Forty - seven Ronin The revenge of the took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century . One noted Japanese scholar described the tale , the most famous example of the samurai code of honor , " bushidō , " as the country ' s " national legend . " The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless ( becoming " ronin " ) after their daimyo ( feudal lord ) Asano Naganori was compelled to commit " seppuku " ( ritual suicide ) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka , whose title was " Kōzuke no suke " . The " ronin " avenged their master ' s honor by killing Kira , after waiting and planning for almost two years . In turn , the " ronin " were themselves obliged to commit " seppuku " for committing the crime of murder . With much embellishment , this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty , sacrifice , persistence , and honor that people should preserve in their daily lives . The popularity of the tale grew during the " Meiji " era of Japanese history , in which Japan underwent modernization , and the legend became subsumed within discourses of national heritage and identity . Fictionalized accounts of the tale of the Forty - seven Ronin are known as " Chūshingura . " The story was popularized in numerous plays , including " bunraku " and " kabuki " . Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the " Genroku " era , which forbade portrayal of current events , the names were changed . While the version given by the playwrights may have come to be accepted as historical fact by some , the first " Chūshingura " was written some 50 years after the event , and numerous historical records about the actual events that predate the " Chūshingura " survive . The " bakufu " ' s censorship laws had relaxed somewhat 75 years later in the late 18th century , when Japanologist Isaac Titsingh first recorded the story of the Forty - seven Ronin as one of the significant events of the " Genroku " era . The story continues to be popular in Japan to this day . Each year on December 14 , Sengakuji Temple holds a festival commemorating the event . Name . The participants in the revenge are called the in Japanese , and are usually referred to as the " Forty - seven Ronin " or " Forty - seven Samurai " in English . The event is also known as the Akō vendetta or the . Literary accounts of the events are known as the . Story . In 1701 ( by the Western calendar ) , two daimyo , Asano Takumi - no - Kami Naganori , the young daimyo of the Akō Domain ( a small fiefdom in western Honshū ) , and Lord Kamei of the Tsuwano Domain , were ordered to arrange a fitting reception for the envoys of the Emperor in Edo , during their " sankin kōtai " service to the Shogun . These daimyo names are not fictional , nor is there any question that something actually happened in . What is commonly called " the Akō incident " was an actual event . For many years , the version of events retold by A . B . Mitford in " Tales of Old Japan " ( 1871 ) was considered authoritative . The sequence of events and the characters in this narrative were presented to a wide popular readership in the West . Mitford invited his readers to construe his story of the Forty - seven Ronin as historically accurate ; and while his version of the tale has long been considered a standard work , some of its precise details are now questioned . Nevertheless , even with plausible defects , Mitford ' s work remains a conventional starting point for further study . Whether as a mere literary device or as a claim for ethnographic veracity , Mitford explains : Mitford appended what he explained were translations of Sengakuji documents the author had examined personally . These were proffered as " proofs " authenticating the factual basis of his story . These documents were : Genesis of a tragedy . Asano and Kamei were to be given instruction in the necessary court etiquette by Kira Kozuke - no - Suke Yoshinaka , a powerful Edo official in the hierarchy of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi ' s shogunate . He became upset at them , allegedly either because of the insufficient presents they offered him ( in the time - honored compensation for such an instructor ) , or because they would not offer bribes as he wanted . Other sources say that he was naturally rude and arrogant , or that he was corrupt , which offended Asano , a devoutly moral Confucian . Whether Kira treated them poorly , insulted them , or failed to prepare them for fulfilling specific " bakufu " duties , offense was taken . While Asano bore all this stoically , Kamei became enraged and prepared to kill Kira to avenge the insults . However , the quick thinking counsellors of Kamei averted disaster for their lord and clan ( for all would have been punished if Kamei had killed Kira ) by quietly giving Kira a large bribe ; Kira thereupon began to treat Kamei nicely , which calmed Kamei . However , Kira allegedly continued to treat Asano harshly , because he was upset that the latter had not emulated his companion . Finally , Kira insulted Asano , calling him a country boor with no manners , and Asano could restrain himself no longer . At the " Matsu no Ōrōka " , the main grand corridor that interconnects different parts of the shogun ' s residence , Asano lost his temper and attacked Kira with a dagger , wounding him in the face with his first strike ; his second missed and hit a pillar . Guards then quickly separated them . Kira ' s wound was hardly serious , but the attack on a shogunate official within the boundaries of the shogun ' s residence was considered a grave offense . Any kind of violence , even drawing a katana , was completely forbidden in Edo Castle . The " daimyo " of Akō had removed his dagger from its scabbard within Edo Castle , and for that offense , he was ordered to kill himself by committing " seppuku . " Asano ' s goods and lands were to be confiscated after his death , his family was to be ruined , and his retainers were to be made " ronin " ( leaderless ) . This news was carried to Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio , Asano ' s principal counsellor , who took command and moved the Asano family away , before complying with " bakufu " orders to surrender the castle to the agents of the government . The ronin plot revenge . Of Asano ' s over three hundred men , forty - seven ( some sources say there were originally more than fifty ) — and especially their leader Ōishi — refused to allow their lord to go unavenged , even though revenge had been prohibited in the case . They banded together , swearing a secret oath to avenge their master by killing Kira , even though they knew they would be severely punished for doing so . Kira was well guarded , however , and his residence had been fortified to prevent just such an event . The ronin saw that they would have to put him off his guard before they could succeed . To quell the suspicions of Kira and other shogunate authorities , they dispersed and became tradesmen and monks . Ōishi took up residence in Kyoto and began to frequently visit brothels and taverns , as if nothing were further from his mind than revenge . Kira still feared a trap , and sent spies to watch the former retainers of Asano . One day , as Ōishi returned home drunk , 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 — by his lack of courage to avenge his master as well as his current debauched behaviour . The Satsuma man abused and insulted Ōishi , 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 , Ōishi went to his loyal wife of twenty years and divorced her so that no harm would come to her when the ronin took revenge . He sent her away with their two younger children to live with her parents ; he gave the eldest boy , Chikara , a choice to stay and fight or to leave . Chikara remained with his father . Ōishi began to act oddly and very unlike the composed samurai . He frequented geisha houses ( particularly Ichiriki Chaya ) , drank nightly , and acted obscenely in public . Ōishi ' s men bought a geisha , hoping she would calm him . This was all a ruse to rid Ōishi of his spies . Kira ' s agents reported all this to Kira , who became convinced that he was safe from the retainers of Asano , that they must all be bad samurai indeed , without the courage to avenge their master after a year and a half . Thinking them harmless and lacking funds from his " retirement " , he then reluctantly let down his guard . The rest of the faithful ronin 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 ( Kinemon Kanehide Okano ) went so far as to marry the daughter of the builder of the house , to obtain the house ' s design plans . All of this was reported to Ōishi . Others gathered arms and secretly transported them to Edo , another offense . The attack . After two years , when Ōishi 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 to renew their oaths . In , early in the morning in a driving wind during a heavy fall of snow , Ōishi and the ronin attacked Kira Yoshinaka ' s mansion in Edo . According to a carefully laid - out plan , they split up into two groups and attacked , armed with swords and bows . One group , led by Ōishi , was to attack the front gate ; the other , led by his son , Ōishi 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 Kira was dead , they 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 , at which Ōishi had asked them to be careful and spare women , children , and other helpless people . ( The code of bushido does not require mercy to noncombatants , nor forbids it . ) Ōishi 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 neighboring houses , to explain that they were not robbers , but retainers out to avenge the death of their master , and that no harm would come to anyone else : the neighbors were all safe . One of the ronin climbed to the roof and loudly announced to the neighbors that the matter was a revenge act ( katakiuchi , 敵討ち ) . The neighbors , who all hated Kira , were relieved and did nothing to hinder the raiders . After posting archers ( some on the roof ) to prevent those in the house ( who had not yet awakened ) from sending for help , Ōishi sounded the drum to start the attack . Ten of Kira ' s retainers held off the party attacking the house from the front , but Ōishi Chikara ' s party broke into the back of the house . Kira , in terror , took refuge in a closet in the veranda , along with his wife and female servants . The rest of his retainers , who slept in barracks outside , attempted to come into the house to his rescue . After overcoming the defenders at the front of the house , the two parties led by father and son joined up and fought 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 eventuality . Eventually , after a fierce struggle , the last of Kira ' s retainers was subdued ; in the process the ronin killed sixteen of Kira ' s men and wounded twenty - two , including his grandson . 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 Ōishi checked Kira ' s bed , and it was still warm , so he knew he could not be far away . The death of Kira . A renewed search disclosed an entrance to a secret courtyard hidden behind a large scroll ; the courtyard held 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 ; he attacked the searcher with a dagger , but the man was easily disarmed . He refused to say who he was , but the searchers felt sure it was Kira , and sounded the whistle . The ronin gathered , and Ōishi , with a lantern , saw that it was indeed Kira — as a final proof , his head bore the scar from Asano ' s attack . At that , Ōishi went on his knees , and in consideration of Kira ' s high rank , respectfully addressed him , 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 . Ōishi indicated he personally would act as a kaishakunin ( " second " , the one who beheads a person committing harakiri to spare them the indignity of a lingering death ) and offered him the same dagger that Asano had used to kill himself . However , no matter how much they entreated him , Kira crouched , speechless , and trembling . At last , seeing it was useless to ask , Ōishi ordered the other ronin to pin him down , and killed him by cutting off his head with the dagger . Kira was killed on the night of the 14th day of the 12th month of the 15th year of " Genroku " ( 1703 - 01 - 30 Gregorian ) . They then extinguished all the lamps and fires in the house ( lest any cause the house to catch fire and start a general fire that would harm the neighbors ) and left , taking Kira ' s head . One of the ronin , the ashigaru Terasaka Kichiemon , was ordered to travel to Akō and report that their revenge had been completed . ( Though Kichiemon ' s 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 . ) The aftermath . As day was now breaking , they quickly carried Kira ' s head from his residence to their lord ' s grave in Sengaku - ji temple , marching about ten kilometers across the city , causing a great stir on the way . The story of the revenge spread quickly , and everyone on their path praised them and offered them refreshment . On arriving at the temple , the remaining forty - six ronin ( all except Terasaka Kichiemon ) washed and cleaned Kira ' s head in a well , 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 turned themselves in ; the group was broken into four parts and put under guard of four different daimyo . During this time , two friends of Kira came to collect his head for burial ; the temple still has the original receipt for the head , which the friends and the priests who dealt with them all signed . The shogunate officials in Edo were in a quandary . The samurai had followed the precepts of " bushido " by avenging the death of their lord ; but they had also defied the shogunate authority by exacting revenge , which had been prohibited . In addition , the Shogun received a number of petitions from the admiring populace on behalf of the " ronin " . As expected , the " ronin " were sentenced to death for the murder of Kira ; but the Shogun had finally resolved the quandary by ordering them to honorably commit " seppuku " instead of having them executed as criminals . It is known that each of the assailants ended his life in a ritualistic fashion . Ōishi Chikara , the youngest , was only 15 years old on the day the raid took place , and only 16 the day he had to commit " seppuku " . Each of the forty - six ronin killed himself in . This has caused a considerable amount of confusion ever since , with some people referring to the " forty - six ronin " ; this refers to the group put to death by the Shogun , while the actual attack party numbered forty - seven . The forty - seventh ronin , identified as Terasaka Kichiemon , eventually returned from his mission and was pardoned by the Shogun ( some say on account of his youth ) . He lived until the age of 87 , dying around 1747 , and was then buried with his comrades . The assailants who died by " seppuku " were subsequently interred on the grounds of Sengaku - ji , in front of the tomb of their master . The clothes and arms they wore are still preserved in the temple to this day , along with the drum and whistle ; the armor was all home - made , as they had not wanted to arouse suspicion by purchasing any . The tombs became a place of great veneration , and people flocked there to pray . The graves at the temple have been visited by a great many people throughout the years since the " Genroku " era . One of those who visited the tombs was the Satsuma man who had mocked and spat on Ōishi as he lay drunk in the street . Addressing the grave , he begged for forgiveness for his actions and for thinking that Ōishi was not a true samurai . He then committed suicide and was buried next to the graves of the ronin . Re - establishment of the Asano clan ' s lordship . Though the revenge is often viewed as an act of loyalty , there had been a second goal , to re - establish the Asanos ' lordship and finding a place for fellow samurai to serve . Hundreds of samurai who had served under Asano had been left jobless , and many were unable to find employment , as they had served under a disgraced family . Many lived as farmers or did simple handicrafts to make ends meet . The revenge of the Forty - seven Ronin cleared their names , and many of the unemployed samurai found jobs soon after the " ronin " had been sentenced to their honorable end . Asano Daigaku Nagahiro , Naganori ' s younger brother and heir , was allowed by the Tokugawa Shogunate to re - establish his name , though his territory was reduced to a tenth of the original . Criticism . The ronin spent more than a year waiting for the " right time " for their revenge . It was Yamamoto Tsunetomo , author of the " Hagakure " , who asked this famous question : " What if , nine months after Asano ' s death , Kira had died of an illness ? " His answer was that the Forty - seven Ronin would have lost their only chance at avenging their master . Even if they had claimed , then , that their dissipated behavior was just an act , that in just a little more time they would have been ready for revenge , who would have believed them ? They would have been forever remembered as cowards and drunkards — bringing eternal shame to the name of the Asano clan . The right thing for the ronin to do , wrote Yamamoto , according to proper " bushido " , was to attack Kira and his men immediately after Asano ' s death . The ronin would probably have suffered defeat , as Kira was ready for an attack at that time — but this was unimportant . Ōishi , from the perspective of " bushido " , was too obsessed with success , according to Yamamoto . He conceived his convoluted plan to ensure they would succeed at killing Kira , which is not a proper concern in a samurai : the important thing was not the death of Kira , but for the former samurai of Asano to show outstanding courage and determination in an all - out attack against the Kira house , thus winning everlasting honor for their dead master . Even if they had failed to kill Kira , even if they had all perished , it would not have mattered , as victory and defeat have no importance in " bushido " . By waiting a year , they improved their chances of success but risked dishonoring the name of their clan , the worst sin a samurai can commit . This is why Yamamoto and others claim that the tale of the Forty - seven Ronin is a good story of revenge , but by no means a story of " bushido " . Yamamoto was not the only one to find fault in Ōishi ' s actions . Below are other authors ' criticisms of the events surrounding Asano ' s attack on Kira and the subsequent attack on Kira ' s mansion by the Forty - seven Ronin . The Forty - seven Ronin in the arts . The tragedy of the Forty - seven Ronin has been one of the most popular themes in Japanese art , and has lately even begun to make its way into Western art . Immediately following the event , there were mixed feelings among the intelligentsia about whether such vengeance had been appropriate . Many agreed that , given their master ' s last wishes , the ronin had done the right thing , but were undecided about whether such a vengeful wish was proper . Over time , however , the story became a symbol , not of bushido , as the ronin can be seen as seriously lacking it , but of loyalty to one ' s master and later , of loyalty to the emperor . Once this happened , the story flourished as a subject of drama , storytelling , and visual art . Plays . The incident immediately inspired a succession of " kabuki " and " bunraku " plays ; the first , " The Night Attack at Dawn by the Soga " appeared only two weeks after the ronin died . It was shut down by the authorities , but many others soon followed , initially in Osaka and Kyoto , farther away from the capital . Some even took the story as far as Manila , to spread the story to the rest of Asia . The most successful of the adaptations was a " bunraku " puppet 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 . In the play , to avoid the attention of the censors , the events are transferred into the distant past , to the 14th century reign of shogun Ashikaga Takauji . Asano became Enya Hangan Takasada , Kira became Ko no Moronao and Ōishi became Ōboshi Yuranosuke Yoshio ; the names of the rest of the ronin were disguised to varying degrees . The play contains a number of plot twists that do not reflect the real story : Moronao tries to seduce Enya ' s wife , and one of the ronin dies before the attack because of a conflict between family and warrior loyalty ( another possible cause of the confusion between forty - six and forty - seven ) . Opera . The story was turned into an opera , " Chūshingura " , by Shigeaki Saegusa in 1997 . Cinema and television . The play has been made into a movie at least six times in Japan , the earliest starring Onoe Matsunosuke . The film ' s release date is questioned , but placed between 1910 and 1917 . It has been aired on the Jidaigeki Senmon Channel ( Japan ) with accompanying " benshi " narration . In 1941 , the Japanese military commissioned director Kenji Mizoguchi , who would later direct Ugetsu , to make " Genroku Chūshingura " . They wanted a ferocious morale booster based upon the familiar " rekishi geki " ( " historical drama " ) of " The Loyal 47 Ronin " . Instead , Mizoguchi chose for his source " Mayama Chūshingura " , a cerebral play dealing with the story . The film was a commercial failure , having been released in Japan one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor . The Japanese military and most audiences found the first part to be too serious , but the studio and Mizoguchi both regarded it as so important that Part Two was put into production , despite Part One ' s lukewarm reception . Renowned by postwar scholars lucky to have seen it in Japan , the film wasn ' t shown in America until the 1970s . The 1962 film version directed by Hiroshi Inagaki , " " , is most familiar to Western audiences . In it , Toshiro Mifune appears in a supporting role as spearman Tawaraboshi Genba . Mifune was to revisit the story several times in his career . In 1971 he appeared in the 52 - part television series " Daichūshingura " as Ōishi , while in 1978 he appeared as Lord Tsuchiya in the epic " Swords of Vengeance " ( " Ako - Jo danzetsu " ) . Many Japanese television shows , including single programs , short series , single seasons , and even year - long series such as " Daichūshingura " and the more recent NHK Taiga drama " Genroku Ryōran " , recount the events of the Forty - seven Ronin . Among both films and television programs , some are quite faithful to the " Chūshingura , " while others incorporate unrelated material or alter details . In addition , " gaiden " dramatize events and characters not in the " Chūshingura " . Kon Ichikawa directed another version in 1994 . In 2004 , Saito Mitsumasa directed a 9 - episode mini - series starring Matsudaira Ken , who also starred in a 1999 49 - episode TV series of the " Chūshingura " entitled " Genroku Ryoran " . In Hirokazu Koreeda ' s 2006 film " Hana yori mo naho " , the events of the Forty - seven Ronin story was used as a backdrop , one of the ronin being a neighbour of the protagonists . Woodblock prints . The Forty - seven Ronin are one of the most popular themes in woodblock prints , or " ukiyo - e " ; the list of artists who have made prints portraying either the original events , or scenes from the play , or the actors , is a Who ' s Who of woodblock artists . One book on subjects depicted in woodblock prints devotes no fewer than seven chapters to the history of the appearance of this theme in woodblocks . Among the artists who produced prints on this subject are Utamaro , Toyokuni , Hokusai , Kunisada , Hiroshige , and Yoshitoshi . However , probably the most famous woodblocks in the genre are those of Kuniyoshi , who produced at least eleven separate complete series on this subject , along with more than twenty triptych s .