A Daughter of the Samurai · Chapter
The Old and the New explained
The narrator recalls her first taste of meat at age eight, a forbidden food due to Buddhist vegetarianism, and the household's solemn reaction.
What happens
The narrator recalls her first taste of meat at age eight, a forbidden food due to Buddhist vegetarianism, and the household's solemn reaction. Her father, following a Western doctor's advice, introduces meat for health, leading to the sealing of both family shrines to prevent pollution. Grandmother refuses to eat, preferring ancestral ways. The chapter then shifts to Mr. Toda, a progressive samurai who ventures into dairy and butcher businesses after the Restoration, facing social horror and family disgrace. His grandmother commits suicide to uphold family honor, and Mr. Toda eventually abandons the business, becoming a guard, then a teacher, and finally a Go instructor in Tokyo, unable to find a place in the rapidly modernizing society.
Themes in this chapter
Tradition vs. Modernity
The chapter vividly contrasts the old ways (Buddhist vegetarianism, samurai honor) with new Western influences (meat-eating, business ventures), showing the painful friction within families and society.
Samurai Code and Honor
Mr. Toda's struggle to maintain dignity while adapting to new roles, and his mother's suicide to uphold family honor, exemplify the samurai code's clash with modernity.
Family and Ancestral Duty
The sealing of shrines, Grandmother's refusal to eat meat, and the Toda grandmother's sacrifice all highlight the deep sense of duty to ancestors and family honor.
Cultural Transition and Identity
The narrator's secret enjoyment of meat while loving Grandmother reflects the personal conflict of cultural transition, as Japan shifts from isolation to Westernization.
Characters to notice
- Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto
Recalls her first taste of meat at age eight and her secret enjoyment of it, despite loyalty to Grandmother.
- Honourable Grandmother
Saddened by the introduction of meat, seals the shrines, refuses to eat, and laments the loss of ancestral traditions.
- Father
Orders the household to eat meat on a physician's advice, seeking strength and Western-style health for his family.
- Mother
Appears thoughtful and solemn, giving directions to maids about the meat's arrival.
- Mr. Toda
A progressive samurai who starts a dairy and butcher business after the Restoration, faces family tragedy, and later becomes a guard, teacher, and Go instructor.
- Shiro
The narrator's father's big white dog, used by the narrator in a playful archery scene.
- Hanano
The narrator's sister, with whom she secretly discusses liking the taste of meat.
Key passages
“The introduction of foreign food helped greatly to break down the wall of tradition which shut our people away from the world of the West, but sometimes the change was made at a great cost.”
Western food opened Japan to outside influence, but the transition often came with painful sacrifices.
Reflects the central tension of the chapter between progress and tradition.
“The proud old grandmother of the Toda house, feeling keenly what in her eyes was disgrace to the family name, chose the only way to right a wrong that a helpless Japanese knows—sacrifice.”
The Toda grandmother, unable to bear the shame brought by her son's business, committed suicide to restore family honor.
Illustrates the extreme lengths to which traditional values could drive individuals.
“It is more becoming for me to follow the path of our ancestors.”
Grandmother prefers to stay true to the old ways rather than adopt Western customs.
Shows the generational divide in adapting to change.
