Samurai Rising is a very interesting book about the early days of the Samurai’s rise to power in Japan. A non-fiction title about a real samurai, Minamoto Yoshitsune, the book is all the more epic when you consider that most of the stories shared in it actually happened.
Yoshitsune is born on the night his samurai father attempts to overthrow the other major samurai family, the Taira, by kidnapping the Retired Emperor of Japan. Instead, the Minamoto family is defeated, and shamefully forced to serve the Taira. Yoshitsune is spared when the leader of the Taira sends him to a monastery to grow up as a holy man. Yoshitsune leaves before being sworn in as a monk, fleeing to a city in the far north where he trains to become a samurai. Years later he returns to the central part of Japan where the Minamoto/Taira conflict has raged for generations, to lead an army on behalf of his half brother and restore their family’s lost glory.
Reading this book is like experiencing an action movie in your head.
*Minor spoiler alert*
Without giving too much away, in one confirmed record Yoshitsune wins a battle against a fortified position by leading a small portion of his army up the nearby mountain and literally having his cavalry charge off a cliff to land inside the fortress. All the horsemen survive, and to say the enemy is taken by surprise is putting it lightly.
*End of minor spoiler alert*
The book also shares some legends of Yoshitsune’s exploits from the times in his life of which there are no records to document where he actually was or what he was doing. These stories are likely just folk legends, but they add a nice flare and flavor to the epic story, and its fun to imagine that at least a part of these tall tales might be true.
This is a book you can learn a lot from, while also going on a wild and exciting ride befitting of any adventure novel. Although it is a YA book, adults will enjoy it every bit as much as teens will. I rate Samurai Rising at 4 out of 5 stars for “I really liked it”.
