1. The towns and cities mentioned in Samurai of Gold Hill are all real places.

Research one of these Japanese or California towns or cities and explain what it was like from 1869 to 1873, the approximate years during which the novel takes place.

2. What were farms around Placerville like during the time of the novel?

3. How accurate are Uchida's depictions of the Japanese customs of the 1860s? What were the lives of Japanese women like at this time?

4. The Japanese civil war that opens Samurai of Gold Hill actually happened.

Why was it fought? What happened to the winners? What happened to the losers?

5. What were the duties and responsibilities of samurai warriors?

6. How were samurai warriors trained?

What training would Koichi have received by the time he was twelve years old?

7. What special laws did California have regarding Asian immigrants during...