Samurai & Daimyō: The Easy Way to Read, Listen, and Learn from Japanese History and Stories

By Clay Boutwell and Yumi Boutwell

Perfect for upper beginner students of Japanese.

This affordable Japanese history reader contains three essays on Japanese History.
* The Three Warlords who Unified Japan
* Sakamoto Ryoma, the Reformer
* Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's Greatest Swordsman

Get FREE Sound Files of the stories read by a native Japanese speaker. Listen while reading. The link to the MP3s is found within. Each story has two MP3 versions: Read Slowly & Normal Speed
Get FREE Anki flashcard decks of the vocabulary found in the story. Most include sound and the sentence from which the word came.

Quick! What's the first thing you think of when you hear the word Japan?

Maybe it is anime, Hello Kitty, geisha, or sumo, but I bet high on that list is the samurai warrior class.

This book contains three essays on samurai history.

Read--in Japanese--about the greatest swordsman in history, Miyamoto Musashi, one of the most important reformers of the bakumatsu period, Sakamoto Ryōma, and the three great warrior leaders who consolidated Japan.

Yes, you can read real Japanese--even if you are fairly new to Japanese. (Although the ideal level for this series is the JLPT N3-N4 upper beginner to lower intermediate area.)

FEATURES:
The kanji in the story with vocabulary section all have furigana.
Every sentence is broken down word-for-word and with explanation of the grammar.
The full story in Japanese only (without the running gloss) is also provided so you can practice reading without interruption.
Kanji in Focus covers the key kanji found in each essay
Finally, we have included a simple and mostly literal English translation for you to check your understanding (Don't cheat! Work through the Japanese first!).
Download the FREE MP3s to listen while you study. Includes both normal speed and slow speed readings.
Download the FREE Anki flashcard decks to master the vocabulary before even starting the book!
While beginners to Japanese can get a lot from this, hiragana knowledge is required. Finally, we invite the reader to contact us with questions or requests for future Japanese readers. You will find our personal email addresses in the book.

To your Japanese!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kotoba Inc
• Release date: Feb 15, 2023

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

The key to learning vocabulary is, quite simply, reading. Not only are you more likely to pick up words that interest you, but you also learn them in context. The Japanese History Reader Series further assists with this by providing sound files of the Japanese and Anki flashcard decks of the vocabulary. Enhance your listening comprehension while simultaneously building your vocabulary, kanji, and reading skills.

FORMAT OF THIS READER

By opting for short essays, the intimidation factor is significantly reduced. We divide the stories into manageable, easy-to-digest segments with comprehensive explanations to boost your confidence as you read authentic Japanese page by page. The tales are carefully selected to illustrate certain key aspects of Japanese history. This series aims to do more than just improve your language skills; it endeavors to deepen your understanding of Japanese culture as well.

WHO IS THIS FOR?

This book is crafted so that both novices and intermediate learners of Japanese can derive substantial value from it. A solid grasp of hiragana is essential, and it's advisable to know a few hundred vocabulary words and basic grammar before diving into this reader. If you find the stories too challenging, we recommend spending time going through the vocabulary by reading the glossary notes and/or using the Anki flashcard deck before tackling the reading.

FEATURES

Line-by-line: Read the story broken down line-by-line with nearly every vocabulary word defined and explained.

Grammatical Notes: The line-by-line definitions also include grammatical explanations.

Full Japanese: Read the full story in real Japanese once you go through the line-by-line section.

English Version: Lastly, we are including a simple English translation. This should be avoided until you are sure you understand the story or find it too difficult to figure out on your own.

You may prefer to read the story in Japanese with furigana while listening to the audio files first. Alternatively, if you're a beginner, it might be more beneficial to peruse the line-by-line story before attempting the full Japanese text. Regardless of your approach, this book offers multiple methods to read, listen, and learn.

Kanji in Focus: This feature aids the daunting task of mastering those intricate Chinese characters. We spotlight many of the kanji found in the stories, presenting the readings, meanings, and an example vocabulary word:

Sound Files: Included at no extra charge are two sound files of each story. One is read at a normal speed and the other at a slow, easy-to-follow pace.

Anki Flashcard Decks: Also included are Anki flashcard decks. Anki is a flashcard program that’s free for your PC or Mac (https://apps.ankiweb.net/)

The download link for the sound files and Anki decks may be found on the page after this introduction and on the last page of the book. If you have ANY trouble downloading, please email us at [e-mail].

ABOUT SAMURAI & DAIMYO

Quick! What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word 'Japan'? Perhaps it's anime, Hello Kitty, geisha, or sumo, but likely high on that list are the samurai warriors. This book contains three insightful essays on samurai history.

Discover the stories of the greatest swordsman in history, Miyamoto Musashi, one of the most pivotal reformers of the Bakumatsu period, Sakamoto Ryōma, and the three great warrior leaders who unified Japan.

ABOUT CLAY & YUMI

Yumi was a popular radio DJ in Japan for over ten years, with extensive training in standard Japanese pronunciation, making her perfect for creating these language instructional audio files.

Clay has been a passionate learner of Japanese for many years. His free language learning website, www.TheJapanesePage.com, got its start back in 1999 as a way to help other learners of Japanese as well as himself.

In 2002, they opened www.TheJapanShop.com to help students of Japanese get hard-to-find Japanese books.

Yumi and I