Departments
Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
CHŪSHINGURA
忠臣蔵
The Forty-Seven Ronin
The “Tale of the Forty-seven Ronin” has immortalized a group of eighteenth-century ronin whose actions epitomized the samurai virtues of bravery, determination, self-sacrifice, and revenge.
A Provocation at the Shogun’s Residence
The story begins in 1701, when the daimyo Lord Asano Naganori was appointed as a representative of the shogun (the military ruler of Japan) for a New Years meeting with representatives of the Emperor in Kyoto. In preparation for the event, he was required to receive training in Imperial etiquette from a subordinate of the shogun, Kira Yoshinaka.
Kira was by all accounts a very greedy and conceited man. When performing duties for the daimyos, he apparently required a bribe for his troubles. For whatever reason, Lord Asano was either unaware of this requirement, or unwilling to pay a bribe for training that the shogun himself had ordered.
Kira was incensed at this perceived slight from Asano. When Asano showed up at the shogun’s quarters for his instruction with Kira, the shogun’s underling treated him with extreme rudeness. Kira finally provoked Asano into drawing his sword. He slashed at Kira, but one of Kira’s own subordinates deflected the blade. Kira sustained only minor injuries.
Asano, on the other hand, was now doomed. By drawing his sword in violence within the shogun’s residence, he had committed an unforgivable infraction. Asano was now obliged to commit seppuku, which he did.
Following his death, Lord Asano’s lands were confiscated. His samurai were cast out as masterless ronin. The shogun did not punish Kira.
The Forty-seven Ronin Plan their Revenge
Asano’s former samurai (there were forty-seven of them) bided their time and plotted revenge. They waited nearly two years before hatching their plan of retribution. Finally, one night they stormed Kira’s mansion and apprehended him. The ronin killed and decapitated the shogun’s servant, then placed his head at the grave of their master Asano. Then they calmly waited to be arrested.
The Judgment and Legacy of the Forty-seven Ronin
After their arrest, there were conflicting opinions about what to do with the forty-seven ronin. On one hand, the shogun himself admired them for their commitment to slay their master’s killer, and their spirit of self-sacrifice. But some of the shogun’s advisors argued that the forty-seven ronin had displayed defiance against the shogun with their actions--since Asano had been condemned to death for a crime committed in the shogun’s residence.
The final verdict was a mixed one. The shogun decided that the ronin had achieved the pinnacle of samurai honor. They would therefore not have to die in the manner of common criminals. They were allowed to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as samurai.
The story of the forty-seven ronin was made into a fifteen-hour kabuki drama in 1748. Since then, the story has been the subject of numerous movies, stage plays, dramas, and books.
