| 1. | What do you know about samurai or about feudal Japan? |
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| 2. | Why is the Tokaido Road so important? |
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| 3. | Why can’t Seikei be a samurai, or a poet? |
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| 4. | Who is Michiko? |
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| 5. | What are the three qualities of a samurai? |
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| 6. | What was stolen from Lord Hakuseki’s room? Who stole it? |
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| 7. | What is a jikininki? |
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| 8. | Where did the tunnel lead, and how did Judge Ooka know it would end there? |
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| 9. | How did Seikei get his sword? |
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| 10. | Why does everyone look at the tree that stands alone beside the shore? |
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| 11. | Why did Seikei and Judge Ooka stop in Ise? Who did they follow to the town? |
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| 12. | What is kabuki? |
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| 13. | What is the story of the 47 Ronin? |
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| 14. | Who is the actor Tomomi really, and why does he travel with the kabuki troupe? |
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| 15. | What did Tomomi do with the ruby? Why did he want Judge Ooka to know about it? |
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| 16. | Who is the komuso? |
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| 17. | What is the magic of kabuki? |
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| 18. | When Seikei saw the ghost in the inn, what was he really seeing? |
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| 19. | What did Seikei find in Tomomi’s costume trunk? |
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| 20. | Do you think Tomomi let Seikei beat him when they performed the sword fight to pay for their meal? Why or why not? |
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| 21. | Where did Tomomi go once the kabuki troupe reached Edo? Why? |
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| 22. | Who are the Kirishitans and how did they come to Japan? Why are they banned from Japan at the time this story takes place? |
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| 23. | Describe the play that Tomomi wrote for the troupe to perform for the shogun. |
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| 24. | What is the difference between Judge Ooka's garden and Lord Hakuseki's garden? |
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| 25. | How did the kabuki troupe smuggle a real sword into Lord Hakuseki's yashiki? |
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| 26. | What role did the ghost of the Tokaido inn play in the final act of Tomomi's play? |
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| 27. | What happened to Lord Hakuseki? To Tomomi/Genji? Who was the true samurai? |
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| 28. | Describe the tea ceremony. |
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| 29. | How did Judge Ooka, with Seikei'shelp, solve the crime? |
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| 30. | How did Seikei'shelp become a samurai? |
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