The Samurai’s Garden

King is Stephen’s best from Lignan University, a friendship that thrives in part because King understands and appreciates Stephen’s deep passion for painting. Throughout Stephen’s time in Tarumi, the duo mostly communicates through letters, with King teasing Stephen about his good looks or warning his friend about more bad news from the war. Stephen’s shifting relationship to King epitomizes how secluded Stephen becomes in Tarumi. At first, Stephen misses King dearly and thinks of him almost every day. But by the time King writes to tell Stephen that their school friend has died in a Japanese bombing, the letter feels as if it were sent from another world, demonstrating the novel’s contrast between Stephen’s peaceful immediate circumstances and the political unrest hovering around him.