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
- renowned
- musashi
- received
- admire
- learning
- lived
- peace
- ritual
- short
- sword
- painter
- 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 |
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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
- admire
- adulthood
- artists
- arts
- banshirô
- calligrapher
- capital
- castle
- ceremony
- combat
- commit
- daimyo
- dishonors
- diverse
- domain
- earlier
- family
- government
- idolizes
- japan
- kôchi
- learning
- legendary
- literary
- lived
- long
- martial
- master
- masters
- miyamoto
- musashi
- officials
- painter
- pair
- peace
- play
- prepare
- primarily
- range
- real
- reason
- received
- renowned
- responsibilities
- retainers
- rites
- ritual
- rules
- samurai
- scholars
- secretly
- seppuku
- serve
- short
- sole
- solemn
- study
- suicide
- sword
- swords
- swordsman
- swordsmanship
- tea
- teachers
- tosa
- town
- training
- warriors
- wider
- year
- years
- young