Japanese names usually consist of a family name (surname) followed by a given name, unlike in the Western world where the given name comes before the surname. In feudal Japan, names reflected a person’s social status and spiritual beliefs. Also, when addressing someone, san is added to that person’s surname (or given names in less formal situations) as a sign of courtesy, in the same way that we use Mr or Mrs in English, and for higher-status people sama is used. In Japan, sensei is usually added after a person’s name if they are a teacher, although in the Young Samurai books a traditional English order has been retained. Boys and girls are usually addressed using kun and chan, respectively.

Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This story is written as a homage to the film Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, one of the greatest directors of Japanese samurai movies. If you have the opportunity, I recommend that you watch all his films. The Hidden Fortress inspired George Lucas’s Star Wars. Yojimbo (The Bodyguard) was the basis for Clint Eastwood’s classic western A Fistful of Dollars. Seven Samurai was remade as a western too – The Magnificent Seven. Likewise, Kurosawa’s films have greatly influenced my passion for all things samurai and have been a source of inspiration for my Young Samurai novels. For that I sincerely thank him. Arigatō gozaimashita.

With the sixth title in this series, my list of people to thank grows ever longer. My gratitude goes out to all my fans, teachers and librarians. Without your support, these books could never happen.

I wish to express my continued appreciation of Shannon Park, my editor, and all at Puffin for their hard work and endless enthusiasm for the Young Samurai series – Wendy Tse, Helen Gray, Vanessa Godden, Julie Teece, Jayde Lynch, Sara Flavell and Paul Young (for his fantastic covers!).

I also must thank Charlie Viney, a great agent and an even greater friend, as well as Franca Bernatavicius and Nicki Kennedy, my overseas agents at ILA, for their passion and enthusiasm.

And, most importantly, my family – thank you for all your support and encouragement, especially my mum and dad, my godparents Ann and Andrew Smeeton, Sue and Simon Mole, Steve and Sam, my wife Sarah and my son, Zach, to whom this book is dedicated.

If I have one lesson for you in life, my son, it is ‘No man is a failure who has friends’.

And so I want to thank my friends for their support of me …