
The revenge of the forty-seven rōnin (四十七士, Shijūshichishi), also known as the Akō incident (赤穂事件, Akō jiken) or Akō vendetta, was a historical event in Japan in which a band of rōnin (lordless samurai) avenged the death of their former master on 31 January 1703. The incident has since become legendary. It is among the three major vengeance (adauchi 仇討ち) incidents in Japan, along with the Revenge of the Soga Brothers and the Igagoe vendetta.
![]() Revenge of the Loyal Samurai of Akō by Yasuda Raishū (ja) (Homma Museum of Art), with iconography borrowed from the Adoration of the Shepherds | |
Native name | 赤穂事件 |
---|---|
English name | Akō incident |
Date | 31 January 1703 |
Venue | Kira Residence |
Coordinates | 35°41′36.0″N 139°47′39.5″E / 35.693333°N 139.794306°E |
Type | Revenge attack |
Cause | Death of Asano Naganori |
Target | To have Kira Yoshinaka commit ritual suicide (seppuku) to avenge their master Asano Naganori's death |
First reporter | Terasaka Kichiemon |
Organised by | Forty-seven rōnin (四十七士, Akō-rōshi (赤穂浪士)) led by Ōishi Yoshio |
Participants | 47 |
Casualties | |
Forty-seven rōnin: 0 | |
Kira Yoshinaka and retainers: 41 | |
Deaths | 19 |
Non-fatal injuries | 22 |
Accused | Forty-seven rōnin |
Sentence | 46 rōnin sentenced to ritual suicide (seppuku) on 4 February 1703, with 1 pardoned |
The story tells of a group of samurai after their daimyō (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to perform seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a powerful court official (kōke) named Kira Yoshinaka, after the court official insulted him. After waiting and planning for a year, the rōnin avenged their master's honor by killing Kira. Anticipating the authorities' intolerance of the vendetta's completion, they were prepared to face execution as a consequence. However, due to considerable public support in their favor, the authorities compromised by ordering the rōnin to commit seppuku as an honorable death for the crime of murder. This true story was popular in Japanese culture as emblematic of loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor (qualities samurai follow called bushidō) that people should display in their daily lives. The popularity of the tale grew during the Meiji era, during which Japan underwent rapid modernisation, and the legend became entrenched within discourses of national heritage and identity.
Fictionalised accounts of the tale of the forty-seven rōnin are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularised in numerous plays, including in the genres of bunraku and kabuki. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era, which forbade the portrayal of current events, the names were changed. While the version given by the playwrights may have come to be accepted as historical fact by some,[who?] the first Chūshingura was written some 50 years after the event, and numerous historical records about the actual events that predate the Chūshingura survive.
The bakufu's censorship laws had relaxed somewhat 75 years after the events in question during the late 18th century when Japanologist Isaac Titsingh first recorded the story of the forty-seven rōnin as one of the significant events of the Genroku era. To this day, the story remains popular in Japan, and each year on 14 December,Sengakuji Temple, where Asano Naganori and the rōnin are buried, holds a festival commemorating the event.
Name
The event is known in Japan as the Akō incident (赤穂事件, Akō jiken), sometimes also referred to as the Akō vendetta. The participants in the revenge are called the Akō-rōshi (赤穂浪士) or Shi-jū-shichi-shi (四十七士) in Japanese, and are usually referred to as the "forty-seven rōnin". Literary accounts of the events are known as the Chūshingura (忠臣蔵, The Treasury of Loyal Retainers).
Story
For many years, the version of events retold by A. B. Mitford in Tales of Old Japan (1871) was generally considered authoritative. The sequence of events and the characters in this narrative were presented to a wide popular readership in the West. Mitford invited his readers to construe his story of the forty-seven rōnin as historically accurate; and while his version of the tale has long been considered a standard work, some of its details are now questioned. Nevertheless, even with plausible defects, Mitford's work remains a conventional starting point for further study.
Whether as a mere literary device or as a claim for ethnographic veracity, Mitford explains:
In the midst of a nest of venerable trees in Takanawa, a suburb of Yedo, is hidden Sengakuji, or the Spring-hill Temple, renowned throughout the length and breadth of the land for its cemetery, which contains the graves of the forty-seven rônin, famous in Japanese history, heroes of Japanese drama, the tale of whose deed I am about to transcribe.
— Mitford, A. B. [emphasis added]
Mitford appended what he explained were translations of Sengaku-ji documents the author had examined personally. These were proffered as "proofs" authenticating the factual basis of his story. These documents were:
- ...the receipt given by the retainers of Kira Kōtsukē no Sukē's son in return for the head of their lord's father, which the priests restored to the family.
- ...a document explanatory of their conduct, a copy of which was found on the person of each of the forty-seven men, dated in the 15th year of Genroku, 12th month.
- ...a paper which the Forty-seven Rōnin laid upon the tomb of their master, together with the head of Kira Kôtsuké no Suké.
Background
In 1701, two daimyō, Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori, the young daimyō of the Akō Domain (a small fiefdom in western Honshū), and Lord Kamei Korechika of the Tsuwano Domain, were ordered to arrange a fitting reception for the envoys of Emperor Higashiyama at Edo Castle, during their sankin-kōtai service to the shōgun.
Asano and Kamei were to be given instruction in the necessary court etiquette by Kira Kozuke-no-Suke Yoshinaka, a powerful official in the hierarchy of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's shogunate. He allegedly became upset at them, either because of the insufficient presents they offered him (in the time-honored compensation for such an instructor), or because they would not offer bribes as he wanted. Other sources say that he was naturally rude and arrogant or that he was corrupt, which offended Asano, a devoutly moral Confucian. By some accounts, it also appears that Asano may have been unfamiliar with the intricacies of the shogunate court and failed to show the proper amount of deference to Kira. Whether Kira treated them poorly, insulted them, or failed to prepare them for fulfilling specific bakufu duties, offence was taken.
Initially, Asano bore all this stoically, while Kamei became enraged and prepared to kill Kira to avenge the insults. However, Kamei's quick-thinking counselors averted disaster for their lord and clan (for all would have been punished if Kamei had killed Kira) by quietly giving Kira a large bribe; Kira thereupon began to treat Kamei nicely, which calmed Kamei.
However, Kira allegedly continued to treat Asano harshly because he was upset that the latter had not emulated his companion. Finally, Kira insulted Asano, calling him a country boor with no manners, and Asano could restrain himself no longer. At the Matsu no Ōrōka, the main grand corridor that interconnects the Shiro-shoin (白書院) and the Ōhiroma of the Honmaru Goten (本丸御殿) residence, Asano lost his temper and attacked Kira with a dagger, wounding him in the face with his first strike; his second missed and hit a pillar. Guards then quickly separated them.
Kira's wound was hardly serious, but the attack on a shogunate official within the boundaries of the shōgun's residence was considered a grave offence. Any kind of violence, even the drawing of a katana, was completely forbidden in Edo Castle. The daimyō of Akō had removed his dagger from its scabbard within Edo Castle, and for that offence, he was ordered to kill himself by seppuku. Asano's goods and lands were to be confiscated after his death, his family was to be ruined, and his retainers were to be made rōnin (leaderless).
This news was carried to Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio, Asano's principal counsellor (karō), who took command and moved the Asano family away before complying with bakufu orders to surrender the castle to the agents of the government.
Attack
After two years, when Ōishi was convinced that Kira was thoroughly off his guard, and everything was ready, he fled from Kyoto, avoiding the spies who were watching him, and the entire band gathered at a secret meeting place in Edo to renew their oaths.
The Ako Incident occurred on 31 January 1703 when the rōnin of Asano Naganori stormed the residence of Kira Yoshinaka in Edo. (While the attack was carried out on 31 January, the event is commemorated annually on 14 December in Japan.) According to a carefully laid-out plan, they split up into two groups and attacked, armed with swords and bows. One group, led by Ōishi, was to attack the front gate; the other, led by his son, Ōishi Chikara, was to attack the house via the back gate. A drum would sound the simultaneous attack, and a whistle would signal that Kira was dead.
Once Kira was dead, they planned to cut off his head and lay it as an offering on their master's tomb. They would then turn themselves in and wait for their expected sentence of death. All this had been confirmed at a final dinner, at which Ōishi had asked them to be careful and spare women, children, and other helpless people.
Ōishi had four men scale the fence and enter the porter's lodge, capturing and tying up the guard there. He then sent messengers to all the neighboring houses, to explain that they were not robbers but retainers out to avenge the death of their master, and that no harm would come to anyone else: the neighbors were all safe. One of the rōnin climbed to the roof and loudly announced to the neighbors that the matter was an act of revenge (katakiuchi, 敵討ち). The neighbors, who all hated Kira, were relieved and did nothing to hinder the raiders.
After posting archers (some on the roof) to prevent those in the house (who had not yet awakened) from sending for help, Ōishi sounded the drum to start the attack. Ten of Kira's retainers held off the party attacking the house from the front, but Ōishi Chikara's party broke into the back of the house.
Kira, in terror, took refuge in a closet in the veranda, along with his wife and female servants. The rest of his retainers, who slept in barracks outside, attempted to come into the house to his rescue. After overcoming the defenders at the front of the house, the two parties led by father and son joined up and fought the retainers who came in. The latter, perceiving that they were losing, tried to send for help, but their messengers were killed by the archers posted to prevent that eventuality.
Eventually, after a fierce struggle, the last of Kira's retainers were subdued; in the process, the rōnin killed 16 of Kira's men and wounded 22, including his grandson. Of Kira, however, there was no sign. They searched the house, but all they found were crying women and children. They began to despair, but Ōishi checked Kira's bed, and it was still warm, so he knew he could not be far away.
Death of Kira
A renewed search disclosed an entrance to a secret courtyard hidden behind a large scroll; the courtyard held a small building for storing charcoal and firewood, where two hidden armed retainers were overcome and killed. A search of the building disclosed a man hiding; he attacked the searcher with a dagger, but the man was easily disarmed. He refused to say who he was, but the searchers felt sure it was Kira, and sounded the whistle. The rōnin gathered, and Ōishi, with a lantern, saw that it was indeed Kira—as a final proof, his head bore the scar from Asano's attack.
Ōishi went on his knees, and in consideration of Kira's high rank, respectfully addressed him, telling him they were retainers of Asano, come to avenge him as true samurai should, and inviting Kira to die as a true samurai should, by killing himself. Ōishi indicated he personally would act as a kaishakunin ("second", the one who beheads a person committing seppuku to spare them the indignity of a lingering death) and offered him the same dagger that Asano had used to kill himself. However, no matter how much they entreated him, Kira crouched, speechless and trembling. At last, seeing it was useless to continue asking, Ōishi ordered the other rōnin to pin him down and killed him by cutting off his head with the dagger. They then extinguished all the lamps and fires in the house (lest any cause the house to catch fire and start a general fire that would harm the neighbors) and left, taking Kira's head.
One of the rōnin, the ashigaru Terasaka Kichiemon, was ordered to travel to Akō and report that their revenge had been completed. (Though Kichiemon's role as a messenger is the most widely accepted version of the story, other accounts have him running away before or after the battle, or being ordered to leave before the rōnin turned themselves in.)
Aftermath
As day was breaking, they quickly carried Kira's head from his residence to their lord's grave in Sengaku-ji temple, marching about ten kilometers across the city, causing a great stir on the way. The story of the revenge spread quickly, and everyone on their path praised them and offered them refreshment.
On arriving at the temple, the remaining 46 rōnin (all except Terasaka Kichiemon) washed and cleaned Kira's head in a well, and laid it, and the fateful dagger, before Asano's tomb. They then offered prayers at the temple and gave the abbot of the temple all of the money they had left, asking him to bury them decently and offer prayers and requiems for them. They then turned themselves in; the group was broken into four parts and put under guard of four different daimyō. During this time, two of Kira's friends came to collect his head for burial; the temple still has the original receipt for the head, which the friends and the priests who dealt with them had all signed.
The shogunate officials in Edo were in a quandary. The samurai had followed the precepts by avenging the death of their lord; but they had also defied the shogunate's authority by exacting revenge, which had been prohibited. In addition, the shōgun received a number of petitions from the admiring populace on behalf of the rōnin. As expected, the rōnin were sentenced to death for the murder of Kira; but the shōgun finally resolved the quandary by ordering them to honorably commit seppuku instead of having them executed as criminals. Each of the assailants ended his life in a ritualistic fashion. Ōishi Chikara, the youngest, was only 15 years old on the day the raid took place, and only 16 the day he committed seppuku.
Each of the 46 rōnin killed himself in Genroku 16, on the 4th day of the 2nd month (元禄十六年二月四日, 20 March 1703). This has caused a considerable amount of confusion ever since, with some people referring to the "forty-six rōnin"; this refers to the group put to death by the shōgun, while the actual attack party numbered forty-seven. The forty-seventh rōnin, identified as Terasaka Kichiemon, eventually returned from his mission and was pardoned by the shōgun (some say on account of his youth). He lived until the age of 87, dying around 1747, and was then buried with his comrades. The assailants who died by seppuku were subsequently interred on the grounds of Sengaku-ji, in front of the tomb of their master. The clothes and arms they wore are still preserved in the temple to this day, along with the drum and whistle; their armor was all home-made, as they had not wanted to arouse suspicion by purchasing any.
The tombs at Sengaku-ji became a place of great veneration, and people flocked there to pray. The graves at the temple have been visited by a great many people throughout the years since the Genroku era.
Members
Below are the names of the 47 rōnin in the following form: family name – pseudonym () – real name (imina). Alternative readings are listed in italics.
- Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio/Yoshitaka (大石 内蔵助 良雄)
- Ōishi Chikara Yoshikane (大石 主税 良金)
- Hara Sōemon Mototoki (原 惣右衛門 元辰)
- Kataoka Gengoemon Takafusa (片岡 源五右衛門 高房)
- Horibe Yahei Kanamaru/Akizane (堀部 弥兵衛 金丸)
- Horibe Yasubei Taketsune (堀部 安兵衛 武庸)
- Yoshida Chūzaemon Kanesuke (吉田 忠左衛門 兼亮)
- Yoshida Sawaemon Kanesada (吉田 沢右衛門 兼貞)
- Chikamatsu Kanroku Yukishige (近松 勘六 行重)
- Mase Kyūdayū Masaaki (間瀬 久太夫 正明)
- Mase Magokurō Masatoki (間瀬 孫九郎 正辰)
- Akabane Genzō Shigekata (赤埴 源蔵 重賢)
- Ushioda Matanojō Takanori (潮田 又之丞 高教)
- Tominomori Sukeemon Masayori (富森 助右衛門 正因)
- Fuwa Kazuemon Masatane (不破 数右衛門 正種)
- Okano Kin'emon Kanehide (岡野 金右衛門 包秀)
- Onodera Jūnai Hidekazu (小野寺 十内 秀和)
- Onodera Kōemon Hidetomi (小野寺 幸右衛門 秀富)
- Kimura Okaemon Sadayuki (木村 岡右衛門 貞行)
- Okuda Magodayū Shigemori (奥田 孫太夫 重盛)
- Okuda Sadaemon Yukitaka (奥田 貞右衛門 行高)
- Hayami Tōzaemon Mitsutaka (早水 藤左衛門 満尭)
- Yada Gorōemon Suketake (矢田 五郎右衛門 助武)
- Ōishi Sezaemon Nobukiyo (大石 瀬左衛門 信清)
- Isogai Jūrōzaemon Masahisa (礒貝 十郎左衛門 正久)
- Hazama Kihei Mitsunobu (間 喜兵衛 光延)
- Hazama Jūjirō Mitsuoki (間 十次郎 光興)
- Hazama Shinrokurō Mitsukaze (間 新六郎 光風)
- Nakamura Kansuke Masatoki (中村 勘助 正辰)
- Senba Saburobei Mitsutada (千馬 三郎兵衛 光忠)
- Sugaya Hannojō Masatoshi (菅谷 半之丞 政利)
- Muramatsu Kihei Hidenao (村松 喜兵衛 秀直)
- Muramatsu Sandayū Takanao (村松 三太夫 高直)
- Kurahashi Densuke Takeyuki (倉橋 伝助 武幸)
- Okajima Yasoemon Tsuneshige (岡島 八十右衛門 常樹)
- Ōtaka Gengo Tadao/Tadatake (大高 源五 忠雄)
- Yatō Emoshichi Norikane (矢頭 右衛門七 教兼)
- Katsuta Shinzaemon Taketaka (勝田 新左衛門 武尭)
- Takebayashi Tadashichi Takashige (武林 唯七 隆重)
- Maebara Isuke Munefusa (前原 伊助 宗房)
- Kaiga Yazaemon Tomonobu (貝賀 弥左衛門 友信)
- Sugino Jūheiji Tsugifusa (杉野 十平次 次房)
- Kanzaki Yogorō Noriyasu (神崎 与五郎 則休)
- Mimura Jirōzaemon Kanetsune (三村 次郎左衛門 包常)
- Yakokawa Kanbei Munetoshi (横川 勘平 宗利)
- Kayano Wasuke Tsunenari (茅野 和助 常成)
- Terasaka Kichiemon Nobuyuki (寺坂 吉右衛門 信行)
Criticism
The rōnin spent more than 14 months waiting for the "right time" for their revenge. It was Yamamoto Tsunetomo, author of the Hagakure, who asked the well known question: "What if, nine months after Asano's death, Kira had died of an illness?" His answer was that the forty-seven rōnin would have lost their only chance at avenging their master. Even if they had claimed, then, that their dissipated behavior was just an act, that in just a little more time they would have been ready for revenge, who would have believed them? They would have been forever remembered as cowards and drunkards—bringing eternal shame to the name of the Asano clan. The right thing for the rōnin to do, writes Yamamoto, was to attack Kira and his men immediately after Asano's death. The rōnin would probably have suffered defeat, as Kira was ready for an attack at that time—but this was unimportant.
Ōishi was too obsessed with success, according to Yamamoto. He conceived his convoluted plan to ensure that they would succeed at killing Kira, which is not a proper concern in a samurai: the important thing was not the death of Kira, but for the former samurai of Asano to show outstanding courage and determination in an all-out attack against the Kira house, thus winning everlasting honor for their dead master. Even if they had failed to kill Kira, even if they had all perished, it would not have mattered, as victory and defeat have no importance. By waiting a year, they improved their chances of success but risked dishonoring the name of their clan, the worst sin a samurai can commit.
In the arts
The tragedy of the forty-seven rōnin has been one of the most popular themes in Japanese art and has lately even begun to make its way into Western art.
Immediately following the event, there were mixed feelings among the intelligentsia about whether such vengeance had been appropriate. Many agreed that, given their master's last wishes, the rōnin had done the right thing, but were undecided about whether such a vengeful wish was proper. Over time, however, the story became a symbol of loyalty to one's master and later, of loyalty to the emperor. Once this happened, the story flourished as a subject of drama, storytelling, and visual art.
Plays
The incident immediately inspired a succession of kabuki and bunraku plays; the first, The Night Attack at Dawn by the Soga, appeared only two weeks after the ronin died. It was shut down by the authorities, but many others soon followed, initially in Osaka and Kyoto, farther away from the shogunal capital. Some even took the story as far as Manila, to spread the story to the rest of Asia.
The most successful of the adaptations was a bunraku puppet play called Kanadehon Chūshingura (now simply called Chūshingura, or "Treasury of Loyal Retainers"), written in 1748 by Takeda Izumo and two associates; it was later adapted into a kabuki play, which is still one of Japan's most popular.
In the play, to avoid the attention of the censors, the events are transferred into the distant past, to the 14th century reign of shōgun Ashikaga Takauji. Asano became En'ya Hangan Takasada, Kira became Kō no Moronao and Ōishi became Ōboshi Yuranosuke Yoshio; the names of the rest of the rōnin were disguised to varying degrees. The play contains a number of plot twists that do not reflect the real story: Moronao tries to seduce En'ya's wife, and one of the rōnin dies before the attack because of a conflict between family and warrior loyalty (another possible cause of the confusion between forty-six and forty-seven).
Opera
The story was turned into an opera, Chūshingura, by Shigeaki Saegusa in 1997.[citation needed]
Cinema and television
The play has been made into a movie at least six times in Japan, the earliest starring Onoe Matsunosuke. The film's release date is questioned, but placed between 1910 and 1917. It has been aired on the Jidaigeki Senmon Channel (Japan) with accompanying benshi narration. In 1941, the Japanese military commissioned director Kenji Mizoguchi, who would later direct Ugetsu after the war, to make Genroku Chūshingura. They wanted a ferocious morale booster based on the familiar rekishi geki ("historical drama") of The Loyal 47 Ronin. Instead, Mizoguchi chose for his source Mayama Chūshingura, a cerebral play dealing with the story. The film was a commercial failure, having been released in Japan one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese military and most audiences found the first part to be too serious, but the studio and Mizoguchi both regarded it as so important that Part Two was put into production, despite lukewarm reception to Part One. The film wasn't shown in America until the 1970s.
The 1958 version, The Loyal 47 Ronin, was directed by Kunio Watanabe.
The 1962 film version directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, Chūshingura, is most familiar to Western audiences. In it, Toshirō Mifune appears in a supporting role as spearman Tawaraboshi Genba. Mifune was to revisit the story several times in his career. In 1971 he appeared in the 52-part television series Daichūshingura as Ōishi, while in 1978 he appeared as Lord Tsuchiya in the epic Swords of Vengeance (Akō-jō danzetsu).
Many Japanese television shows, including single programs, short series, single seasons, and even year-long series such as Daichūshingura and the more recent NHK Taiga drama Genroku Ryōran, recount the events. Among both films and television programs, some are quite faithful to the Chūshingura, while others incorporate unrelated material or alter details. In addition, gaiden dramatize events and characters not in the Chūshingura. Kon Ichikawa directed another version in 1994. In 2004, Mitsumasa Saitō directed a nine-episode mini-series starring Ken Matsudaira, who had also starred in a 1999 49-episode TV series of the Chūshingura entitled Genroku Ryōran. In Hirokazu Koreeda's 2006 film Hana yori mo nao, the story was used as a backdrop, with one of the ronin being a neighbour of the protagonists.
In the 1998 film Ronin (film), Robert De Niro's character is told the story by a mysterious Frenchman who is creating an intricately detailed miniature diorama of its original setting. Though the film takes the name from the 'masterless' samurai of Japan, it has nothing to do with the actual events of the forty-seven ronin.
A comedic adaptation was presented in a 2002 episode of the Canadian television series History Bites titled "Samurai Goodfellas", mingling the story with elements from The Godfather film series.
Most recently, it was made into a 2013 American movie titled 47 Ronin, starring Keanu Reeves, and then again into a more stylized 2015 version titled Last Knights.
Woodblock prints
The forty-seven rōnin is one of the most popular themes in Japanese woodblock prints, or ukiyo-e and many well-known artists have made prints portraying either the original events, scenes from the play, or the actors. One book[which?] on subjects depicted in woodblock prints devotes no fewer than seven chapters to the history of the appearance of this theme in woodblocks. Among the artists who produced prints on this subject are Utamaro, Toyokuni, Hokusai, Kunisada, Hiroshige, and Yoshitoshi. However, probably the most widely known woodblocks in the genre are those of Kuniyoshi, who produced at least eleven separate complete series on this subject, along with more than twenty triptychs.
Literature
- The earliest known account of the Akō incident in the West was published in 1822 in Isaac Titsingh's posthumously-published book Illustrations of Japan.
- The first book of the juvenile Samurai Mystery series by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn (2005), weaves the kabuki play The Forty-Seven Ronin into the plot.
- The incident is the subject of Jorge Luis Borges' short story "The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kôtsuké no Suké", included in the 1935 collection A Universal History of Infamy.
- The legend of the forty-seven rōnin was adapted into two graphic novels published by Dark Horse Comics. The first is 47 Ronin, a 2014 faithful retelling written by Mike Richardson and illustrated by Stan Sakai. The second Dark Horse Comics adaption is Seppuku, the second part of Víctor Santos' 2017 graphic novel Rashomon: A Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi Case, which also adapts "In a Grove", the Ryūnosuke Akutagawa short story the 1950 film Rashomon is based on.
Gallery
- Memorial to the unswerving loyalty of Ōishi Yoshio and the others, at the site where they died
- Incense burns at the graves of the forty-seven rōnin at Sengaku-ji
- Entrance to Sengaku Temple
- Woodcut by Kunisada depicting the attack (early 1800s)
- Postcard depicting the attack, early 1920s
See also
- History of Tokyo
- Japanese mythology
References
Citations
- 安田雷洲筆 赤穂義士報讐図 [Reward for the Loyal Samurai of Akō by Yasuda Raishū]. Homma Museum of Art. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- 研究社新和英大辞典 [Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary] (in Japanese). Kenkyūsha.
- Deal, William E. (2007). Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-19-533126-4.
- "Kanadehon". Columbia University.
- Ono (2004). Jinbutsudenkojiten Kodai・Chuseihen (人物伝小辞典 古代・中世編). Japan: Tokyodo Shuppan. p. 186. ISBN 4490106467.
- Titsingh 2006, p. 91.
- Analysis of Mitford's story by Dr. Henry Smith, Chushinguranew website, Columbia University
- (1871). Tales of Old Japan, pp. 5–6.
- Mitford, pp. 28–34.
- Mitford, p. 30.
- Mitford, p. 31.
- Mitford, p. 32.
- Mitford, A. B. (1871). Tales of Old Japan, p. 7.
- Mitford, p. 7.
- Mitford, pp. 8–10.
- Mitford, pp. 10–11.
- Mitford, pp. 11–12.
- Mitford, p. 16.
- Mitford, pp. 16–17.
- Mitford, p. 17
- Mitford, pp. 17–18.
- Mitford, pp. 18–19.
- Mitford, p. 19.
- Mitford, pp. 19–20.
- Mitford, p. 20.
- Mitford, p. 22.
- Mitford, p. 23.
- Mitford, pp. 23–24.
- Mitford, p. 24.
- Mitford, pp. 24–25.
- Smith, Henry D. II (2004). "The Trouble with Terasaka: The Forty-Seventh Ronin and the Chushingura Imagination" (PDF). Japan Review: 16:3–65. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2007.
- Mitford, pp. 25–26.
- Mitford, pp. 26–27.
- Mitford, p. 28.
- "Tsuchihashi conversion". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
- Yamamoto, T. (Kodansha, 1979). Hagakure, p. 26.
- Child, Ben (9 December 2008). "Keanu Reeves to play Japanese samurai in 47 Ronin". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
- "Movies". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
- Stewart, Sara (1 April 2015). "Freeman, Owen casualties of bloody bad 'Last Knights'".
- Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2012). Forty-Seven Ronin: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Edition. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00ADQGLB8
- Richardson, Mike (12 March 2014). "47 Ronin". Dark Horse Comics.
- Santos, Víctor (18 October 2017). "Rashomon: A Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi Case". Dark Horse Comics.
Sources
- Allyn, John. (1981). The Forty-Seven Ronin Story. New York.
- Benesch, Oleg (2014). Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Dickens, Frederick V. (1930). Chushingura, or The Loyal League. London.
- Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2012). Forty-Seven Ronin: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Edition. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00ADQGLB8.
- Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2012). Forty-Seven Ronin: Utagawa Kuniyoshi Edition. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00ADQM8II.
- Keene, Donald. (1971). Chushingura: A Puppet Play. New York.
- Freeman-Mitford, Algernon Bertram (1871). Tales of Old Japan. London: University of Michigan.
- Robinson, B. W. (1982). Kuniyoshi: The Warrior Prints. Ithaca, NY.
- Sato, Hiroaki. (1995). Legends of the Samurai. New York.
- Steward, Basil. (1922). Subjects Portrayed in Japanese Colour-Prints. New York.
- Titsingh, Isaac (17 March 2006). Screech, Timon (ed.). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-78737-0.
- Weinberg, David R. et al. (2001). Kuniyoshi: The Faithful Samurai. Leiden.
Further reading
- Borges, Jorge Luís (1935). The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kôtsuké no Suké; A Universal History of Infamy, Buenos aires 1954, Emecé 1945 ISBN 0-525-47546-X
- Harper, Thomas (2019). 47: The True Story of the Vendetta of the 47 Ronin from Akô . Leete's Island Books. ISBN 978-0918172778.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2011). The Revenge of the 47 Ronin, Edo 1703; Osprey Raid Series #23, Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-427-7
External links
- Robson, Lucia St. Clair (1991). The Tokaido Road. Forge Books. New York.
- Chushingura and the Samurai Tradition – Comparisons of the accuracy of accounts by Mitford, Murdoch and others, as well as much other useful material, by noted scholars of Japan
- Ako's Forty-Seven Samurai – Web site produced by students at Akō High School; contains the story of the 47 ronin's story, and images of wooden votive tablets of the 47 ronin in the Ōishi Shrine, Akō
- The Trouble with Terasaka: The Forty-Seventh Ronin and the Chushingura Imagination by Henry D. Smith II, Japan Review, 2004, 16:3–65
- Five different woodblock print versions of the story by Ando Hiroshige
- National Diet Library: photograph of Sengaku-ji (1893); photograph of Sengaku-ji (1911)
- Yoshitoshi, 47 Ronin series (1860)
- Discover the tales of Chushingura, the 47 Ronins Archived 4 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- Learn more about the Bushido Way and the Hagakure's criticism of the 47 Ronin.https://think.iafor.org/bushido-way-death/
- Tales of Old Japan by Baron Redesdale (Algernon Mitford) - The first tale is the 47 Ronin.
The revenge of the forty seven rōnin 四十七士 Shijushichishi also known as the Akō incident 赤穂事件 Akō jiken or Akō vendetta was a historical event in Japan in which a band of rōnin lordless samurai avenged the death of their former master on 31 January 1703 The incident has since become legendary It is among the three major vengeance adauchi 仇討ち incidents in Japan along with the Revenge of the Soga Brothers and the Igagoe vendetta Akō jikenRevenge of the Loyal Samurai of Akō by Yasuda Raishu ja Homma Museum of Art with iconography borrowed from the Adoration of the ShepherdsNative name赤穂事件English nameAkō incidentDate31 January 1703 1703 01 31 VenueKira ResidenceCoordinates35 41 36 0 N 139 47 39 5 E 35 693333 N 139 794306 E 35 693333 139 794306TypeRevenge attackCauseDeath of Asano NaganoriTargetTo have Kira Yoshinaka commit ritual suicide seppuku to avenge their master Asano Naganori s deathFirst reporterTerasaka KichiemonOrganised byForty seven rōnin 四十七士 Akō rōshi 赤穂浪士 led by Ōishi YoshioParticipants47CasualtiesForty seven rōnin 0Kira Yoshinaka and retainers 41Deaths19Non fatal injuries22AccusedForty seven rōninSentence46 rōnin sentenced to ritual suicide seppuku on 4 February 1703 with 1 pardoned The story tells of a group of samurai after their daimyō feudal lord Asano Naganori was compelled to perform seppuku ritual suicide for assaulting a powerful court official kōke named Kira Yoshinaka after the court official insulted him After waiting and planning for a year the rōnin avenged their master s honor by killing Kira Anticipating the authorities intolerance of the vendetta s completion they were prepared to face execution as a consequence However due to considerable public support in their favor the authorities compromised by ordering the rōnin to commit seppuku as an honorable death for the crime of murder This true story was popular in Japanese culture as emblematic of loyalty sacrifice persistence and honor qualities samurai follow called bushidō that people should display in their daily lives The popularity of the tale grew during the Meiji era during which Japan underwent rapid modernisation and the legend became entrenched within discourses of national heritage and identity Fictionalised accounts of the tale of the forty seven rōnin are known as Chushingura The story was popularised in numerous plays including in the genres of bunraku and kabuki Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era which forbade the portrayal of current events the names were changed While the version given by the playwrights may have come to be accepted as historical fact by some who the first Chushingura was written some 50 years after the event and numerous historical records about the actual events that predate the Chushingura survive The bakufu s censorship laws had relaxed somewhat 75 years after the events in question during the late 18th century when Japanologist Isaac Titsingh first recorded the story of the forty seven rōnin as one of the significant events of the Genroku era To this day the story remains popular in Japan and each year on 14 December Sengakuji Temple where Asano Naganori and the rōnin are buried holds a festival commemorating the event NameThe event is known in Japan as the Akō incident 赤穂事件 Akō jiken sometimes also referred to as the Akō vendetta The participants in the revenge are called the Akō rōshi 赤穂浪士 or Shi ju shichi shi 四十七士 in Japanese and are usually referred to as the forty seven rōnin Literary accounts of the events are known as the Chushingura 忠臣蔵 The Treasury of Loyal Retainers StoryFor many years the version of events retold by A B Mitford in Tales of Old Japan 1871 was generally considered authoritative The sequence of events and the characters in this narrative were presented to a wide popular readership in the West Mitford invited his readers to construe his story of the forty seven rōnin as historically accurate and while his version of the tale has long been considered a standard work some of its details are now questioned Nevertheless even with plausible defects Mitford s work remains a conventional starting point for further study Whether as a mere literary device or as a claim for ethnographic veracity Mitford explains In the midst of a nest of venerable trees in Takanawa a suburb of Yedo is hidden Sengakuji or the Spring hill Temple renowned throughout the length and breadth of the land for its cemetery which contains the graves of the forty seven ronin famous in Japanese history heroes of Japanese drama the tale of whose deed I am about to transcribe Mitford A B emphasis added Mitford appended what he explained were translations of Sengaku ji documents the author had examined personally These were proffered as proofs authenticating the factual basis of his story These documents were the receipt given by the retainers of Kira Kōtsuke no Suke s son in return for the head of their lord s father which the priests restored to the family a document explanatory of their conduct a copy of which was found on the person of each of the forty seven men dated in the 15th year of Genroku 12th month a paper which the Forty seven Rōnin laid upon the tomb of their master together with the head of Kira Kotsuke no Suke Background Ukiyo e print depicting Asano Naganori s assault on Kira Yoshinaka in the Matsu no Ōrōka of Edo CastleMemorial stone marking the site of the Matsu no Ōrōka Great Corridor of Pines in Edo Castle where Asano attacked Kira In 1701 two daimyō Asano Takumi no Kami Naganori the young daimyō of the Akō Domain a small fiefdom in western Honshu and Lord Kamei Korechika of the Tsuwano Domain were ordered to arrange a fitting reception for the envoys of Emperor Higashiyama at Edo Castle during their sankin kōtai service to the shōgun Asano and Kamei were to be given instruction in the necessary court etiquette by Kira Kozuke no Suke Yoshinaka a powerful official in the hierarchy of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi s shogunate He allegedly became upset at them either because of the insufficient presents they offered him in the time honored compensation for such an instructor or because they would not offer bribes as he wanted Other sources say that he was naturally rude and arrogant or that he was corrupt which offended Asano a devoutly moral Confucian By some accounts it also appears that Asano may have been unfamiliar with the intricacies of the shogunate court and failed to show the proper amount of deference to Kira Whether Kira treated them poorly insulted them or failed to prepare them for fulfilling specific bakufu duties offence was taken Initially Asano bore all this stoically while Kamei became enraged and prepared to kill Kira to avenge the insults However Kamei s quick thinking counselors averted disaster for their lord and clan for all would have been punished if Kamei had killed Kira by quietly giving Kira a large bribe Kira thereupon began to treat Kamei nicely which calmed Kamei However Kira allegedly continued to treat Asano harshly because he was upset that the latter had not emulated his companion Finally Kira insulted Asano calling him a country boor with no manners and Asano could restrain himself no longer At the Matsu no Ōrōka the main grand corridor that interconnects the Shiro shoin 白書院 and the Ōhiroma of the Honmaru Goten 本丸御殿 residence Asano lost his temper and attacked Kira with a dagger wounding him in the face with his first strike his second missed and hit a pillar Guards then quickly separated them Kira s wound was hardly serious but the attack on a shogunate official within the boundaries of the shōgun s residence was considered a grave offence Any kind of violence even the drawing of a katana was completely forbidden in Edo Castle The daimyō of Akō had removed his dagger from its scabbard within Edo Castle and for that offence he was ordered to kill himself by seppuku Asano s goods and lands were to be confiscated after his death his family was to be ruined and his retainers were to be made rōnin leaderless This news was carried to Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio Asano s principal counsellor karō who took command and moved the Asano family away before complying with bakufu orders to surrender the castle to the agents of the government Attack Ukiyo e showing Ōishi signaling an attack by beating a drum By Tsukioka Yoshitoshi The rōnin attack the principal gate of Kira s mansion After two years when Ōishi was convinced that Kira was thoroughly off his guard and everything was ready he fled from Kyoto avoiding the spies who were watching him and the entire band gathered at a secret meeting place in Edo to renew their oaths The Ako Incident occurred on 31 January 1703 when the rōnin of Asano Naganori stormed the residence of Kira Yoshinaka in Edo While the attack was carried out on 31 January the event is commemorated annually on 14 December in Japan According to a carefully laid out plan they split up into two groups and attacked armed with swords and bows One group led by Ōishi was to attack the front gate the other led by his son Ōishi Chikara was to attack the house via the back gate A drum would sound the simultaneous attack and a whistle would signal that Kira was dead Once Kira was dead they planned to cut off his head and lay it as an offering on their master s tomb They would then turn themselves in and wait for their expected sentence of death All this had been confirmed at a final dinner at which Ōishi had asked them to be careful and spare women children and other helpless people Ōishi had four men scale the fence and enter the porter s lodge capturing and tying up the guard there He then sent messengers to all the neighboring houses to explain that they were not robbers but retainers out to avenge the death of their master and that no harm would come to anyone else the neighbors were all safe One of the rōnin climbed to the roof and loudly announced to the neighbors that the matter was an act of revenge katakiuchi 敵討ち The neighbors who all hated Kira were relieved and did nothing to hinder the raiders After posting archers some on the roof to prevent those in the house who had not yet awakened from sending for help Ōishi sounded the drum to start the attack Ten of Kira s retainers held off the party attacking the house from the front but Ōishi Chikara s party broke into the back of the house Kira in terror took refuge in a closet in the veranda along with his wife and female servants The rest of his retainers who slept in barracks outside attempted to come into the house to his rescue After overcoming the defenders at the front of the house the two parties led by father and son joined up and fought the retainers who came in The latter perceiving that they were losing tried to send for help but their messengers were killed by the archers posted to prevent that eventuality Eventually after a fierce struggle the last of Kira s retainers were subdued in the process the rōnin killed 16 of Kira s men and wounded 22 including his grandson Of Kira however there was no sign They searched the house but all they found were crying women and children They began to despair but Ōishi checked Kira s bed and it was still warm so he knew he could not be far away Death of Kira A renewed search disclosed an entrance to a secret courtyard hidden behind a large scroll the courtyard held a small building for storing charcoal and firewood where two hidden armed retainers were overcome and killed A search of the building disclosed a man hiding he attacked the searcher with a dagger but the man was easily disarmed He refused to say who he was but the searchers felt sure it was Kira and sounded the whistle The rōnin gathered and Ōishi with a lantern saw that it was indeed Kira as a final proof his head bore the scar from Asano s attack Ōishi went on his knees and in consideration of Kira s high rank respectfully addressed him telling him they were retainers of Asano come to avenge him as true samurai should and inviting Kira to die as a true samurai should by killing himself Ōishi indicated he personally would act as a kaishakunin second the one who beheads a person committing seppuku to spare them the indignity of a lingering death and offered him the same dagger that Asano had used to kill himself However no matter how much they entreated him Kira crouched speechless and trembling At last seeing it was useless to continue asking Ōishi ordered the other rōnin to pin him down and killed him by cutting off his head with the dagger They then extinguished all the lamps and fires in the house lest any cause the house to catch fire and start a general fire that would harm the neighbors and left taking Kira s head One of the rōnin the ashigaru Terasaka Kichiemon was ordered to travel to Akō and report that their revenge had been completed Though Kichiemon s role as a messenger is the most widely accepted version of the story other accounts have him running away before or after the battle or being ordered to leave before the rōnin turned themselves in Aftermath The rōnin on their way back to Sengaku ji are halted in the street and invited in for rest and refreshment As day was breaking they quickly carried Kira s head from his residence to their lord s grave in Sengaku ji temple marching about ten kilometers across the city causing a great stir on the way The story of the revenge spread quickly and everyone on their path praised them and offered them refreshment On arriving at the temple the remaining 46 rōnin all except Terasaka Kichiemon washed and cleaned Kira s head in a well and laid it and the fateful dagger before Asano s tomb They then offered prayers at the temple and gave the abbot of the temple all of the money they had left asking him to bury them decently and offer prayers and requiems for them They then turned themselves in the group was broken into four parts and put under guard of four different daimyō During this time two of Kira s friends came to collect his head for burial the temple still has the original receipt for the head which the friends and the priests who dealt with them had all signed The shogunate officials in Edo were in a quandary The samurai had followed the precepts by avenging the death of their lord but they had also defied the shogunate s authority by exacting revenge which had been prohibited In addition the shōgun received a number of petitions from the admiring populace on behalf of the rōnin As expected the rōnin were sentenced to death for the murder of Kira but the shōgun finally resolved the quandary by ordering them to honorably commit seppuku instead of having them executed as criminals Each of the assailants ended his life in a ritualistic fashion Ōishi Chikara the youngest was only 15 years old on the day the raid took place and only 16 the day he committed seppuku Each of the 46 rōnin killed himself in Genroku 16 on the 4th day of the 2nd month 元禄十六年二月四日 20 March 1703 This has caused a considerable amount of confusion ever since with some people referring to the forty six rōnin this refers to the group put to death by the shōgun while the actual attack party numbered forty seven The forty seventh rōnin identified as Terasaka Kichiemon eventually returned from his mission and was pardoned by the shōgun some say on account of his youth He lived until the age of 87 dying around 1747 and was then buried with his comrades The assailants who died by seppuku were subsequently interred on the grounds of Sengaku ji in front of the tomb of their master The clothes and arms they wore are still preserved in the temple to this day along with the drum and whistle their armor was all home made as they had not wanted to arouse suspicion by purchasing any Graves of the forty seven rōnin at Sengaku ji The tombs at Sengaku ji became a place of great veneration and people flocked there to pray The graves at the temple have been visited by a great many people throughout the years since the Genroku era Members 47 Ronin portraits by Utagawa Yoshitora Below are the names of the 47 rōnin in the following form family name pseudonym real name imina Alternative readings are listed in italics Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio Yoshitaka 大石 内蔵助 良雄 Ōishi Chikara Yoshikane 大石 主税 良金 Hara Sōemon Mototoki 原 惣右衛門 元辰 Kataoka Gengoemon Takafusa 片岡 源五右衛門 高房 Horibe Yahei Kanamaru Akizane 堀部 弥兵衛 金丸 Horibe Yasubei Taketsune 堀部 安兵衛 武庸 Yoshida Chuzaemon Kanesuke 吉田 忠左衛門 兼亮 Yoshida Sawaemon Kanesada 吉田 沢右衛門 兼貞 Chikamatsu Kanroku Yukishige 近松 勘六 行重 Mase Kyudayu Masaaki 間瀬 久太夫 正明 Mase Magokurō Masatoki 間瀬 孫九郎 正辰 Akabane Genzō Shigekata 赤埴 源蔵 重賢 Ushioda Matanojō Takanori 潮田 又之丞 高教 Tominomori Sukeemon Masayori 富森 助右衛門 正因 Fuwa Kazuemon Masatane 不破 数右衛門 正種 Okano Kin emon Kanehide 岡野 金右衛門 包秀 Onodera Junai Hidekazu 小野寺 十内 秀和 Onodera Kōemon Hidetomi 小野寺 幸右衛門 秀富 Kimura Okaemon Sadayuki 木村 岡右衛門 貞行 Okuda Magodayu Shigemori 奥田 孫太夫 重盛 Okuda Sadaemon Yukitaka 奥田 貞右衛門 行高 Hayami Tōzaemon Mitsutaka 早水 藤左衛門 満尭 Yada Gorōemon Suketake 矢田 五郎右衛門 助武 Ōishi Sezaemon Nobukiyo 大石 瀬左衛門 信清 Isogai Jurōzaemon Masahisa 礒貝 十郎左衛門 正久 Hazama Kihei Mitsunobu 間 喜兵衛 光延 Hazama Jujirō Mitsuoki 間 十次郎 光興 Hazama Shinrokurō Mitsukaze 間 新六郎 光風 Nakamura Kansuke Masatoki 中村 勘助 正辰 Senba Saburobei Mitsutada 千馬 三郎兵衛 光忠 Sugaya Hannojō Masatoshi 菅谷 半之丞 政利 Muramatsu Kihei Hidenao 村松 喜兵衛 秀直 Muramatsu Sandayu Takanao 村松 三太夫 高直 Kurahashi Densuke Takeyuki 倉橋 伝助 武幸 Okajima Yasoemon Tsuneshige 岡島 八十右衛門 常樹 Ōtaka Gengo Tadao Tadatake 大高 源五 忠雄 Yatō Emoshichi Norikane 矢頭 右衛門七 教兼 Katsuta Shinzaemon Taketaka 勝田 新左衛門 武尭 Takebayashi Tadashichi Takashige 武林 唯七 隆重 Maebara Isuke Munefusa 前原 伊助 宗房 Kaiga Yazaemon Tomonobu 貝賀 弥左衛門 友信 Sugino Juheiji Tsugifusa 杉野 十平次 次房 Kanzaki Yogorō Noriyasu 神崎 与五郎 則休 Mimura Jirōzaemon Kanetsune 三村 次郎左衛門 包常 Yakokawa Kanbei Munetoshi 横川 勘平 宗利 Kayano Wasuke Tsunenari 茅野 和助 常成 Terasaka Kichiemon Nobuyuki 寺坂 吉右衛門 信行 CriticismThe rōnin spent more than 14 months waiting for the right time for their revenge It was Yamamoto Tsunetomo author of the Hagakure who asked the well known question What if nine months after Asano s death Kira had died of an illness His answer was that the forty seven rōnin would have lost their only chance at avenging their master Even if they had claimed then that their dissipated behavior was just an act that in just a little more time they would have been ready for revenge who would have believed them They would have been forever remembered as cowards and drunkards bringing eternal shame to the name of the Asano clan The right thing for the rōnin to do writes Yamamoto was to attack Kira and his men immediately after Asano s death The rōnin would probably have suffered defeat as Kira was ready for an attack at that time but this was unimportant Ōishi was too obsessed with success according to Yamamoto He conceived his convoluted plan to ensure that they would succeed at killing Kira which is not a proper concern in a samurai the important thing was not the death of Kira but for the former samurai of Asano to show outstanding courage and determination in an all out attack against the Kira house thus winning everlasting honor for their dead master Even if they had failed to kill Kira even if they had all perished it would not have mattered as victory and defeat have no importance By waiting a year they improved their chances of success but risked dishonoring the name of their clan the worst sin a samurai can commit In the artsPainting of Ōishi Yoshio committing seppuku The tragedy of the forty seven rōnin has been one of the most popular themes in Japanese art and has lately even begun to make its way into Western art Immediately following the event there were mixed feelings among the intelligentsia about whether such vengeance had been appropriate Many agreed that given their master s last wishes the rōnin had done the right thing but were undecided about whether such a vengeful wish was proper Over time however the story became a symbol of loyalty to one s master and later of loyalty to the emperor Once this happened the story flourished as a subject of drama storytelling and visual art Plays The incident immediately inspired a succession of kabuki and bunraku plays the first The Night Attack at Dawn by the Soga appeared only two weeks after the ronin died It was shut down by the authorities but many others soon followed initially in Osaka and Kyoto farther away from the shogunal capital Some even took the story as far as Manila to spread the story to the rest of Asia The most successful of the adaptations was a bunraku puppet play called Kanadehon Chushingura now simply called Chushingura or Treasury of Loyal Retainers written in 1748 by Takeda Izumo and two associates it was later adapted into a kabuki play which is still one of Japan s most popular In the play to avoid the attention of the censors the events are transferred into the distant past to the 14th century reign of shōgun Ashikaga Takauji Asano became En ya Hangan Takasada Kira became Kō no Moronao and Ōishi became Ōboshi Yuranosuke Yoshio the names of the rest of the rōnin were disguised to varying degrees The play contains a number of plot twists that do not reflect the real story Moronao tries to seduce En ya s wife and one of the rōnin dies before the attack because of a conflict between family and warrior loyalty another possible cause of the confusion between forty six and forty seven Opera The story was turned into an opera Chushingura by Shigeaki Saegusa in 1997 citation needed Cinema and television The play has been made into a movie at least six times in Japan the earliest starring Onoe Matsunosuke The film s release date is questioned but placed between 1910 and 1917 It has been aired on the Jidaigeki Senmon Channel Japan with accompanying benshi narration In 1941 the Japanese military commissioned director Kenji Mizoguchi who would later direct Ugetsu after the war to make Genroku Chushingura They wanted a ferocious morale booster based on the familiar rekishi geki historical drama of The Loyal 47 Ronin Instead Mizoguchi chose for his source Mayama Chushingura a cerebral play dealing with the story The film was a commercial failure having been released in Japan one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor The Japanese military and most audiences found the first part to be too serious but the studio and Mizoguchi both regarded it as so important that Part Two was put into production despite lukewarm reception to Part One The film wasn t shown in America until the 1970s The 1958 version The Loyal 47 Ronin was directed by Kunio Watanabe The 1962 film version directed by Hiroshi Inagaki Chushingura is most familiar to Western audiences In it Toshirō Mifune appears in a supporting role as spearman Tawaraboshi Genba Mifune was to revisit the story several times in his career In 1971 he appeared in the 52 part television series Daichushingura as Ōishi while in 1978 he appeared as Lord Tsuchiya in the epic Swords of Vengeance Akō jō danzetsu Many Japanese television shows including single programs short series single seasons and even year long series such as Daichushingura and the more recent NHK Taiga drama Genroku Ryōran recount the events Among both films and television programs some are quite faithful to the Chushingura while others incorporate unrelated material or alter details In addition gaiden dramatize events and characters not in the Chushingura Kon Ichikawa directed another version in 1994 In 2004 Mitsumasa Saitō directed a nine episode mini series starring Ken Matsudaira who had also starred in a 1999 49 episode TV series of the Chushingura entitled Genroku Ryōran In Hirokazu Koreeda s 2006 film Hana yori mo nao the story was used as a backdrop with one of the ronin being a neighbour of the protagonists In the 1998 film Ronin film Robert De Niro s character is told the story by a mysterious Frenchman who is creating an intricately detailed miniature diorama of its original setting Though the film takes the name from the masterless samurai of Japan it has nothing to do with the actual events of the forty seven ronin A comedic adaptation was presented in a 2002 episode of the Canadian television series History Bites titled Samurai Goodfellas mingling the story with elements from The Godfather film series Most recently it was made into a 2013 American movie titled 47 Ronin starring Keanu Reeves and then again into a more stylized 2015 version titled Last Knights Woodblock prints The forty seven rōnin is one of the most popular themes in Japanese woodblock prints or ukiyo e and many well known artists have made prints portraying either the original events scenes from the play or the actors One book which on subjects depicted in woodblock prints devotes no fewer than seven chapters to the history of the appearance of this theme in woodblocks Among the artists who produced prints on this subject are Utamaro Toyokuni Hokusai Kunisada Hiroshige and Yoshitoshi However probably the most widely known woodblocks in the genre are those of Kuniyoshi who produced at least eleven separate complete series on this subject along with more than twenty triptychs Literature The earliest known account of the Akō incident in the West was published in 1822 in Isaac Titsingh s posthumously published book Illustrations of Japan The first book of the juvenile Samurai Mystery series by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn 2005 weaves the kabuki play The Forty Seven Ronin into the plot The incident is the subject of Jorge Luis Borges short story The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kotsuke no Suke included in the 1935 collection A Universal History of Infamy The legend of the forty seven rōnin was adapted into two graphic novels published by Dark Horse Comics The first is 47 Ronin a 2014 faithful retelling written by Mike Richardson and illustrated by Stan Sakai The second Dark Horse Comics adaption is Seppuku the second part of Victor Santos 2017 graphic novel Rashomon A Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi Case which also adapts In a Grove the Ryunosuke Akutagawa short story the 1950 film Rashomon is based on GalleryMemorial to the unswerving loyalty of Ōishi Yoshio and the others at the site where they died Incense burns at the graves of the forty seven rōnin at Sengaku ji Entrance to Sengaku Temple Woodcut by Kunisada depicting the attack early 1800s Postcard depicting the attack early 1920sSee alsoJapan portalHistory of Tokyo Japanese mythologyReferencesCitations 安田雷洲筆 赤穂義士報讐図 Reward for the Loyal Samurai of Akō by Yasuda Raishu Homma Museum of Art 25 February 2016 Retrieved 18 August 2019 研究社新和英大辞典 Kenkyusha s New Japanese English Dictionary in Japanese Kenkyusha Deal William E 2007 Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan Oxford University Press p 146 ISBN 978 0 19 533126 4 Kanadehon Columbia University Ono 2004 Jinbutsudenkojiten Kodai Chuseihen 人物伝小辞典 古代 中世編 Japan Tokyodo Shuppan p 186 ISBN 4490106467 Titsingh 2006 p 91 Analysis of Mitford s story by Dr Henry Smith Chushinguranew website Columbia University 1871 Tales of Old Japan pp 5 6 Mitford pp 28 34 Mitford p 30 Mitford p 31 Mitford p 32 Mitford A B 1871 Tales of Old Japan p 7 Mitford p 7 Mitford pp 8 10 Mitford pp 10 11 Mitford pp 11 12 Mitford p 16 Mitford pp 16 17 Mitford p 17 Mitford pp 17 18 Mitford pp 18 19 Mitford p 19 Mitford pp 19 20 Mitford p 20 Mitford p 22 Mitford p 23 Mitford pp 23 24 Mitford p 24 Mitford pp 24 25 Smith Henry D II 2004 The Trouble with Terasaka The Forty Seventh Ronin and the Chushingura Imagination PDF Japan Review 16 3 65 Archived from the original PDF on 2 November 2013 Retrieved 21 January 2007 Mitford pp 25 26 Mitford pp 26 27 Mitford p 28 Tsuchihashi conversion Archived from the original on 30 September 2007 Yamamoto T Kodansha 1979 Hagakure p 26 Child Ben 9 December 2008 Keanu Reeves to play Japanese samurai in 47 Ronin The Guardian Retrieved 15 July 2024 Movies Chicago Reader Archived from the original on 15 May 2008 Retrieved 8 May 2007 Stewart Sara 1 April 2015 Freeman Owen casualties of bloody bad Last Knights Forbes Andrew Henley David 2012 Forty Seven Ronin Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Edition Chiang Mai Cognoscenti Books ASIN B00ADQGLB8 Richardson Mike 12 March 2014 47 Ronin Dark Horse Comics Santos Victor 18 October 2017 Rashomon A Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi Case Dark Horse Comics Sources Allyn John 1981 The Forty Seven Ronin Story New York Benesch Oleg 2014 Inventing the Way of the Samurai Nationalism Internationalism and Bushido in Modern Japan Oxford Oxford University Press Dickens Frederick V 1930 Chushingura or The Loyal League London Forbes Andrew Henley David 2012 Forty Seven Ronin Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Edition Chiang Mai Cognoscenti Books ASIN B00ADQGLB8 Forbes Andrew Henley David 2012 Forty Seven Ronin Utagawa Kuniyoshi Edition Chiang Mai Cognoscenti Books ASIN B00ADQM8II Keene Donald 1971 Chushingura A Puppet Play New York Freeman Mitford Algernon Bertram 1871 Tales of Old Japan London University of Michigan Robinson B W 1982 Kuniyoshi The Warrior Prints Ithaca NY Sato Hiroaki 1995 Legends of the Samurai New York Steward Basil 1922 Subjects Portrayed in Japanese Colour Prints New York Titsingh Isaac 17 March 2006 Screech Timon ed Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns Isaac Titsingh and Japan 1779 1822 London Routledge ISBN 978 1 135 78737 0 Weinberg David R et al 2001 Kuniyoshi The Faithful Samurai Leiden Further readingBorges Jorge Luis 1935 The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kotsuke no Suke A Universal History of Infamy Buenos aires 1954 Emece 1945 ISBN 0 525 47546 X Harper Thomas 2019 47 The True Story of the Vendetta of the 47 Ronin from Ako Leete s Island Books ISBN 978 0918172778 Turnbull Stephen 2011 The Revenge of the 47 Ronin Edo 1703 Osprey Raid Series 23 Osprey Publishing ISBN 978 1 84908 427 7External linksRobson Lucia St Clair 1991 The Tokaido Road Forge Books New York Chushingura and the Samurai Tradition Comparisons of the accuracy of accounts by Mitford Murdoch and others as well as much other useful material by noted scholars of Japan Ako s Forty Seven Samurai Web site produced by students at Akō High School contains the story of the 47 ronin s story and images of wooden votive tablets of the 47 ronin in the Ōishi Shrine Akō The Trouble with Terasaka The Forty Seventh Ronin and the Chushingura Imagination by Henry D Smith II Japan Review 2004 16 3 65 Five different woodblock print versions of the story by Ando Hiroshige National Diet Library photograph of Sengaku ji 1893 photograph of Sengaku ji 1911 Yoshitoshi 47 Ronin series 1860 Discover the tales of Chushingura the 47 Ronins Archived 4 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine Learn more about the Bushido Way and the Hagakure s criticism of the 47 Ronin https think iafor org bushido way death Tales of Old Japan by Baron Redesdale Algernon Mitford The first tale is the 47 Ronin