Excerpt from The Kingdom of Slender Swords It has been my happy fortune to have made the acquaintance of the gifted author of this book. From time to time she was kind enough to confide to me its progress. When the manuscript was completed I was privileged to go over it, and the hours so spent were of unbroken interest and pleasure. What especially touched and concerned me was, of course, the Japanese characters depicted, the motives of these actors in their respective roles, and other Japanese incidents connected with the story. I am most agreeably impressed with the remarkable in sight into, and the just appreciation of, the Japanese spirit displayed by the author. While the story itself is her creation, the local col oring, the moral atmosphere called in to weave the thread of the tale, are matters belonging to the do main of facts, and constitute an amount of useful and authentic information. Indeed, she has taken un usual pains to be correctly informed about the people of the country and their customs, and in this she has succeeded to a very eminent degree. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.