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One of the most spectacular vendettas ever: the history and haiku behind the mass-suicide featured in the 2013 film 47 Ronin
A remarkable and true tale of loyalty, vengeance, and ritual suicide. . . . In the spring of 1701, the regional lord Asano Naganori wounded his supervising official, Kira Yoshinaka, during an important ceremony in the ruling shogunate's Edo Castle and was at once condemned to death. Within two years, in the dead of winter, a band of forty-seven of Asano's retainers avenged him by breaking into Yoshinaka's mansion and killing him. Subsequently, all the men were sentenced to death but allowed to perform it honorably by seppuku.
This incident—often called the Ako Incident—became a symbol of samurai honor andat once prompted stage dramatization in kabuki and puppet theater. It has since has been told and retold in short and long stories, movies, TV dramas. The story has also attracted the attention of foreign writers and translators. The most recent retelling was the 2013 Hollywood film 47 Ronin, with Keanu Reeves, though it was wildly and willfully distorted.
What did actually happen and how has this famous vendetta resonated through history? Hiroaki Sato's examination is a close, comprehensive look at the Ako Incident through the context of its times, portraits of the main protagonists, and its literary legacy in the haiku ofthe avengers. Also included is Sato's new translation of Akutagawa Ryunosuke's short story about leader Oishi Kuranosuke as he awaited sentencing.
Contents
Contents
Introduction
Part I: Grudge and Vendetta (12,500 words)
The Country Is "Full of Light"
Shogun Tsunayoshi and Genroku Era
"Pitying the Sentient" Edicts
A Haiku Scholar's Take
Titles and Number of Participants
Asano Attacks Kira
Why Did Asano Want to Kill Kira?
Neither a Daimyo Nor a Samurai
Dramatic Elements
Seppuku
The Treatment of Avengers
Camouflage
Part II: Leader Ōishi Kuranosuke and His Men (19,400 words)
Escheatment
The First Ninja's Report
We Are All Hicks
Another Ninja's Report
The Disagreements
Onodera Jūnai's Letters
Failure to Commit Seppuku Mocked
Restoring the Asano House
The "Radicals"
Kuranosuke Responds
Kuranosuke's Appearance
Sword Fights and Killings
Uncertain Samurai Life
Kuranosuke Indulges in Gay Quarters
A House of Sorrow
Did Kuranosuke Really Drown in "Wine and Flesh"?
The Way of the Samurai
Kuranosuke's Last Letters
Chapter III: Poetic Connections
Gengo's Travelogue: Going Down the Tōkaidō Road in a Daimyo Procession
Gengo's Haikai Teacher Sentoku's Opinion: Was the Lord President of Akō Stingy?
Gengo Pays Respects to Bashō's Grave
1697: Another Ill Effect of "Pitying the Sentient"
Gengo's Haikai Anthology and Kayano Sanpei's Suicide
A Mysterious Tale about a Mysterious Birth
How Ōtaka Shiyō Made Use of Haikai Man Teisa
Gengo's Encounter with Haikai Master Kikaku the Day before the Vendetta
Kikaku's Letter on the Night of the Raid
A Real Kikaku Letter?
The Great Fire, Asano Naganao, the Firefighters' Uniform
The Announcement, the Raid, and its Aftermath
Extracts from the First Full Account of the Forty-Seven Samurai
Ōtaka Gengo's Farewell-to-the-World Verse
Sentoku's Other Students
Another Story about Teisa and Akō Men
A Spearman Had to Drop Out
IV: An Akutagawa Story
Bibliography
Index
