Lesson Plan - The Greatest Samurai Battle

Build Background Knowledge

Have students use Junior Scholastic’s interactive atlas and almanac to research Japan. Direct them to visit junior.scholastic.com/atlas, zoom in on Japan, and click its name. Ask students to write three sentences with facts about Japan. Use Think-Pair-Share to discuss responses.

Preview Vocabulary

Use the online Skill Builder Words to Know to preteach the domain-specific terms commodore, democracy, formidable, martial art, meditation, veteran, World War II, and Zen Buddhism. Ask students to rate their knowledge of each term using a four-point scale: 1—I’ve never heard it; 2—I’ve heard it, but I’m not sure what it means; 3—I think I know what it means; 4—I could explain it to someone else. Have students read all the definitions and write sentences using two terms they feel less confident about. Students should refer to the Skill Builder as they read.

Read the Article

Read the article aloud or have students read it independently or in pairs. As students read, direct them to underline or highlight details about how Miyamoto Musashi was different before and after his battle with Sasaki Kojiro.

Answer Close-Reading Questions

Have students write their responses, or use the Close-Reading Questions to guide a discussion.

• Who was Miyamoto Musashi? What did he have in common with Sasaki Kojiro, and how was he different? (Compare and Contrast)
Musashi was a young masterless member of Japan’s great warrior class, the samurai. He moved around the country by himself and was said to have won his first sword fight at age 13. Kojiro was also a samurai and was known as the Demon of the Western Provinces. He was a respected martial arts teacher on the island of Kyushu. In 1612, he was older and more famous than Musashi.

• Summarize the section “The Way of the Warrior.” (Summarizing)
For hundreds of years, Japan experienced nearly constant conflict between warlords called daimyo. They commanded armies of samurai, elite warriors who were skilled in the martial arts. Samurai were known as “those who serve” and were expected to follow a code of conduct called bushido. Historian Michael Wert says the code included being sincere, working hard, and having a sense of obligation to one’s daimyo. The centuries of warfare ended in 1603, when Tokugawa Ieyasu took control of most of Japan. As Japan settled into a period of relative peace for about 260 years, the role of the samurai changed. Many of them moved into towns and took on roles in local government. However, some of them were left without homes when their daimyo died or had their land taken. Known as ronin, these masterless samurai moved around Japan looking for food, work, and fights.

• What happened during the famous samurai battle of 1612? (Key Details)
Musashi had won almost 60 battles without a single loss and was looking for a formidable opponent. Kojiro had agreed to fight him on an island off the coast of Kyushu. According to legend, Musashi slept in that morning and kept Kojiro waiting. On his way to the island, he carved a wooden sword from an oar that was bigger than Kojiro’s 3-foot steel sword. Angry about being kept waiting for hours, Kojiro struck at Musashi hastily. His sword sliced through Musashi’s headband. Musashi struck back and knocked Kojiro to the ground. After dodging Kojiro’s sword, Musashi brought his sword down with all his strength, killing Kojiro.

• How does the map “Japan in 1603” support the article? (Text Features)
The map shows Japan during the Tokugawa period, during which Musashi lived. At the time, Japan was made up of three main islands, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu. The map shows Edo, where Musashi settled for a time during his mid-20s. The map also shows where he fought Kojiro and where he lived in a cave during his old age. Additionally, the map shows the island Hokkaido, which is now part of Japan but wasn’t in 1603.

• Why might Musashi have “felt a kind of remorse” about the battle with Kojiro? (Making Inferences)
Musashi might have felt remorse for having killed such a famous and important samurai. His biographer, William Scott Wilson, says Musashi never fought another battle to the death. Although many people wanted Musashi to teach them sword fighting, he increasingly focused on other samurai disciplines, like painting, garden design, and meditation. Before his death in 1645 at about the age of 62, Musashi lived alone in a cave.

• How did the samurai era come to an end? How do their legends live on today? (Analyzing Events)
The samurai era officially came to an end in 1868, when new leaders abolished the samurai class. In the years before, Japan had become open to Western influences after Commodore Matthew Perry sailed to Japan in 1853 and negotiated a trade agreement between Japan and the United States. Years of poverty and unrest culminated in the 1868 revolution that got rid of shoguns and samurai. For decades, Japanese people wanted to look forward rather than back at the samurai. However, after Japan lost World War II in 1945, its people began to look back fondly at the warriors. Musashi lives on as a kind of superhero in Japanese culture, memorialized in many movies, books, and video games. People in Japan and other countries still read The Book of Five Rings, which Musashi wrote in old age. Legends of Musashi and other samurai live on in movies like The Hidden Fortress and the Star Wars series, as well as in anime (cartoons) and manga (comics) like Demon Slayer.

Cite Text Evidence

Guide students to complete the Skill Spotlight activity at the end of the article. Help them cite evidence by directly quoting or paraphrasing details. If they need more support, use the Skill Builder Quote vs. Paraphrase from the Graphic Organizer Library at junior.scholastic.com/library.

Analyze a Primary Source

Assign the Skill Builder Primary Source: The Rhythm of Martial Arts to have students read an excerpt from Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings. Guide them to answer the questions independently or in pairs, then discuss students’ responses.

Assess Comprehension

Assign the 10-question Know the News quiz, available in PDF and interactive forms. You can also use Quiz Wizard to assess comprehension of this article and three others from the issue.