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The year was 1765, I was on a ship, and I did not know where I was going. Everything was dark, my body was sore, and my brain was tired. I missed home. I missed mother yelling at brother and me to watch where we step and to stop teasing our sister. I wished I was back in the village; I hate this. I felt the boat come to a stop and so did everyone else One woman who was holding two of her children looked so malnourished that I could see the bones right through her skin. The man next to me said, “We are going to the new world.” I wasn’t sure what village he was from, but he did speak the same language as me. Little did he know we were not going to the new world, we were going to Asia, to be specific, Japan.
We were put into two lines: women and men, children were separated from their parents and taken somewhere unknown. Those children never saw their mothers again, just like me. Women were screaming for their children while the men told them to be quiet so the white men would not harm them. We were all going to be harmed at some point; it was just a matter of time. We got off the ship and from there we were taken to smaller ships. I wasn’t sure where we were, but someone said India; the white men were everywhere though. When I was put onto a smaller ship, the man conducting it was not white; he had pale skin but was not a white man at all. He asked us if we would like pieces of the fruit he was eating. I took a piece and decided to sit on the back of the boat There were about ten other men on the boat with me. I was so tired, so when the boat took off, I fell asleep, dreaming of home.
I was born in the year 1705 or maybe 1706, I wasn’t sure; we did not keep record in the village. My mother and father named me Mandla Dlamini. I was supposed to grow up big and strong like my father and become a fisherman. The village relied on fish from the big stream that flowed through the center of our huts. Men would be out all day, working hard to provide fish for their families, and the wives would be out working on the gardens. Each family had a garden and would trade with each other for specific foods. We never left the village, if we did, we would most likely never come back. That’s what happened to me.
On my 18th birthday I wanted to see what was out there; I was too curious to consider that it was dangerous. I stayed up all night, and when it sounded like everyone was asleep, I left my house. I wanted to go see the ocean, the men in my village would talk about it as if it was the best part of their lives; I needed to go. When I got to the harbor there were so many people there. The colonizers had taken over, and the next thing I knew, these men were shouting at me, and I was running. In our village, I was the fastest boy, but these men had horses. Next thing I knew I was stuck in a line with other men who were about my age, and we were being loaded onto a boat.
When we all were taken off the tiny boat, things were different. There were trees that looked beautiful, nothing like I had seen before. Everyone was dressed in clothing from head to toe, it was shiny. I would later find out that it was silk that everyone was wearing, and that I too would be wearing. We were taken into a building that must have been a palace; it was so big, and gold was everywhere. As we walked in, we were lined up in front of a couple of steps. There were only six men left now.
A man walked out and stood on top of those gold shiny stairs in front of me. The man started by saying, “I am Emperor Go-Sakuramachi. You have been brought here to become my samurai.” After the man finished speaking, he quickly left. I felt so confused and did not know what a samurai was, so how could I become one? All six of us followed these three men who wore this strange armor, and the next thing that happened changed my entire life.
It had been months, at least I thought so. I now wore the armor that the rest of the men around me wore, and on top of that, I knew what a samurai was. I follow a code, where I must put the emperor’s life before my own. I learned a good amount of the Japanese language; they also taught me how to read. When I was a child, I always wanted to be a magical being; I would play with the younger boys, and now it felt like I was one. I carried a sword on me; it was heavy, but I could wield it with force. However, I was treated differently along with the other five men that came with me. We all shared a large space for living, and we did not get paid like the other samurai.
One morning we woke up from a terrible stench and found that our living quarters were on fire. As we quickly put on our armor, we ran straight outside to see who did this. It was a rebel group of ex-warriors. These men had been creating chaos in the town for months. Whenever we tried to catch them, they would flee to the mountains, but not this time. All six of us were wearing old armor; it was from the Miyoshi Clan. We felt like true warriors.
As we stepped outside there were eight men and six of us. We did not know how we would defeat them, but we had to. The fight started with a scream from the rebels, and then we were running headfirst into the men. We each dueled a man and would have to switch because we were outnumbered. Soon, there were only two of the rebels left and they were not going to give up. I looked up and saw more samurais sent by the emperor riding up to us on horses, so I knew it was over for the rebels, but it was too late for me. I looked back at my opponent and his sword was at the side of my neck. Everything was gone.
Works Cited
Cartwright, M. (2019, June 28). Sengoku Period . Retrieved from World History Encyclopedia: https://www.worldhistory.org/Sengoku_Period/
Mohamud, N. (2018, October 14). Yaskue:The mysterious African Samuri . Retrieved from BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48542673
Wikipedia . (2023, June 12). Empress Go-Sakuramachi . Retrieved from Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Go-Sakuramachi
