It takes greater strength to live than to die, since to end one's life only hurts the people around one. Throughout her life, Sachi had to tolerate one obstacle after another with little help. In The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, the experiences of Sachi reveals how the influence of one's cultural codes can help one find inner strength.
By turning against the Japanese cultural code of committing suicide when dishonoring her family, Sachi grows stronger by her decisions of not taking her own life. After being diagnosed with leprosy by the young doctor that Matsu had asked to examine her, she refused to show her family. After fruitless attempts to hide her symptoms, her family eventually found out. Sachi felt that it was "a great dishonor for her father to bear" (136). Her father felt ashamed to have a daughter with such a disease, and would no longer look at her. The other villagers were afraid of the victims of leprosy and thought that she would affect them as well, hence her father's immediate reaction. Her family tried everything to cure her infection, but nothing worked. Sachi knew there was only one more option. She went down to the edge of the sea with five other victims of leprosy to commit suicide, and when the time came, an old woman had taken a knife out sliced her wrists, then telling her to do the same. When Sachi told Stephen all of this, she said, "'But at that moment I knew I didn't have the courage of Tomoko, nor this woman dying before me'" (137). Sachi did not have the strength nor ability to kill herself, and she ran away from death and disgraced her family as well has her cultural beliefs. But even though she shamed her family and culture, Sachi grew stronger within by living in Yamaguchi, the village of lepers.
By enduring several years of hardship by starting a new life in Yamaguchi, Sachi grew stronger within. With the help of Matsu, she ran away to Yamaguchi, leaving her family and friends behind, who assumed she had committed suicide and was claimed by the sea. When she first arrived at Yamaguchi, Sachi was terrified of the villagers and their distortions. "'They brought me rice and what little they could spare to help me feel more comfortable'" (148), she remarked when she retold her story. The villagers tried to make her feel more comfortable in Yamaguchi, and she realized how wrong she was in believing they were monsters by their kindness towards her. They were considerate towards her despite their own problems. By living with the villagers for several years, Sachi learns that beauty is not everything. "'Here in Yamaguchi I learned that beauty exists where you least expect to find it'" (148), she recapped, recollecting her earliest few years at Yamaguchi. The villagers were not beautiful on the outside, but their kindness and consideration showed that they were beautiful internally. Michiko, the leper that took care of her and later passes away, is also an example of a person who is beautiful within. From Michiko's care and patience, along with her vivid stories, Sachi learns to live her life to the fullest and to accept others for who they are. Even with Michiko's deformities, Sachi was able to accept her and was able to be calmed by her. She began to accept the leper's way of life at Yamaguchi, and slowly began to heal, and slowly grew stronger within.
Turning against one's culture may be hard, since one has grown familiar with the many customs and beliefs in one's traditions. But every so often one feels an urge to turn against it, like Sachi. She had to endure so many hardships early in her life since the Japanese way of life insisted on maintaining her family's honor, but she didn't commit suicide. By turning against her beliefs and customs, Sachi grew stronger within by enduring the many hardships that came later in her life.
