The Way Of The Warrior

Summary

 Ninten Ichi Ryu and Yagiu Ryu had tied in the tournament, this was something that had never happened before. After this, it is decided that there would be a race to know which school will win. Jack and Yamato had to race to get the Jade sword, the first who get it and go back to the school with it will decide which school would win. In the race, Jack and Yamato get to a waterfall they need to pass to get to the sword. Jack could climb the waterfall, but Yamato couldnt. Yamato decides to jump, but Jack could help him to get back up. yamato then asks Jack if they could be friends again, and Jack agrees. Yamato gets the sword but when he is going to give it so he could win, he admits that Jak took the sword first, and Jack`s school wins. There is a great festival called the "Gion Matsuri" festival. Jack and his friends get to a man dressed in black, and discover he is actually Dokugan Ryu, and he tries to kill the Daimyo but he can`t. Masamoto rewards Jack with new swords, his own swords. Jack discover he has to follow the Way of the Warrior to be ready to defeat Dokugan Ryu and get his revenge for his father`s death. 

Quotes

"In that instant Jack was struck by a moment of satori: enlightenment as bright as the star itself. He too was in a journey whose destination was unknown and whose faith was uncertain. But he had set his course and there was no going back. He had chosen the Way of the Warrior" (353)

   This is the very last thing the book says at the end. It shows us how Jack has a spirit that doesn`t like to run, to escape his destiny. Jack is very strong because he now decides he will follow the Way of the warrior and learn a lot of new things to be ready to defeat his major enemy, Dokugn Ryu, and get revenge for what he did to his family. 

" "With the possession of such a weapon cones great responsability," instructed Masamoto, not letting go of the swords so now both he and Jack held them. "It must never fall into the hands of your enemy." "

  This is when Masamoto decides to reward Jack his own swords, explaining that they are very important to every samurai. Like he said before, the swords can be considered like the soul for the samurai, becuase it is one of their most lethal weapons. Jack decides to take the swords that will make him a real samurai, and follow the Way of the Warrior.

Conclusion

 Jack finally becomes the samurai he was ment to be, to bring peace for him and to all others. He is finally decided on what he wants to do, after all he had passed. It leaves us a great morale, that we never have to feel affected on what other might think of you, just believe in you and never give up.

Training

Summary 

     After Father Lucius` death, Akiko tries to make Jack feel better about it, but Jack didn`t even considered Father Lucius his friend afetr what he said. That night, Jack saw some shadows moving outside his room, but when he opened the shoji there was nothing there. But Jack knew there was something there, so he took his bokken, and a shuriken (ninja star) flew across the room. Then he saw the shadow clearly, it was a single eyed man, and he recognized him as Dokugan Ryu. A battle started, Yamato and Akiko fighted along with Jack. He knew why Dokugan Ryu was there, it was because he was looking for his father`s rutter. Masamoto got there at the right time, and Dokugan Ryu had nothing to do but escape. The next day, Jack, Akiko and Yamato were called to talk with Masamoto, and Yamato confessed he was saved by Jack, and that he defeated a ninja by his own. Masamoto, proud of the three, told them they are going to go to Kyoto to a samurai dojo, to train for real. Jack meets sensei Yamada, his new teacher. He trains with a lot other kids, but Jack is one of the best that are training there.  He learns all about taijutsu ( everything about melee or physical attacks/skills) . Jack also decided he would follow the bushido (the way of the warrior). 

Quotes

"Yamato was by ni means a skilled martial artist. He had only been trained properly for a year. But he had clearly inherited some of his father`s ability with a weapon and knew enough to teach Jack the basics of kenjutsu-the art of the sword" (122)

  This quote shows that even though that Yamato, the son of Masamoto, one of the greatest  and powerful samurai, he is still nit very strong. Jack, in the other hand, is a boy that learns really quickly, and that is the reason why he could surpass Yamato in the means of battling like a samurai, he is even considered a gift from the gods, and a hero for everyone. He is very skilled and one of the best compared to the other people in his class where he is traning/learning more on how to be a samurai. 

"Jack-ku. You have proven yourself worthy to follow the Way of the Warrior. I decree, therefore, that you are to train in the Niten Ichi Ryu, my One school of Two Heavens" (149)

  This quote exxplains how Masamoto feels aboujt Jack after what he did with Dokugan Ryu, and how he defeated a ninja on his own, saving Masamoto`s son, Yamato. Doing all of these things made Masamoto realize that Jack had hidden potencial to be a samurai, so he decided to take him and his friends to Kyoto and train in his own school. 

Conclusion

  This is the part that Jack really begins to see what he is looking for: get revenge and kill Dokugan Ryu, be a better samurai to protect his family and friends. He is now becoming really strong because of this feelings he`s got, these feelings are leading him to do the right things an finally accomplish what he really wants.

Yamada

Summary

 Jack learns a lot of new things with Yamada, including the 9 views, and how a Daruma doll works. Daruma dolls are used by putting your name on the chin of the doll, then paint one eye while you think of a wish, if the wish comes true, you paint the other eye. At night Jack decided to relax and try to use his daruma doll, when he was calm and relax, a thought crossed his mind. He knew what to wish for, so he painted the first eye. The next day, Jack and his classmates where learning new techniques with Sensei Kyuzo. Sensei Kyuzo decided that Jack would be the target practice to show how a technique worked. Jack had to attack him, so he hold his arm, but then his own wrist was full with pain, and Jack realized Sensei Kyuzo had wrapped his hand over Jack`s arm, and was twisting it. The technique was called nikkyo. In pairs, they had to practice so they could master the technique, and Jack had to work with Kazuki, one of Jack`s classmates, buthe was very cruel and mean to him. If the technique was applied too severely, the person had to touch the ground to let his/her classmate know. But when Kazuki was applying the technique on Jack, and he touched the floor, he just applied more force to make Jack suffer. After some days, Kazuki found Jack and Akiko outside school, and they wanted to fight. Kazuki was accompanied by his cousins: Toru and Raiden. They were twin brothers, and they looked bigger and stronger than Jack. Still, they started fighting, but someone stopped them at the last moment. It was Masamoto, but Kamakura Katsuro also appeared. He was the daimyo of Tokyo, also the founder of the Yagyu school. In the other hand, Masamoto was the founder of the Niten Ichi-Ryu school. They decided that they would end the fight in a competition, or a contest, between schools.

Quotes 

Conclusion

Gaijin

Summary 

 Jack meets the girls of his dreams, she is called Akiko, and she helps him understand a little more their laguage, by pointing objects and things and saying its Japanese names. He is summoned to meet Masamoto, the  undefeated samurai that helped him, he also meets Father Lucius, a portugese priest, which is there to teach Jack more Japanese, and he also is the one to give Jack`s belongings back, including his father`s rutter.  Both with the help of Father Lucius and Akiko, he learns their language in a really small amount of time. Father Lucius asks Jack questions to know where he is from, why is he there, and what happened with the rest of the crew that was with him. Jack tells him that all of his crew were killed, except him, and that he remembers the man that killed his father. He describes the men that attacked his ship as shadows, and a man with one green eye. He learns that the man with the green eye is know as Dokugan Ryu, or Dragon eye, and that he is responsible of the death of Masamoto`s first son, Tenno, two years before Jack got there. Masamoto believes that Jack is a gift from the gods, and that he may be the one to replace Tenno, to defeat Dokugan Ryu. So Jack is basically adopted by a samurai lord, even though he is not from there, even though some people call him a gaijin (foreigner, or barbarian). Later, Masamoto  presents Jack to his second son, a black haired boy called Yamato. He watchesYamato training with a wooden sword they call bokken, and tries to talk with him, and they practice together, by having a fight. Hiroko is really scared and worried about Jack fighting Yamato, but Jack isn`t.  Jack wonders why Yamato wants a real fight but with wooden swords and not actual swords, but when Jack hold one he realizes that it is really heavy, and that with that bokken he coulld kill someone. Jack is defeated, because he does not have the skills Yamato has with that kind of sword. A couple dayd later Jack is told Father Lucius is really sick, at the point where he is going to die. He goes and visits him, and he says that " he had to tell them" and he asked for forgiveness. Jack didn`t know what Father Lucius ment, but just before he could explain, Father Lucius exhaled his last breath and died.

Quotes

"Akiko quietly applauded and then began pointing at other objects, giving Jack their Japanese names. She seemed pleased to teach him her language, and Jack was relieved, since this was the first time that anyone had attempted to communicate with him properly." (70)

  This quote show how Akiko tried in a way to communicate with Jack, and show him Japanese. This is very important to the story because Akiko rapidly starts to become Jack`s best friend, even though she is also the girl from his dreams. The fact that Akiko tries to help Jack learn Japanese is very important because she is one of the only people trying to communicate properly with Jack, like Father Lucius did. 

"The warriors immediately acknowledged Akiko`s arrival with a low bow. Akiko returned their greeting then began to converse with a samurai who seemed to be Jack`s age. He had chestnut brown eyes and spiky black hair. The boy threw Jack a disdainful look before turning his head" (72)

  This quote is very important because it shows Jack`s first opinion about Yamato. Yamato is very cold to Jack since he has much pressure in his shoulders, because he will need to surpass his dead brother, and avenge him, by killing Dokugan Ryu. Yamato thinks that Jack`s arrival is really bad for him, because he thinks that Jack will only be a obstacle to accomplish his mission. 

Conclusion

We can see how Jack is learning a lot in a small amount of time, an tries to get back to her sister, the only family he has left. To go to her sister, he needs to find a way to escape and find a boat, then sail with the help of his fathers rutter, that has information about how to survive in the sea, and has infomation of the routes that can lead Jack to get back to England. 

Jack Fletcher

Summary

         The story is about Jack Fletcher, a 12 year old boy, who is in a trip in a ship called Alexandria, an English ship. The mission was to be the first English men to get to the Japans. John Fletcher, Jacks father, is the pilot of the ship, and guides himself with a "diary" or rutter that he made himself. The rutter has information of all the seas and oceans, it shows where he has traveled. He told Jack it was very important for him, and that anyone who has it would rule the seas. Jack is in that ship because he earned a job as a rigging monkey. The ship got to the Japans, or the "land of the rising sun", when they got there, some people saw another ship approaching them, with the flag of the wakou. The wakous are the Japanese pirates, so they were allert and ready to attack the Alexandria. They realized that the wakou where actually ninjas, so they attacked the ship, and they killed everyone, including Jack´s father. Jack gets injured, his arm broken, and left for dead. He wakes up in a house, and he is told he was saved by one of the greatest samurais of Japan: Masamoto. Jack has to start to follow the rules that everyone followed there, and learn how to dress like them. When they give him food for the fisrt time, Jack eats everything and smiles to show that he enjoyed the meal, but they were upset because he was eating with his hands, and not using chopsticks. Jack doesn`t want to make that mistake again, so he needs to learn how to use the chopsticks or he will starve to death.

Quotes

"Jack dragged his friend into the cabin, ripping bedsheets from his father`s bunk to stem the bleeding. Then he heard his father cry out in pain. Foced to leave Christiaan where he lay, Jack stepped out to confront the shadows in the darkness." (37)

This is a moment of suspence in the book because we can see and imagine how Jack must have felt while experiencing that moment, watching all the crew in his ship being slaughtered by the unknown enemy, and he couldn`t do nothing, but still tried.

"John Fletcher spun the ship`s grappling hook in circles around his head, fighting with the ferocity of a lion. The shadows, clad head to toe in black, a single slit for the eyes, couldn`t get near." (39)

This shows how John was doing everything to survive and help his friends abord the ship,  and he didn`t have any fear while fighting an enemy he had never fought before, showing his courage.

Conclusion

    We can see that Jack is a very smart boy, and that he is that kind of person that can do anything to do the right thing, even though it affects him negativelly. He is also very brave, because he had to go through a moment where he saw people die in front of his eyes, and couldn`t do nothing, I really like this book until now.