Heart of a Samurai

Manjiro’s time on the ship is miserable. The food is poor, and he is shunned by most sailors other than Mr. Aken, a friend from the John Howland and son of the Whitfields’ family friends. Rather than look for whales, Manjiro looks for Japan’s coastline, to the bewilderment of Daniel, the young, inquisitive green hand that works with him. They see no whales, but they do see a school of fish and a Japanese fishing boat.

Manjiro puts on his Japanese clothes and sails out to speak to the fishermen. They try to exchange fish with him, and Manjiro realizes they speak different dialects and cannot understand each other. Manjiro begs the fishermen to take him home or at least take a letter to his mother, but they refuse and sail away. Manjiro, devastated, returns to the Franklin.

Captain Davis accuses Manjiro of deserting the Franklin and refuses to acknowledge that he said he would let Manjiro return home. He furiously accuses Manjiro of theft and tells him that he will punish him for desertion if he tries to leave the ship again.

A year passes, and the whale hunt continues to be fruitless. The ship gets stuck in a doldrum, and the crew tries to row out of it. The sailors and Manjiro are in a depressive state, albeit for different reasons. Davis has grown increasingly unstable, punishing sailors with a whip and threatening them with a musket when things do not go his way.

Davis accuses Manjiro of being a “Jonah,” or bad luck, and decides to pitch him into the sea. Before he can, a giant sea turtle appears. Manjiro jumps into the ocean after it. He catches it, and it drags him into the depths. He remembers the story of Urashima Taro, a fisherman who was taken to an underwater princess by a turtle. He relates to the story as the fisherman wanted to return home, and he realizes he wants to live and return home. He cuts the turtle’s throat and returns to the surface, where the crew—except for Davis—celebrate his catch.

The doldrums end, and the sailors plan for action. Jolly tells Manjiro that his warning was about Davis and confides that he is planning a mutiny. Davis then threatens everyone with his musket and accuses Manjiro of planning to steal a whaleboat, which Manjiro clumsily denies. Davis then orders Manjiro to steal one, and Manjiro is confused and reluctant, not wanting to lower a boat alone in the dark, open ocean. Davis aims his musket at him.

Manjiro grows angry with Davis and decides to act as he believes Whitfield would by sharply correcting him. Davis tells him to be silent. Manjiro grows angrier and releases his emotions about his harsh treatment. He declares, “I’ll have my say!” (220) and accuses Davis of tricking him and the others. The sailors wrestle Davis to the ground and take his musket, and then they suddenly see whales. Aken, the first mate, reminds the men that mutiny is punishable by death but agrees that Davis is no longer fit to captain. They choose new officers and set out to catch the whales. Manjiro becomes a harpooner. He is supported by Jolly, who expresses reluctant admiration for him.

Manjiro takes the harpoon and contemplates how different everything feels from when he first joined a whaleboat—when he was disgusted at killing a whale. He releases the harpoon and realizes, “The whale’s spout would gush blood until the water became thick with it; his blow hole would choke with blood; he would bellow in pain, thrash, and die” (227). Manjiro, overwhelmed, decides he no longer wants to be a whaler. He decides that he will return to Japan and work to overcome prejudices on both sides so America and Japan can develop a relationship.

In Suriname, Manjiro buys a parrot for William Henry, who is now five years old. He names the parrot Tori, or “bird” in Japanese. Manjiro, now 22, has been on the ship for four years. He overhears news of the Gold Rush and plans to return to Massachusetts and then find gold to fund his journey back to Japan.

Upon returning to America, Manjiro realizes the captain and his wife have aged. They express pride in him for his accomplishments but then inform him that William Henry died of fever. Manjiro is devastated by the news and cannot bring himself to leave the house; he and the parrot, both far from home, begin to decline.

Terry finds Manjiro and drags him to the “portrait man,” or a photographer. Terry cannot hold still for the portrait, frustrating the photographer and making Manjiro laugh; the portrait comes out blurry. Terry declares that he is going to California to strike gold and that Manjiro is coming with him. Manjiro is reluctant but realizes the money from the Franklin might get him to California even if it cannot get him to Japan. Realizing he cannot remember his mother’s face, he decides to go to California with Terry.

Terry and Manjiro take a steamship to Sacramento. Manjiro is delighted by the steamship technology, while Terry can only think of gold and becoming rich. They stake a claim at a river and pan for gold. Manjiro finds fool’s gold, and the other miners mock him. Strengthened by years at sea, Manjiro pans for gold without losing hope, even as other miners give up and leave, driven out by dysentery and failure. Manjiro eventually finds a large lump of gold and realizes he and his friends can go home.

As he sets off for Japan, Manjiro writes Whitfield a letter saying that he is his best friend and hopes he will never forget him. Manjiro reunites with his Japanese friends and takes them in a boat he purchased, the Adventurer, to the Japanese coast. Much has changed: Jusuke has died, and Toraemon refuses to come. The journey is plagued by storms and ice. Goemon, who hates the sea, complains constantly. Despite the setbacks, they eventually reach Japan.

Villagers welcome them, timidly giving them sweet potatoes and rice. Soon after, however, officials appear and arrest them. They journey in the rain for hours. Manjiro maintains hope that they can go home when they prove they mean no harm.

Manjiro and the others are kept in a relatively humane prison, and Manjiro spends time learning to read and write in Japanese. Officials constantly interrogate them. Eventually, Manjiro is invited to speak to the daimyo, Lord Nariakira. Manjiro bows to him, and the daimyo demands information about America. Manjiro begins relating trivial details but eventually realizes Nariakira wants to know about technology and America’s capacity for war. Manjiro gains confidence and advocates for America, insisting that they will not attack Japan and that they simply want a harbor. Nariakira notes that the weather is changing and is emotionless when Manjiro tells him that the world is changing for the better, too.

The fishermen are transported to Nagasaki, where they are imprisoned and cruelly treated. They are further interrogated and forced to renounce Christianity but are treated worse after doing so. Other prisoners inform them that the shogunate is collapsing, and the fishermen realize they do not know what their country is like anymore.

The fishermen are freed and told not to talk about the West. Manjiro returns home, noticing the cultural differences from the West and eventually the differences in himself—as he is now dressed in formal clothes. He is worried that his family will be gone, but he finds his home intact and his mother alive. She touches his face, and his siblings welcome him. They feast, and Manjiro gives them the few gifts he was able to secure. He gives his mother dozens of shells from the places he traveled, and she is delighted by their beauty and variety, which he compares to the people of the world.

Manjiro wakes up in the night and contemplates the impermanence of culture and life. A messenger arrives and tells him to go to Kochi at a lord’s decree. The messenger says he will either be imprisoned or made a samurai; if the latter, the messenger notes, “Since he has neither the family nor the upbringing of a samurai, I hope he has the heart of one!” (274). Manjiro reflects that his heart might have become just that.

The Epilogue relates the rest of Manjiro’s life. The lord ordered him to teach English to young samurai. Soon after, Commodore Perry arrived and demanded access to Japan. The country was thrown into chaos, and Manjiro was appointed as a samurai, giving him a second name—Nakahama, after his hometown. It was unprecedented for a peasant to become a samurai. Manjiro successfully argued for Japan to end its isolationism.

Manjiro’s life was in danger due to suspicion over his ties to the West, but he achieved a variety of things: designing ships, translating between Japanese and English, teaching, and introducing Japanese sailors to whaling. He often wandered Tokyo wearing an eclectic mix of American and Japanese clothes and always ate an American breakfast. He took charge of a ship during a voyage to America when the captain became seasick. He visited the Whitfields again when he was 43; the relationship between the two families continues to this day.