A Daughter of the Samurai

"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.