The Samurai's Garden: A Novel

The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.

Customer Reviews:

Rave reviews from the Heritage Greens Book Club

By Heritage Greens Book Club - February 15, 2000

The Samurai's Garden is a soothing, hypnotic, heartbreaking, evocative book we all enjoyed. Is it the story of Stephen, a young Chinese man recovering from tuberculosis in pre-war Japan while under the care of a loyal family servant, the "samurai" of the title. The book explores cultural differences and similarities as it portrays the development of friendship and respect in disparate characters.With sparce and simple prose, Tsukiyama depicts her principals as humans who try to be good but not perfect; as people accepting their circumstances and finding inner peace despite their flaws and mistakes.Appropriate for all age readers, particularly young adults, we found a number of themes especially appealing: relationships, isolation/alienation and subsequent reconciliation, and the appreciation of inner beauty over physical appearance. Matsu, the "samurai," was a perfect teacher/mentor for Stephen, as he avioded putting him under a microscope, but... read more

A Book to Be Savored

By Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" - March 27, 2002

Towards the end of The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, Matsu one of the main characters says, "Beauty can be found in most places." And as I read this sentence, I thought no better words than beauty could be applied to this book. For sometime I have been told by many readers how much they enjoyed this book and now I wonder why it took me so long to pick up this title. Now I can only agree wholeheartedly with these readers and add my grateful appreciation to this author for writing such a wonderful book.Beginning in prewar China, we travel with Stephen a 20 year old man recuperating from tuberculosis, to his grandfathers beach house in Japan. Isolated from his family and friends in Hong Kong and his studies at the University, Stephens sole companion in Japan is Matsu, caretaker and gardener of the beach house. At first there relationship is strained and they have little in common. But as Stephen begins to paint and Matsu works in the garden, they begin to interact... read more

A beautiful masterpiece with the power to change lives

By A Customer - October 10, 1999

Gail Tsukiyama is a masterful and wondrous storyweaver. The tale of Stephen and Matsu-san is a wonderful story of life, love, acceptance, forgiveness, and the power of all living things. By the second section I was captivated by the strong and silent character Matsu-san. And as I heard the despair of Sachi-san's life, in the section of 'Spring', and the terror that she lived through, I could not keep the tears from falling. This book helped me realize so many things about myself. I find that it teaches so much as the legends of characters unfold. I will keep their stories close to my heart ALWAYS. I would reccommend this book to absolutely every person on the planet. It moved me soo much! It is not only my favorite book. It is like a sudden realization of life and what is most important in life.