Samurai Shortstop

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Overview

Tokyo, 1890. Toyo is caught up in the competitive world of boarding school, and must prove himself to make the team in a new sport called besuboru. But he grieves for his uncle, a samurai who sacrificed himself for his beliefs, at a time when most of Japan is eager to shed ancient traditions. It's only when his father decides to teach him the way of the samurai that Toyo grows to better understand his uncle and father. And to his surprise, the warrior training guides him to excel at baseball, a sport his father despises as yet another modern Western menace. Toyo searches desperately for a way to prove there is a place for his family's samurai values in modern Japan. Baseball might just be the answer, but will his father
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Overview

Tokyo, 1890. Toyo is caught up in the competitive world of boarding school, and must prove himself to make the team in a new sport called besuboru. But he grieves for his uncle, a samurai who sacrificed himself for his beliefs, at a time when most of Japan is eager to shed ancient traditions. It's only when his father decides to teach him the way of the samurai that Toyo grows to better understand his uncle and father. And to his surprise, the warrior training guides him to excel at baseball, a sport his father despises as yet another modern Western menace. Toyo searches desperately for a way to prove there is a place for his family's samurai values in modern Japan. Baseball might just be the answer, but will his father ever accept a “Western” game that stands for everything he despises?

Editorial Reviews

Booklist
"A memorable chronicle of boys' inhumanity to boys, and a testament to enduring values in a time of social change."
From The Critics
Debut novelist Gratz uses baseball to tell the story of Japan's tumultuous transition from 19th-century feudalism to 20th-century Westernized society. In the harrowing first chapter, 15-year-old Toyo witnesses his uncle commit seppuku ritual suicide rather than renounce his samurai lifestyle as the emperor has ordered. As required by custom, Toyo's father decapitates his brother, and Toyo must watch because, his father says, "Soon you will do the same for me." Toyo then begins life at Ichiko, Tokyo's most elite boarding school, haunted by the image of his father tossing his uncle's head onto the funeral pyre. The violence soon becomes more personal, as Ichiko's upper classmen conduct vicious hazing rituals to keep the first-years in line. His father arrives daily to instruct Toyo in bushido the "samurai code" which includes sword-fighting but also meditation and flower arranging. Toyo channels these skills into his passion for a new sport introduced by American gaijin besuboru. Into this well-researched period piece, Gratz drops a few anachronistic sports cliches, climaxing with a Big Game against a team of Americans. Though Toyo finds a way to use the samurai values his father has taught him, his leadership skills don't develop enough for him to protest or withdraw from aiding the enforcement of a brutal punishment against a boy who has strayed from Ichiko's harsh rules, undermining the sympathy readers may have developed for him. Still, this is an intense read about a fascinating time and place in world history. Ages 12-up. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780803730755
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 5/18/2006
  • Pages: 288
  • Age range: 12 - 17 Years
  • Lexile: 790L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 5.78 (w) x 8.62 (h) x 1.14 (d)

Meet the Author

Alan Gratz lives in Avondale Estates, Georgia.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter Seventeen

"All right," Junzo said. "So Mt. Fuji can catch. How is he with a bat?"

"What's a bat?" Fuji asked.

Toyo grimaced and waved off the question for later. "He's a quick learner," Toyo explained. "He'll be fine."

"He better be," Moriyama said. "We've got three games coming up soon."

The Ichiko fielders took their positions, and Toyo handed Fuji a bat and ball. Fuji tested the weight of the bat in his massive hands.

"What we need you to do," Toyo told him, "is to stand here and hit the ball to the fielders so they can practice. You toss the ball in the air and hit it. Got it?"

Toyo demonstrated, then went to his position at short. "Okay, Fuji. Just hit the ball on the ground like I showed you."

Fuji tossed the ball in the air and took a swing, missing the ball by a foot.

"It's okay," Toyo said, getting ready again. "You'll get the hang of it."

Fuji took another bad swing. And another. He wasn't anywhere close to the ball. He finally made contact on his next swing, knocking the ball a whole yard and a half in front of him, where it died meekly in the grass.

"Experiment over," Junzo said.

Fuji set the bat down on the ground and bowed. "Thank you for the opportunity."

"Wait, wait, wait." Toyo ran in from short. "All right, so hitting is a little harder than catching. You need a few pointers is all."

"Great," Junzo sneered. "Now Mt. Fuji is going to get batting lessons from a girl who can't hit the ball out of the infield."

"Don't worry," Toyo told Fuji. "He's like that to everybody. Now here, watch. You're wasting too much swing. It's all about economy of movement."

Toyo took the bat and mimicked Fuji's swing.

"You're also not using your hips. You must swing with your arms and your body. Like this."

After five hundred swings of the bokkoto, Toyo was able to imitate the stance from his bushido practice without even thinking about it. He stepped forward into a downward swing, slicing the air while his hips and arms moved together. Though his arms ached, he felt a power he had never experienced before.

"Moriyama, throw me a ball."

"Come on, this isn't batting practice," Junzo complained.

"He needs to see how to hit," Kennichi argued.

Moriyama went into his windup and delivered a fastball down the heart of the plate. Toyo marshaled his strength for one good swing. In his mind, the bat became a bokkoto and the ball was his father.

Thwack! Toyo drove the ball well into right field.

"Wow, when did you learn to hit?" Moriyama asked.

Toyo stared at his bat.

"Let's see him do it twice before we give him a medal," said Junzo.

Moriyama got the ball back and Toyo got set again. "Elbows in, step forward, swing with the body," Toyo muttered to himself, trying to remember everything his father had taught him. "Keep your arms tight, stay focused, and . . ."

The ball zipped over the plate.

"Swing through," Toyo said, whacking the ball back up the middle. Katsuya dove, but the ball rocketed through into center field.

Wearily giddy, Toyo laughed. He suddenly understood what had drawn him to baseball in the first place-why he and the others loved the game so much. At its heart, baseball was Japanese. How else to explain the samurai nature of this game? It was at the same time both modern and ancient, mental and physical.

Customer Reviews
Average Rating 4.5
( 9 )

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 1, 2008

    How long has Japan loved baseball? You might be shocked at the answer!

    It is the classic tale of old traditions run solidly into change and progress. Ironically, Alan Gratz¿s story is set in Japan in 1890. With deft, this author introduces us to the timeless characters of Toyo Shimada, his father, and a series of friends and nemeses (including United States personages). As Toyo struggles to adapt to the rigors of Ichiko and the hazing that are a part of the process, he also has to make decisions about how he will respond to the new classless society that Emperor Meiji is attempting to promulgate. This book was as educational as entertaining. In his author¿s note, Mr. Gratz includes a list of his sources as well as the history that supports his efforts to remain true to the kinds of activities that were happening at the time in which the book is set. There were many fascinating pieces¿including the fact that baseball has had almost as long and distinguished a history in Japan as it has had in the United States. This book surprised me with its depth and richness. I highly recommend it to anyone who is teaching courses on diversity and tolerance as well as anyone teaching world history.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 31, 2012

    Samurai Review

    This book is about a high schooler in Japan that attends the best school in the nation. He is on the baseball club, and this book is about how he goes through the year with all of the mean upper class-men. I liked his great problem solving skills throughout the year at his high school. It was also fun watching the ways he practiced playing baseball and also practicing bushido. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes baseball, or is interested in the way of samurai.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 27, 2011

    A real page turner

    Im onlyba sophomore in high school but this book was interesting anyone would want to read it!!

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 22, 2008

    who knew that baseball was so old

    this book, samuai shortstop, is about this boy named toyo who plays baseball in japan in the 1800's. it's a book about bullying and it's about taking responsibility i liked how toyo ignored the headmaster and did what he believed in. there are funny parts and some parts that souldn't be there {like when the senior beat up the little kids.} overall it was an okay book. people who like baseball, this is the book for you.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 18, 2007

    The best book i have ever read

    This is probably the best book ever written. there is a mix of everything. Drama, action, and havoc. Gratz has done it again. I would say that this is the best book i have ever read.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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    Posted July 14, 2011

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    Posted January 31, 2012

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    Posted January 26, 2010

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    Posted December 5, 2008

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