Young Samurai: The Way of the Sword Young Samurai: The Way of the Sword Young Samurai: The Way of the Sword is a children's historical novel by Chris Bradford, published in 2009. It is the second in a series of action-adventure stories set in 17th century Japan following the exploits of an English boy, Jack Fletcher, as he strives to be the first gaijin samurai. The first book is titled "" (2008) and the third in the series is "" (2010). After a vicious ninja attack left him orphaned and stranded in Japan, Jack Fletcher managed to complete his first year of samurai school. Still, his troubles
Japanese sword is the Japanese martial art of using the nihontō in combat. The nihontō was primarily a cutting weapon, or more specifically, a slicing one. Its moderate curve, however, allowed for effective thrusting as well. The hilt was held with two hands, though a fair amount of one-handed techniques exist. The placement of the right hand was dictated by both the length of the handle and the length of the wielder's arm. Two other martial arts were developed specifically for training to draw the sword and attack in one motion. They are "battōjutsu" and "iaijutsu", which are superficially similar, but do