Read real Japanese history — one sentence at a time.
This fully revised and expanded edition takes three essays from Japan's warrior past and breaks them down so upper beginners (JLPT N4-N3) can actually read them:
The Three Warlords Who Unified Japan — Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu, and the famous cuckoo poems that capture each man in a single line.
Sakamoto Ryoma, the Reformer — the low-ranking samurai who helped end the shogunate and open the door to modern Japan.
Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's Greatest Swordsman — including the duel at Ganryujima, won with a wooden sword carved from an oar.
Every sentence gets its own page: furigana on all kanji, a complete vocabulary list with grammar notes, and cultural notes and maps of Japan where they help.
New in this edition:
• Before You Read primers — historical background and grammar patterns to watch for, so you start each essay oriented.
• Grammar Spotlights & Cultural Notes — short boxed explanations right where you need them.
• Review & Practice — true/false, comprehension, particle, and translation exercises for every story, with a complete answer key.
• Kanji in Focus — one page per key kanji: stroke-order diagram, readings, component parts, and a memory hook.
• Makoto+ app access — every sentence in this book is also in the free Makoto+ Sentence Explorer (web, iOS, Android). Tap any sentence to hear the audio, see word-by-word breakdowns, and quiz yourself with built-in games.
Still included free:
• Native-speaker audio at two speeds — natural pace and slow & clear — recorded by a professionally trained radio announcer.
• Anki flashcard decks for all the vocabulary.
• PDF and EPUB editions.
Work through each essay with the definitions, then reread the full Japanese text without helps, test yourself, and check your understanding against the English summary. If a passage feels tough, the vocabulary notes and Anki deck will get you through it.
Questions about the book or Japanese in general? Our email is inside and we answer personally.
