling, and nerve-racking

Publishers Weekly, starred review

* A classic fish-out-of-water story, and its precisely this classic structure that gives the novel the sturdy bones of a timeless tale. Bracketed by gritty seafaring episodes

salty and bloody enough to assure us that Preus has done her research

Booklist, starred review

* Illustrated with Manjiros own pencil drawings this highly entertaining page turner is the perfect companion

Kirkus, starred review

* A Japanese teenager living in the mid-19th century bridges two worlds in this stunning debut novel based on true events. Preus places readers in the young mans shoes, whether he is on a ship or in a Japanese prison. Her deftness in writing is evident characters gain sympathy from readers as their backgrounds are revealed beautifully articulated.

School Library Journal, starred review

A terrific biographical novel vividly summons for readers ages 1016 not only the story of a remarkable man but also the turbulent era in which he lived.

Wall Street Journal

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Preus, Margi.
Heart of a samurai / by Margi Preus.
p. cm.

Summary: In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.

ISBN 978-0-8109-8981-8 (alk. paper)
1. Nakahama, Manjiro, 18271898Juvenile fiction. [1. Nakahama,
Manjiro, 18271898Fiction. 2. JapaneseUnited StatesFiction.
3. JapanRelationsUnited StatesFiction. 4. United StatesRelations
JapanFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.P92434He 2010
[Fic]dc22
2009051634
Text copyright 2010 Margi Preus

Illustrations by Manjiro (signed John Mung) are noted as such in the captions. Otherwise the source is the Hyoson Kiryaku, and the illustrations are by Kawada Shoryo or another transcriber of the original volumes. The jacket art and the illustrations appearing on pages ixiii, 2425, 116117, 188189, 246247, and 302306 are by Jillian Tamaki. Copyright 2010 Jillian Tamaki.

Book design by Chad W. Beckerman

Published in 2010 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Amulet Books and Amulet Paperbacks are registered trademarks of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Printed and bound in U.S.A.
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TO PASHA AND MISHA, AND
ADVENTURERS EVERYWHERE

HEART of a SAMURAI

I have no parents; I make the heaven and earth my mother and father.

I have no home; I make awareness my dwelling.

I have no life and death; I make the tides of breathing my life and death.

from the Samurai Creed

Bird Island as drawn by John Mung

January 1841 (12th Year of Temp, Year of the Ox), off the coast of Shikoku, Japan

anjiro squinted across the expanse of glittering sea at the line of dark clouds forming on the horizon.

What lies there, he wondered aloud, across the sea?

Nothing you want to know about, Denzo said, hurrying to hoist the sail. Barbarians live there. Demons with hairy faces, big noses, and blue eyes!

As Jusuke steered the boat toward home, the fishermen fell silent. In three days they had not caught a single fish. Their families would go hungry. Manjiro swallowed hard when he thought of the empty rice bin at home.

He took one last glance behind them and noticed something strange. Dark streaks ran like ribbons through the water.

Excuse me please, he said. What is that in the water?

Goemon, a boy not much older than Manjiro, said, Fish!

Mackerel! the others cried. Denzo quickly steered the boat into waters black with fish as the others baited their hooks.

The fishermen hurried to cast their lines into the water, then pulled them in, each time hauling in a fat mackerel. It was Manjiros job to pluck the fish off the hooks. His hands bled, but he smiled to see the bottom of the boat swimming with plump, flopping mackerel! Wasnt it lucky he had looked back one more time? Now they would all be dreaming of dinners of steaming fish, and maybe even a little rice.

None of them noticed that dark clouds had swallowed the sky. They didnt notice the waves lapping at the boat. They didnt notice the wind until the sail ruffled, then snapped.

Is the sail supposed to snap like that? Manjiro asked, forgetting to apologize for his intrusion as he had been taught.

Boy, Jusuke said, stick to your work.

Does the wind often howl so? Manjiro squeaked. He knew he should not ask so many questions, but he couldnt help himself.

Quiet, boy, said Toraemon, one of the older fishermen. You are a pest. I dont know why Denzo agreed to bring you along. Cant you see there are still fish to catch?