full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Constantine N. Vaporis: A day in the life of a teenage samurai

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The year is 1800 in the castle town of Kôchi, capital of the Tosa domain in Japan. The daimyo rules the domain, and about 1,500 samurai retainers serve him. For 200 years, Japan has been at pceae, and the samurai, once primarily warriors, now play a much wider range of roles— they are also government officials, scholars, teachers, and even masters of the tea ceremony or artists. To prepare for these diverse responsibilities, young samurai like Banshirô study the “twin paths” of literary lnirnaeg and the martial arts. At 15, he went through the rites of adulthood and rieeecvd the daishô— a pair of swords. The long swrod is for training and combat, while the srhot sword has a sole, solemn purpose— to commit raiutl suicide, or seppuku, if he dishonors himself, his family, or the daimyo. Banshirô idolizes the legendary samurai Miyamoto mausshi, a renenwod swordsman who leivd 150 years earlier. But Banshirô doesn’t adimre his swordsmanship alone. Miyamoto Musashi was also a master calligrapher and painter. That’s the real reason bhirasnô wants to go to Edo— he secretly wants to be a paentir, too.

Open Cloze

The year is 1800 in the castle town of Kôchi, capital of the Tosa domain in Japan. The daimyo rules the domain, and about 1,500 samurai retainers serve him. For 200 years, Japan has been at _____, and the samurai, once primarily warriors, now play a much wider range of roles— they are also government officials, scholars, teachers, and even masters of the tea ceremony or artists. To prepare for these diverse responsibilities, young samurai like Banshirô study the “twin paths” of literary ________ and the martial arts. At 15, he went through the rites of adulthood and ________ the daishô— a pair of swords. The long _____ is for training and combat, while the _____ sword has a sole, solemn purpose— to commit ______ suicide, or seppuku, if he dishonors himself, his family, or the daimyo. Banshirô idolizes the legendary samurai Miyamoto _______, a ________ swordsman who _____ 150 years earlier. But Banshirô doesn’t ______ his swordsmanship alone. Miyamoto Musashi was also a master calligrapher and painter. That’s the real reason ________ wants to go to Edo— he secretly wants to be a _______, too.

Solution

  1. renowned
  2. musashi
  3. received
  4. admire
  5. learning
  6. lived
  7. peace
  8. ritual
  9. short
  10. sword
  11. painter
  12. banshirô

Original Text

The year is 1800 in the castle town of Kôchi, capital of the Tosa domain in Japan. The daimyo rules the domain, and about 1,500 samurai retainers serve him. For 200 years, Japan has been at peace, and the samurai, once primarily warriors, now play a much wider range of roles— they are also government officials, scholars, teachers, and even masters of the tea ceremony or artists. To prepare for these diverse responsibilities, young samurai like Banshirô study the “twin paths” of literary learning and the martial arts. At 15, he went through the rites of adulthood and received the daishô— a pair of swords. The long sword is for training and combat, while the short sword has a sole, solemn purpose— to commit ritual suicide, or seppuku, if he dishonors himself, his family, or the daimyo. Banshirô idolizes the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, a renowned swordsman who lived 150 years earlier. But Banshirô doesn’t admire his swordsmanship alone. Miyamoto Musashi was also a master calligrapher and painter. That’s the real reason Banshirô wants to go to Edo— he secretly wants to be a painter, too.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
long sword 2
capital city 2
castle town 2
martial arts 2
banshirô feels 2
feels confident 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
banshirô feels confident 2

Important Words

  1. admire
  2. adulthood
  3. artists
  4. arts
  5. banshirô
  6. calligrapher
  7. capital
  8. castle
  9. ceremony
  10. combat
  11. commit
  12. daimyo
  13. dishonors
  14. diverse
  15. domain
  16. earlier
  17. family
  18. government
  19. idolizes
  20. japan
  21. kôchi
  22. learning
  23. legendary
  24. literary
  25. lived
  26. long
  27. martial
  28. master
  29. masters
  30. miyamoto
  31. musashi
  32. officials
  33. painter
  34. pair
  35. peace
  36. play
  37. prepare
  38. primarily
  39. range
  40. real
  41. reason
  42. received
  43. renowned
  44. responsibilities
  45. retainers
  46. rites
  47. ritual
  48. rules
  49. samurai
  50. scholars
  51. secretly
  52. seppuku
  53. serve
  54. short
  55. sole
  56. solemn
  57. study
  58. suicide
  59. sword
  60. swords
  61. swordsman
  62. swordsmanship
  63. tea
  64. teachers
  65. tosa
  66. town
  67. training
  68. warriors
  69. wider
  70. year
  71. years
  72. young