the story of the 47 ronin has been a
part of japan
for centuries over the years the story
accumulated exaggerations and
inaccuracies
like what happens with most historical
events and stories you tell about your
college days
sit back and let me tell you the story
of the 47 ronin
then i'll tell you what really happened
april 17
1701 it was supposed to be a good day in
edo castle
nobody expected it to end in a death
everyone was running around preparing
for a special ceremony that day
the emperor's representatives had been
staying at the castle for a while
and were about to leave a farewell
ceremony would send them off with the
respect
that a get the hell out of our castle
would not have a young lord a daimyo
named asano naganori was supposed to be
part of the ceremony
unfortunately the person in charge of
the event was a man named
kira yoshinoka kira was the master of
ceremony
it was the middle of the edo period
where ritual and protocol was serious
business
it was a world of ceremony and etiquette
and wearing different outfits depending
on who you were meeting
where you were and which event it was
wearing briefs and not boxers when
meeting the emperor could get your ass
sepukude and don't get me started on
thongs
kira was greedy and cunning and was
always scheming
to get asano's money not being a daimyo
kira was poorer than the younger man
not only that he kept criticizing asano
for not following the proper
formalities that day asano had enough
while kira was walking down a corridor
thinking about how the flies were of the
wrong color
asano slashed him on the back kira
whirled around
and caught another slash a nearby
witness fell upon asano
saving the older man's life well now
asano screwed up
he broke the law yeah yeah he tried to
murder someone but more importantly
drawing a blade within edo castle was
forbidden
no joke they didn't even allow samurai
to wear katanas in the castle only
wakizashi's which is what asano used
not only that the shinto religion has
this notion of purity
blood is as impure as it gets and to
shed blood in the presence of the shogun
and the emperor was double plus impure
the judgment upon asano was
swift the public didn't even get to hear
his side the shogun forced him to commit
ritual suicide
that same day the whole mess was over in
a few hours
the shogun stripped asano's family of
their lands and his samurai retainers
became
ronin or samurai without masters many of
them lived in
poverty kira was not punished
asano's ronin took the death of their
master like i take negative comments on
youtube
not well the ronin conspired together
debating what to do
their leader was a ronin named oishi
yoshio in the end
47 ronin plotted to do the honorable
thing
they would kill kira now they knew kira
wasn't a dummy he would expect
retaliation so the plan was they would
live normally
as if they had given up the grudge as if
they had forgotten
they would wait until kira let down his
guard oyshe the leader even lived
a life of heavy drinking to convince
everyone that he didn't care about
samurai honor dishonoring himself a most
honorable
act they waited two years if you think
about it the ronin were in a tough
spot what if kira happened to die in the
meantime
their pretense of ignoring honor would
have looked like no pretense at all
they would have been called cowards and
what could they have done oh we were
planning to kill him but he died first
yeah right you cowards so there must
have been fierce debates on when to
attack
in 1702 the two-year buildup came to a
plateau
and then released on a snowy night 47
ronin snuck into the residence of kira
yoshinoka
they set some fires killed some men and
lopped off kira's head
they gave kira a chance to commit
seppuku honorably but of course the
couldn't do it so they helped him out
the ronin gang
laid kira's head before the tomb of
their lord asano naganori
the public showered the ronin with
praise but the shogun failed to
understand the honorable values of
samurai and tragically he forced them
all to commit
seppuku the 47 ronin went down in
history as symbols of samurai
virtue and honor
and then kyanu showed up to save the day
alright there you go that was the
popular account of the revenge of the 47
ronin what was wrong with it
kind of a lot actually let's breeze
through the smaller mistakes first
before we get to the big problems
the kira assassination happened in 1703
not 1702 kira's first name was
pronounced yoshihisa not yoshinoko
asano had 270 samurai who became ronin
only 47 of them decided to kill kira
there may have been 46 ronin depending
on how you count
everybody did not applaud their actions
the response was mixed some people
praised them others condemned
them okay on to the big problems by the
way a lot of this info
comes from stephen turnbull's book the
revenge of the 47 ronin link in the
description if you want to check it out
most of what is told about the 47 ronin
came from a puppet's play
based on the incident and we all know
when a movie says it's based on a true
story that just means it's 95
fiction later retellings in plays and
movies built on this original narrative
the events happen in the edo period when
people think of samurai they usually
conjure up images of warriors and
bravery and nobunaga burning temples for
shiggles but no this was the eido period
a period of peace the wars of yesteryear
were long gone
eido samurai were mostly pencil pushers
brush pushers
no wonder the event was so popular it
was an unusually violent act in an age
where violent acts were
unusual it called back to a more
romantic age
it makes sense that playwrights would
embellish the samurai honor parts of the
story and downplay the
murdery parts so there are two big
problems
one the story got the two characters all
wrong
asano was the good guy who only snapped
because of kira's
greedy and scheming ways well not quite
we have evidence of what kind of a man
asano really was there was a report
written for the shogun by his agents
about the lives of his daimyos
the report called asano smart but said
he preferred to have fun rather than
govern
and he didn't have much skill in books
or war but the main thing the report
focused on was dude couldn't keep his
pants on apparently he liked to promote
the men
under him based on who could get him
more women he surrounded himself with
yes men and ass kissers the reports
condemned his men for not teaching their
young lord the morals and behaviors
expected of a daimyo well it's hard to
educate someone when his bum is in your
face
now on the other side you have kira
there was no evidence that he was a
coward or
greedy or treacherous by the time of his
attack kira has served as a reliable
master of ceremony for 40 years the
shogun thought
highly of him it was a position that
called for attention to detail and
masterful organizing
asano was part of that farewell ceremony
for the emperor's representatives
kira's job was to instruct asana on what
to do and how to act
if anyone couldn't learn the proper
etiquette and had to be scolded it would
have been the lazy asano
number two here's a question was it
really a revenge story
was it though was it here's the
definition of revenge
see that part let's say your brother
attacks a dude who doesn't fight back
but your brother
fails and someone else kills your
brother
now if you then kill the dude that's not
revenge
that's just being a dick dude did
nothing to your brother
it was asano who attacked kira what did
kira do
bleed on him sure the ronin were like
well kira was always
scheming and stuff he must have done
something to provoke asano because he
was always doing something to provoke
asano
very convincing guys and my ex was just
wiping that guy's pants because she
spilled water on his lap
no we didn't see kira do anything wrong
nor did we see him
causing asano's death kiro didn't order
the suicide the shogun did
it would have been a proper revenge if
the ronin had killed the shogun instead
so it seems like less of a revenge tale
than a tale of 47
ronin who murdered the senior citizen
that their lord failed to murder
okay so that's the real story now the
point of this video is to talk about the
historical events behind the 47 ronin
story not to not to poop on it
the story can be enjoyed by itself on
its own it's a tale of sacrifice
honor and loyalty values that japanese
society
strove to preserve in the edo period and
beyond that the story endured for 300
years through countless plays and movies
is a testament to how much those values
resonated with the japanese people
hey guys want more japanese folktales
clicky clicky on the side here
oh and see the description below for
turnbull's book he goes over the
background and context behind the 47
ronin it's a really fun read alright
much love guys now get out there and
spread the knowledge