今日は、日本の「忠臣蔵」として知られる、47人の浪士の仇討ちについて知りました。これは、主君の仇を討つために、浪人たちが一年間待ち、権力のある役人を殺害した後、自らも切腹した事件です。
【衝撃】浪人47士の仇討ち事件、マジか… 殿の仇を討ち一年後に集団切腹エンド
挿話
挿話
挿話今日は、日本の「忠臣蔵」として知られる、47人の浪士の仇討ちについて知りました。これは、主君の仇を討つために、浪人たちが一年間待ち、権力のある役人を殺害した後、自らも切腹した事件です。
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My favorite detail is this.
“The rōnin spent more than 14 months waiting for the “right time” for their revenge. It was Yamamoto Tsunetomo, author of the Hagakure, who asked the well known question: “What if, nine months after Asano’s death, Kira had died of an illness?” His answer was that the forty-seven rōnin 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 rōnin to do, writes Yamamoto, was to attack Kira and his men immediately after Asano’s death. The rōnin would probably have suffered defeat, as Kira was ready for an attack at that time—but this was unimportant.[36]”
Yamamoto himself was a relic of an earlier and romanticized era of violence, and it seems as if even in the context of the time and culture, the 47 Ronin’s actions could be interpreted as either honorable or dishonorable depending on one’s point of view.
Fun detail: only 46 committed seppuku. One (the youngest, I believe) was sent to their former lord’s home manor to inform his family, with the understanding that he would return to Edo afterwards to accept punishment.
By the time he returned, however, public sentiment was strongly in the Ronin’s favor and the Shogun pardoned him. He lived out his full life, and was interred with the other 46 following his death.
Fun fact, there were actually only 46 retainers who participated in the plan
The 47 comes from a Samurai who, prior to them carrying it out, berated and beat down their leader for not avenging his master
Once they killed Kira, the offending samurai went to their graves and committed seppuku as an apology and was then buried with them, bringing the number to 47
Honestly even cooler than the title gives credit for, they didn’t just “wait” they acted like drunks and beggars and endured being treated like absolute trash by everyone around them so that the official they went on to kill would think that they were so pathetic they could no longer possibly be a threat
When I was in jail we had to be in this dumb Kabuki play about the 47 Ronin, I wanted to be Oishi but they made me Ori.
There’s a movie called 47 Ronin with Keanu that’s been pushed on me lately. I guess it’s gunna to be a Samurai movie weekend!
I always thought seppuku was a slow painful way to die, until I read this describing the seppuku ritual
>…A second, trusted person, known as the kaishakunin, was present to deliver a swift, clean decapitation with a katana once the samurai made an initial cut.
[Edit]
But I then read that seppuku as capital punishment was not the same as we see in movies.
>While voluntary seppuku is the best known form, in practice, the most common form of seppuku was obligatory seppuku, used as a form of capital punishment for disgraced samurai, especially for those who committed a serious offense such as rape, robbery, corruption, unprovoked murder, or treason. The samurai were generally told of their offense in full and given a set time for them to commit seppuku, usually before sunset on a given day. On occasion, if the sentenced individuals were uncooperative, seppuku could be carried out by an executioner, or more often, the actual execution was carried out solely by decapitation while retaining only the trappings of seppuku; even the tantō laid out in front of the uncooperative offender could be replaced with a fan (to prevent uncooperative offenders from using the tantō as a weapon against the observers or the executioner). This form of involuntary seppuku was considered shameful and undignified.[30] Unlike voluntary seppuku, seppuku carried out as capital punishment by executioners did not necessarily absolve or pardon the offender’s family of the crime. Depending on the severity of the crime, all or part of the property of the condemned could be confiscated, and the family would be punished by being stripped of rank, sold into long-term servitude, or executed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku#As_capital_punishment
I’m sure that, in turn, prompted someone else to commit seppuku.
TIL seppuku is the name for a samurai committing suicide by stabbing themself in the abdomen.
[wiki](https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku)
I’m a lil confused but.. I hope they had fun? I love sudoku
Here’s a good video about the place they’re buried https://youtu.be/qrlMz7CZ2c4
Is this what that movie by Morgan freeman was based on?
Edit: last knights, is what the movie was called.
They made a documentary of this starring Keanu Reeves, complete with ninjas and demon magic
My favorite detail is this. The dedication is insane.
Jean-Pierre: The ronin could have hired themselves to new masters. They could have fought for themselves. But they chose honor. They chose myth.
Sam: They chose wrong.
Some people in history were really touched in the head huh.
Since we are discussing details, mine is that when they finally launched the attack, a few of them went ahead in the town to tell the townsfolk a vendetta was being settled and to stay inside for a while. This was a normal thing at the time so none of the normal folk were particularly surprised and stayed out or the way.
Which movie adaptation is the best one? Which one should I watch first?
They are all buried at Sengakuji temple in Tokyo. The temple also has a little museum dedicated to their story. I visited in 2019, snd highly recommend.
1:47 KD ratio. Fucking pathetic, no wonder they were ronin.
The concept of honor warped to this degree is so fucking stupid it literally kills people.
This would make such a cool revenge plot for a movie… they should make it and cast someone really cool and authentically Japanese for the main role… I’m thinking someone like……………. Keanu Reeves.
One my favorite stories!
I went to the temple they are buried in Tokyo.
They also carried Lord Kiras severed head there to wash it and present it as proof of avenging their master.
Eventually his associates came to the temple to take his head back to be buried.
You can still see the well where they washed the head, some of their weapons and armor and my personal favorite; they still have the written ‘receipt’ for the lord’s head on display.
Is this not a very well known story? Almost as well known as the titanic or something?
The Japanese are probably the only people in the history of the planet who took honour and righteousness way too far – they really didn’t need to take it to that extent.
Samurai #1 — You’re a fucking dishonourable liar.
Samurai #2 — *No I’m not, and here’s the proof.*
Samurai #1 — Awww shit, I guess that’s seppuku for me then.
They really did not need to go that hard. Even today the Yakuza cut off their fingers for some silly reasons sometimes.
The plot to get revenge on Kaido from killing Oden has succeedeed
Let’s be honest, there are numerous contradictory parts to the story and it has almost certainly been embellished and romanticized.
The accounts certainly have certain consistencies and there are SOME original documents, but anyone who has read Japanese history knows there are a lot of stories which have been wholesale edited to indicate how honorable or dishonorable a group or person was based entirely on clan loyalty of the authors.
Imagine now you kill someone who kill your boss then kill yourself just because. The power of brainwashing is simply terrifying.
Well that’s a stupid thing to do.
Gonna be a buzzkill and point out that the lord of the 47 ronin was a prick who put himself in that situation to begin with.
Japanese people fetishizing suicide will never not be weird to me, it’s such a looney cultural practise.
One of my top ten movies and probably my earliest memory of Keannu
Til about this incredibly well known thing that there have been several movies about.
And soon we will see the sequel: The 47 MAGAt.