In the environment of the Shogun’s court, where Confucian ideals of hierarchy, precedent and ritual met, notions of divination and good or bad omens, correct protocol and ritual were absolutely essential. Lord Kira was the Shogun’s Master of Ceremony, who oversaw every detail of the shogun’s diary, court protocol, the organization of audiences and the like. In Chushingura Kira Kozuke-no-suke Yoshihisa is an out-and-out villain, an attribution that is essential if his murder in very suspicious circumstances is to be transformed into an uplifting account of samurai virtue. This unashamedly fictionalized version of the story, involving changes of names, dates and locations, is universally recognized for what it really is: a classic drama based on a fictionalized account of an actual historical event yet somehow the overall impression of the nature and circumstances of the raid provided by Chushingura has completely eclipsed the sober historical reality. The play was first produced in Edo (modern Tokyo) in 1748 and has never left the repertoire since. This lens is provided by a play from the Japanese kabuki theater that was based on the raid and is called Kanadehon Chushingura, of which the title is usually shortened to Chushingura (The Treasure House of the Loyal Retainers). Yet modern readers have more in common with them than mere excitement, because, like the Japanese of contemporary Edo, we are forced to look at the story through a very large distorting lens. There is nothing quite like it, and John Allyn’s masterful retelling of the tale captures for modern readers much of the excitement with which the Japanese populace of the mid-eighteenth century would have responded to what for them was the equivalent of a newspaper sensation. The Raid of the Forty-seven Ronin holds a unique place in Japanese history. TUTTLE PUBLISHING® is a registered trademark of Tuttle Publishing, a division of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd. Yaekari Building, 3rd Floor, 5-4-12 Osaki,Ħ1 Tai Seng Avenue #02-12, Singapore 534167

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 70-121274 No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher. Tuttle Publishing Company, Inc.Īll rights reserved. First published in 1970 by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.Ĭopyright © 2012 Charles E.

The 47 ronin story john allyn