Asano Naganori
In 1701, Asano Naganori, the "daimyō" of Akō han, having been allegedly insulted by Kira Yoshinaka in Edo Castle, attempted to kill him. Asano was executed, but Kira went unpunished. Asano's forty-seven "rōnin" avenged his death by killing Kira and became a legend that influenced many plays and stories of the era. The most successful of them was a bunraku play called "Kanadehon Chūshingura" (now simply called "Chūshingura", or "Treasury of Loyal Retainers"), written in 1748 by Takeda Izumo and two associates; it was later adapted into a kabuki play, which is still one of Japan's most popular. The earliest known account of the Akō incident in the West was published in 1822 in Isaac Titsingh's book, "Illustrations of Japan".