The
Forty-Seven Ronin (Chūshingura)
Introduction
The story of the Chūshingura
(literally, the 'Loyal League'), better known in the West as the 'Forty-Seven
Ronin' (a ronin - literally "wave man" - is a masterless samurai,
one who is tossed about, like a wave in the sea) is perhaps the most-known
story of Japanese history, both inside and outside Japan, described by one
noted Japan scholar as the country's "national legend". It is also
one that offers a great insight into the Japanese character, during the feudal
period and beyond. It is not far wrong to think of it as the Japanese
equivalent of one of the great Shakespearean dramas.
It concerns a group of samurai who
were left masterless in 1701 by the execution of their master, for assaulting a
court official whom he felt had insulted him. After over a year of patient
waiting and plotting, they succeeded in avenging him by killing the court
official. Although they had committed murder, they had done so for that most
noble of reasons (to the Japanese) - in obedience to their duty. As a result,
they were allowed an honourable death.
With little embellishment, the true
story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty,
sacrifice, dedication and honor which all good people (but especially samurai)
should persevere in their daily lives.
It was rapidly turned into a series
of Kabuki
plays. The most popular, the Kanedehon Chūshingura (literally,
"Treasury of Loyal Retainers"), was originally written in 1748 for
the bunraku (puppet) theatre, and was quickly adapted for Kabuki, in
twelve acts. The names, as well as the action, were slightly changed from the
real ones (because of a prohibition on plays about recent history), and the
stage version is set in the fourteenth century.
It quickly became (and remains) one
of the staples of the Kabuki repertoire, and remains one of the two most
popular Kabuki plays, still performed every year; it has always been regarded
as a cure for declining attendance, drawing audiences when nothing else will.
Detailed
recounting
This detailed recounting is based on
the version in the classic "Tales of Old Japan", by Lord Redesdale,
one of the first foreign diplomats to serve in Japan after it was opened to the
West. This influential book was published in 1871, after his tenure as Attache
from 1866-1870, and it was the first time the story of the Forty-Seven Ronin
appeared in print in the West.
(This account is now known to be
somewhat inaccurate, historically speaking. Alas, I have not yet had the time
to update this page to fix all the errors. In the meantime, the following
volumes:
·
Eiko Ikegami, "The Taming of the
Samurai: Honorific Individualism
·
and the Making of Modern Japan",
·
Harvard
University, Cambridge, 1997
·
James Murdoch, "A History of Japan:
Volume III
·
- The Tokugawa Epoch (1652-1868)",
·
Greenberg,
New York, 1926
·
Hiroaki Sato, "Legends of the Samurai",
·
Overlook,
Woodstock, 1995
are useful for a more historically
accurate version.)
Background
Events
At the start of the eighteenth
century, in 1701, two nobles, Kamei Sama and Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori,
were appointed to receive an envoy from the Emperor at the court of the Shogun
(the military governor of Japan). To teach them proper court etiquette, a high
official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kotsuke noh Suke, was
assigned. He became upset at the small presents they offered him (in the
time-honoured compensation for such an instructor), and he treated them poorly,
insulting them, and not bothering to teach them their duties properly.
While Asano bore all this stoically,
Kamei Sama became enraged, and prepared to kill Kira to avenge the insults.
However, the quick thinking counsellors of Kamei Sama averted disaster for
their lord and clan (for all would be punished if Kamei Sama killed Kira) by
quietly giving Kira a large bribe. Kira thereupon began to treat Kamei Sama
very nicely, which quenched his anger.
However, Kira now began to treat
Asano even worse, because he was upset that the latter had sent no present.
Finally, Kira insulted Asano as a country boor with no manners, and Asano could
no longer restrain himself. He attacked Kira with a dagger, but only wounded
him on the head with his first blow, and his second blow missed and hit a pillar.
Guards then quickly separated them.
The council met, and decided that
because Asano had attacked Kira within the grounds of the Shogun's
palace, which was strictly forbidden, he would be ordered to commit ritual
suicide, his goods and lands would be confiscated, his family ruined, and his
retainers made into ronin. As such, masterless samurai, they were
without means of support, and the position is generally somewhat disreputable.
As a indication of the humiliation
felt by samurai who became ronin, Lord Redesdale records that
during his stay in Japan, when he lived two hundred yards from the graves of
the Forty-Seven Ronin, a ronin killed himself at their graves. He left a
note saying that being a ronin, and without means of honourably earning
a living, he had tried to enter the service of the Prince of Choshiu, but was
refused. That having been refused, he wanted to serve no other master, and
being a ronin was hateful, so he had decided to kill himself, and what
more fitting place could he find? Lord Redesdale reports that he himself saw
the spot only a hour or two later, and the blood was still on the ground.
The
Ronin Plot Revenge
Amongst the dispossessed retainers
of Asano was a principal counsellor, Oishi Kuranosuke Yoshio, and together with
forty-six other faithful retainers they banded together to avenge their master,
by killing Kira. However, the latter was well guarded, to prevent just this
event. They saw that they would have to put him off his guard, before they
could succeed.
So, they split up, and took up
various professions, such as carpenters, merchants, etc. Their chief, Oishi,
took up residence in Kyoto. He began to lead an extremely dissipated life,
spending all his time and money on alcohol and women, as if nothing were
further from his mind than revenge.
Meanwhile, Kira feared a trap, and
sent spies to watch the former retainers of Asano.
One day, as Oishi returned drunk
from some haunt, he fell down in the street and went to sleep, and all the
passers-by laughed at him. A Satsuma man, passing by, was infuriated by this
behaviour on the part of a samurai, both his lack of courage to avenge
his master, as well as his current debauched behaviour. The Satsuma man abused
and insulted him, and kicked him in the face (to even touch the face of a samurai
was a great insult, let alone strike it), and spat on him.
Not too long after, Oishi's loyal
wife of twenty years went to him and complained that he seemed to be taking his
act too far. He divorced her on the spot, and sent her away with their two
younger children; the oldest, a boy, Oishi Chikara, remained with his father.
In his wife's place, the father bought a pretty young concubine.
All this was reported to Kira, who
became convinced that he was safe from the retainers of Asano, who must all be
bad samurai indeed, without the courage to avenge their master; he then
relaxed his guard.
The rest of the faithful retainers
now gathered in Edo, and in their roles as workmen and merchants, gained access
to Kira's house, becoming familiar with the layout of the house, and the
character of all within. One of the retainers went so far as to marry the
daughter of the builder of the house, to obtain plans. All of this was reported
to Oishi.
The
Attack
In 1702, when Oishi 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.
On the night of December 14/15,
during a heavy fall of snow, according to a carefully laid-out plan, the
Forty-Seven Ronin split up into two groups and attacked. One, led by Oishi, was
to attack the front gate, and the other, led by his son, Oishi 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 he was dead, the Forty-Seven
Ronin 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, where Oishi asked them
to be careful, and spare women, children and other helpless people.
At midnight, in a driving wind, the
Forty-Seven Ronin attacked. Oishi 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 neighbouring houses, to explain that they were not robbers, but
retainers out to revenge the death of their master, and no harm would come to
anyone else, who were all perfectly safe. His neighbours, who all hated Kira,
did nothing.
After posting archers, to prevent
those in the house (who had not yet woken up) from sending for help, Oishi
sounded the drum to start the attack. Ten of Kira's retainers held off the
party attacking the house from the front, but Oishi Chikara's party broke into
the back of the house.
Kira, in terror, took refuge in a
closet in the verandah, along with his wife and female servants. The rest of
his retainers, who slept in a barracks outside, attempted to come into the
house to his rescue. After overcoming the defenders at the front of the house,
the two parties of father and son joined up, and fought with 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.
Eventually, after a fierce struggle,
the last of Kira's retainers were killed. 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 Oishi checked Kira's bed, and it was still warm, so
he knew he could not be far.
The
Death of Kira
A renewed search disclosed a hidden
entrance to a secret courtyard holding a small building for storing charcoal
and firewood, where two more hidden armed retainers were overcome and killed. A
search of the building disclosed a man hiding, who attacked the searcher with a
dagger, but was easily disarmed. He refused to say who he was, but the
searchers felt sure it was Kira, and sounded the whistle.
The Forty-Seven Ronin gathered, and
Oishi, with a lantern, saw that it was indeed Kira - as a final proof, his head
bore the scar from Asano's attack.
At that, Oishi went on his knees,
and in consideration of Kira's high rank, respectfully addressed Kira, 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. Oishi indicated he personally would act as a second (a person
who assisted someone who was to commit suicide, and killed the person quickly
with a sword-blow, to stop the pain).
However, no matter how much they
entreated him, Kira crouched, speechless and trembling. At last, seeing it was
useless to ask, Oishi killed him, and cut off his head with the same dagger
that Asano had used to kill himself. They then extinguished all the fires in
the house (lest any cause the house to catch fire, and start a general fire
that would harm the neighbours), and left, taking the head.
The
Aftermath
One of the Ronin was ordered to
travel to Asano's old fiefdom and inform the people there that their revenge
had been completed. (Though his 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 Ronin turned themselves in.)
As day was now breaking, they
quickly made their way to their master's tomb, causing a great stir on the way.
The story quickly went around as to what had happened, and everyone on their
path praised them, and offered them refreshment. Arriving at the temple where
their master was buried, they washed and cleaned Kira's head, 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 the money they had left, asking
him to bury them decently, and offer prayers for them. They then waited
patiently for the orders of the government. As expected, they were ordered to
commit suicide for the crime of murder, and did so, after which their bodies
were all buried at the temple, in front of the tomb of their master.
The clothes and arms they wore are
preserved in the temple, and Lord Redesdale personally inspected them. The
armor was all home-made, as they had not wanted to possibly arouse suspicion by
purchasing any. The tombs became a place of great veneration, and people
flocked there to pray.
One of those who came was a Satsuma
man, the same one who had mocked and spat on Oishi as he lay drunk in the
street. Addressing the grave, he begged for forgiveness for his actions, and
for thinking that Oishi was not a true samurai. He then comitted suicide
himself on the spot, and is buried next to the graves of the Forty-Seven Ronin.
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