“A Daughter of the Samurai” by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto was such an interesting book and written beautifully. Definitely recommend!

This memoir follows the life of a woman from the feudal north of Japan in the mid to late 19th century. We follow Etsu Sugimoto as she describes her life and the customs of her household and community. She eventually must go to Tokyo for education and eventually to America, where she will live with her husband.

This book would be a good read for someone interested in learning about the cultural transition that occurs after Japan’s borders were opened. It also explores how cultures collide, even within one’s own country.

Three and a half stars. It was a slow read for me, but it may be right up your alley. The writing is okay, I’m just not used to Eastern thought and expression. My thanks to Dreamscape Media via Netgalley.

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The book is written story-like with the actual story being the customs, traditions and expectations of a Japanese family. A move from Japan to America explores the mindset of both citizens in their respective countries. I would recommend knowing the definition of samurai and feudal.

I enjoyed the history of customs and traditions. I found the lack of touching interesting. And, refreshing was the importance of actions and words.

I felt like the book was too long. However, I went into this thinking story and actually received beautiful history lessons. The narrator was okay. There would have been more authenticity had there been a stronger accent.

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto for accepting my request to read and review A Daughter of the Samurai.

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I am reviewing an audiobook version of this book. The narrator did an excellent job. This book was an interesting look at the life of Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto. While I agree with other reviewers that Etsu seemed to be unaware of some of her privileges in life, her writing shows highlights ways that gender, race, class, and nationality affected people. This memoir was beautifully written, and I enjoyed the insight into Etsu's life and experiences.

I would like to thank Dreamscape media for providing me with an audiobook recording.

This story starts out as kind of a cozy read, which did make it a little difficult for me personally to get into BUT as the story went on, I loved hearing the stories portrayed in this audiobook and hearing the evolution of life.

This story starts out in the past -- I found it super interesting to read about the Samurai and political systems in rural Japan. Honestly, if you're anything like me (AKA educated in the USA where we don't learn nearly enough about other countries history) you might want to do a little outside research to really understand the cultural and historical context of this story.

A Daughter of the Samurai is A story about family and life as an immigrant to the USA. A story about redemption and women's roles. It was really interesting to read and honestly gave me what I wish I had gotten from 'Memoirs of a Geisha's (own voice, memoir, not made up story by a white guy).

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC in return for my honest review.

I tried to listen to this book. Picking it, and putting it down again. I just couldn’t connect to the MC and the narrating could have been more exciting. It would probably have been better if I read the book instead of listening to it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for me.

This is an autobiography written in 1925 by a fascinating woman who bridged Japanese and American cultures and who grew up in a very turbulent period in Japanese history. Much of the book is written in a way to help Americans understand Japanese culture and to describe what it meant to grew up in Japan as a young woman of status but then transplanted to a completely different way of living at a still fairly young age.

Etsu was born into the Inagaki clan in Nagaoka, Northern Japan - a cold snowy place where her Daimyo father and family had governed for the Shogunate for generations. But she was born just after the Meiji Restoration and rebellion had destroyed the Shogunate and sized the power from officials like her father. Although far away from Edo (Tokyo), her family were embroiled in the conflict, including having to burn down their ancestral estate and having her father imprisoned for many years.

Despite the conflict, she lived a quiet life of duty and honor, raised as the youngest daughter to eventually become a priestess. But fate has other plans for Etsu as her disgraced brother goes to America and finds a good friend there - a friend who needs a wife. At a young age she is Betrothed to Sugimoto in Cincinnatti - and will travel there to be a bride at age 14. It's a tall order for the young woman as she journeys to Tokyo in order to learn English and then eventually travel to the United States.

In America, she describes a lot of fun 'fish out of water' observations about the two societies and will eventually convert to Christianity and raise two children there until the death of her husband. The last portion of the book is her return with her young children to Japan and how her American-raised children find the confines of being a woman in Japan so different than the US.

The story is beautifully told from the perspective of a woman of high position who, even when she journeys to America, is still taken care of by high society peers. It means she has a protected but also positive outlook on everything, as befitting the daughter of a Daimyo Samurai. The book is mostly her observations on both cultures as well as her memories of life in Japan and then early life in America.

The book was timely in 1925, especially since 'orientalism' was at a high appeal. Most of the book takes place around 1890-1900. Through a modern lens, it is hard not to have a wry smile at observations that women of America were so much more 'powerful' compared to Japanese women and able to make their own decisions (at a time when American women couldn't have a bank account, vote, hold office, or even divorce their own husbands). Of course, comparisons of using furniture versus sitting on a cushion on the floor, hanging pictures on walls, and so much more make for great reading.

I listened to the 2021 audio version and the narrator was absolutely perfect - she really took on the personality of Etsu Sugimoto and made the autobiography that much more enjoyable and listenable. June Angela is best known from the 1970s as a member of the Electric Company and Pat Morita's daughter from his TV series. I highly recommend the audio version as a result - especially to hear all the Japanese words in native Japanese from a wonderful actress. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Delicately detailed account of the Meiji Restoration from the eyes of a young girl born to a noble family. The cultural insights and crossroads of the time are captured and interlaced with classic tales of shinto and buddhist lore. Straddling two major time periods and cultures, Mrs Sugimoto's biography leads up to her leaving for the United States to marry into a new life and culture where her curly hair is not scorned as it was in her country of origin.

The story flowed beautifully, and was incredibly captivating, and insightful. The perfect book for me to get completely and utterly lost in for a couple of days.

The narrator also did a lovely job.

A Daughter of the Samuri
By Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto

This is a remarkable and detailed story of redemption and understanding from the perspective of a child raised in Japan between the world's of feudalism and the modern nationalism of Japan. Talking about history not only of children and education but of women's roles, and honor. Beautiful ideas of historical changes and remarkable events before the World Wars. The book shares the stories of the home and mythology in a way that I haven't seen before. Allowing the western mind to see the history and the ideals of Japanese history, home life, and ideals. You see the history the respect of ancestors and the mark of the change on the culture. The reference of the historical stories that gives breath not only of Japanese history but of all history. The ghost story tells of the remarkable dedication that Japan has to honor. The story of precious treasures the history of the family and the knowledge of those not only to who came before but how they create our image of ourselves. The movement of the characters from Japan to America have a lasting affect on the next generation. Not only the change in education, but the acceptance of the roles of women, and the family.

A Daughter of the Samurai gives you the ability to experience the life through the eyes of a Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto. You'll be transported to walk alongside her earlier life going through the Meiji era in Japan to her life in the United States.

I found the earlier chapters most interesting. The details of her day to day life with the influence of the Samurai really grabbed my interests.
Etsu does a phenomenal job to convey the tumultuous cultural transformation of a traditional, feudal life into the modern materialism of the West.

While this book was originally published in 1925, I throughly enjoyed being able to listen to this book for the first time via audiobook. June Angela was the perfect choice to narrator this story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for giving me access to this audiobook in exchange for a honest review.

June Angela’s reading of this classic story is absolutely amazing.

I love women’s historical accounts, there’s no better way to learn than to hear about how they lived their lives and experienced the world. I learned a ton about the traditional training of daughters in feudal Japan, and the culture shock of American traditions when contrasted with that kind of upbringing.

Sugimoto’s story is one of the best nonfictions I’ve read all year. I cannot believe how strong she was, how readily she accepted the challenges life threw at her and the way she handled them with dignity and grace. This is definitely an audiobook I’ll be revisiting time and time again.

I highly recommend this book, even if you’re not a nonfiction fan you’ll enjoy this.

Etsu is absolutely fascinating! She tells us all about life growing up as a samurai's daughter in Japan and what immigrating to America in the late 1800's was like for her. She has tons of wonderful stories and seems to have been a very delightful woman. June Angela does a beautiful job of narrating and the story is fun and easy to listen to.

I wasn't able to finish this. It just didn't hold my attention; I wasn't motivated to continue. It needed a more intriguing beginning.

A Daughter of the Samurai was an interesting peek into a life very unlike my own. The story shared a perspective unfamiliar to me and helped to remind me once again how varied the lives of people can be. I appreciated the author's simple, beautiful discussion of her experiences and of the cultural traditions that form who we are, inviting us as readers to explore along with her.
June Angela did a perfect job narrating the audiobook!

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.