In this story, Jack and Annie went through a big journey in Japan to find a meaning to a special mission. Jack was sleeping suddenly Annie jumped on him and told him that their two friends Teddy and Kathleen came to visit. Jack got his glasses and got dressed while Annie was waving at them. Teddy and Kathleen were telling them to visit the tree house. Jack and Annie followed them to the tree house they were planning to get back before dawn. Teddy and Kathleen told them that they need to go to a quest in Japan to find the secret of happiness for their mentor Merlin she was really ill. They gave them a wand which they only can use on others wisely. Jack and Annie left for their mission. The tree house spun like a tornado but then everything just changed. Jack and Annie found their self-wearing brown baggy pants and brown silk robes with blue slashes. They looked through the window and saw the beauty of Japan, it was full with cherry blossoms ponds with swans beautiful multi colored clouds and amazing trees. Jack and Annie opened their guide book and notice that you’re not allowed in japan without a passport, but they didn’t have a passport so they decided to sneak. While sneaking jack and Annie got caught by some samurai warrior of a shogun (a military man), and was in trouble. A strange man came up to them and called Annie and Jack Baku and Koto they were confused. The samurai put their sword away and bowed to the strange guy. The guy explained to the samurai that jack (Baku) and Annie (Koto) were his students the samurai apologized and left. Jack and Annie asked. The man why he did that, the man said that he did that to save them; he knows why they are here. Jack and Annie thanked that man and asked for his name, it was Basho. ...
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...ness. Jack tolled Annie “Remember the time when we were sleeping but I felt that happy moment when the moon light hit my hand and when the breeze was brushing in my face and the crickets, that moment was really peaceful. Jack jumped up and said “This is it! The secret of happiness is paying really close attention to the small things in nature”. Jack and Annie were finally proud of their selves and they head toward their house.
This story was really interesting. I love magic tree house series they are all amazing. This story reminded me of a game called "Poptropica", in there you have to go to japan and find the secret of happiness just like what Jack and Annie did, but that was just an adventurous game. From this story I also learned many things about japan like the samurai and Basho he’s a real person. This story made me entertained and that what I loved about it.
Everyone comes across difficulties in their everyday life. It doesn’t matter how small you are or how big you are or even how tough you are, you run into a problem every single day. Some problems are easier to handle and you can work them out by your self like Beowulf did with Grendel. Some problems might be too difficult to handle or no way of concurring it by yourself. There are a lot of hard things we come across that we may need help on just like the dragon in Beowulf. Beowulf needed a little help with the dragon. The dragon was too much for him to handle and it was beating Beowulf. I have faced a few “personal dragons” on my own including my parents getting a divorce when I was young and collage.
In The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, a young man is thrown from his established world, left in a new, confusing realm that holds more than meets the eye. In the midst of a violent and ferocious war between the Chinese and Japanese in mid 1937, this young man, Stephen, contracts tuberculosis, and is sent to his family’s summer house in Japan. There he meets the house’s caretaker, Matsu, a simple and reserved man who holds back all but the most necessary speech. This meeting will come to define many of Stephen’s interactions with others throughout the novel: reserved and limited. In this odd land filled with subtle secrets and unspoken uncomfortability, Stephen is prepared for a very quiet and restful period, marked with healing and growth.
Beowulf is a poem about strength and courage. This is illustrated in the eighth section of the story called “Beowulf and the Dragon.” A slave, a hero and a dragon play a big role in this section. The characters are well developed, as is the setup for the conclusion of the poem.
Musui’s Story is the exciting tale of a low class samurai’s life towards the end of the Tokugawa era. Although one would normally imagine a samurai to be a noble illustrious figure, Musui’s Story portrays the rather ignominious life of an unemployed samurai. Nonetheless, this primary account demonstrates the tenacity of samurai values and privileges present at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The social status of samurai had been elevated to such a state that even someone like Musui was easily able to gain influence in everyday affairs with his privileges. Not only that, but he had retained his values as a warrior and still kept great pride for his arts in weaponry.
The way Smaug looked, was based upon many other dragons like Fafnir, and Beowulf’s dragon. Beowulf’s Dragon, a story of an incredibly deadly dragon, had much influence to what Smaug looked like. While the authors are explaining what the Beowulf’s dragon looks like, they say this, “Batlike wings attached to the torso by robust muscles lift the dragon in flight.” (Gerrie McCall & Kieron Connolly 8). When Bilbo enters the dragon's lair, Tolkien explains what the dragon looks like in this quote, “Smaug lay, with wings folded like an immeasurable bat, turned partly on one side…” (Tolkien 87). This shows some similarities, and influence, between these two dragons. Another dragon named Fafnir, also had very similar looks to Smaug, in fact in
Stories about war and implements of such can be observed throughout the course of Japanese history. This shows the prevalence of martial training and the profession of arms as a tradition that has not faded since ancient times (Friday and Humitake 13).
Basho’s journey starts from a 17th Century Japanese city called Edo (present-day Tokyo). He had a cottage in a quiet, rural part of the city. He left Edo in the Spring season, “ It was the Twenty-seventh Day, almost the end of the Third Month.” (p. 2112)
Masatsusu, Mitsuyuki. 1982. The Modern Samurai Society: Duty and Dependence in Contemporary Japan. New York: AMACOM.
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. ( This description of the scenery is very happy, usually not how one sees the world after hearing devastating news of her husbands death.)
Montag never appreciated the simple things in life. He would never walk or drive slow enough to see the colors of things. This bothered Clarisse McClellan very much. She loved to catch raindrops on her tongue, and she always left little presents for Montag to make sure he appreciated these simple things. Through her spirit and her small simple presents, Montag finds the strength to also appreciate these things.“And then very slowly as he walked, he tilted his head back in the rain for just a few moments and opened his mouth..”(Bradbury 24). Montag begins to see that no matter how hard life gets, he will always have these smaller things that he can enjoy.
Like walking through a barren street in a crumbling ghost town, isolation can feel melancholy and hopeless. Yet, all it takes is an ordinary flower bud amidst the desolation to show life really can exist anywhere. This is similar to Stephen’s journey in The Samurai’s Garden. This novel is about an ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locals and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, Matsu’s garden and Sachi lead him out of solitude.
Like walking through a barren street in a crumbling ghost town, isolation can feel melancholy and hopeless. Yet, all it takes is something like one flower bud to show life really can exist anywhere. This is similar to Stephen’s journey in The Samurai’s Garden. This novel is about an ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes moves to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locals and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, his relationship with Sachi and his time spent in Matsu’s garden lead him out of solitude.
“I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around, I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don't know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could have been there” (Salinger 213).
...the myth-themes of Japan I realized how stories could erase boundaries and unlock cultural understandings. A person could never step foot on the island of Japan, but could get a glimpse of the truths of it’s people through reading. The origin of our universe and humanities place on it is inherent in mythology, and the text on a page or computer screen can serve as a new pair of eyes. Vision is not confined to the eyes because it can be expressed through various forms, and I have come to believe that writing uncovers and shapes the truths of the universe even if it does not make sense scientifically. The combination of Shinto and Buddhist faiths form the mythology of Japan in a spiritual manifestation. The tales of the Gods, deities, kami’s, and origins of the universe as we know it can be organized in the thresholds to show Japans unique version of history or myth.
This is the tale about Hanzo {a weary traveler} and a kitsune {A fox demon} named Aneko. The story begins in what is now known as modern-day Tokyo. At this point in time it was a small fishing town called Edo {which, in turn, would probably look like this.}