Diary of a Samurai

the Diary of a samurai

Nichelle

Day 1, Tuesday

I am sitting here in Shogun Mayu's house. He has welcomed me greatly to his group of samurais. I am greatly honored. ever since I was a girl I dreamed of this. My brother, Noa, said I would never become a samurai, just because I am a girl. But girls are just as powerful. I mine as while tell you my story and who I am. My name is Keiko and I am 21 years old. I was born in Nara Japan. My father is a one of the greatest honorable samurais. I must go now Shogun mayu is coming . write more tomorrow

Day 2, Wednesday.

Wow! it is the greatest day ever! Shogun Mayu said I could join his training group! I start tommaorw at sunrise. My brother Noa is very upset, he should be he always made fun of me. " oh Keiko you would never ever make a good samurai!" I am very proud of myself. My father and I went to town and got some special Kimonos for battle. they are very pretty. I am using my father's armor and Katana sword and the wakizashi. they have this wave pattern to it. It has been passed down in three generations. Our family had a tea ceremony to celebrate my wonderful honor. I got to host it also. I was very proud. tomorrow we will start with combat training. We will practice hitting bamboo swords and fighting. my father said that the shogun will hit us many times to learn awareness. I am ok with it. I am a samurai now! then we will do mental training by meditating in the beautiful Zen garden. I am not sure what we are doing after those. After my training I will write. I am going to have to stay in the camp we have a special building with many rooms. my neighbor who is living in my room with me is Rio. she sounds very familiar. perhaps a old childhood friend? I must go to bed now I need my rest.

Day 3 Thursday.

today was a VERY tiring day. We worked hard. Rio is not a childhood friend. she is from a city called Nagasaki. I have never in my life herd of a city like that! Rio says it is a farm town and her family is famous for their sweet rice. yummy sweet rice! for dinner we had teriyaki beef over stemmed rice. not as good as mothers. I miss my family at home. I feel very lonely here. But I should explain my training today. we did the combat training. my father was right we get hit a lot! We did a lot of moves like right swing or left swing. we also learned the combat basics. then I learned the formal tea ceremony. well I am very tired so I must sleep I will write when I can.

Day 4 Friday

I am all dressed for my Shoguns tea ceremony I am hosting. I am very nervous what if I mess up? hopefully I can do well. Write later.

Later of day 4..

Oh my!! Shogun mayu fell to a coma or passed out or something!! I was just serving the Tea when I saw him fall over. I ran over to him and asked for Rio to go get the doctor. he is in the hospital resting. Rio says he may or may not be ok. I am very scared. Hopefully this is just a sleep or flu thing.

Day 5 Saturday

I have the saddest new I could tell you. Shogun Mayu has died. All of the officials are ordering us to Do seppuku. I don't want to do it. I know it is very honorable but I Rather live and get married! This is a big problem! I went to go tell my parents the news. they say I must keep honor in our family, and I can't disgrace the hisheo name. My mind is all over! I am going to go meditate in the garden.

Day 6, Sunday

Rio was the first do seppuku today. she did it with no problem. It was very sad to see her do that, be told by 2 men that we can kill ourselves! my parents are not supportive of my reasoning, only my friend, Saki. We think we may run away. It is the only way. I am packing my silk bag right now I carry only 2 kimonos and some food and my precious diary. I tried talking to one of the officials, Ume, he said I am very disgracable person. I am going to drink a cup of tea and get Saki and leave Mayu samurai camp. I worked so hard to get nowhere. I will write as soon as we are safe.

Day 7, Monday

We are out! We are in the woods outside of Nara we going to find Nagasaki. We have no clue where we are going. We see a trading post, I think it is Yoshi Trading post. Saki is sleeping while I keep watch for guards. Oh no! I hear footsteps! I must do what we practiced write later.

Later.. We are safe we found a home in yoshi trading post. we are going to stay here until the next caravan comes. this is my last sheet of paper. so I guess this is a good bye. Don't worry about us, we will be safe. We bought some more food. well goodbye!