Chūshingura
Chūshingura (忠臣蔵, The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) is the title given to fictionalized accounts in Japanese literature, theater, and film that relate to the historical incident involving the forty-seven rōnin and their mission to avenge the death of their master, Asano Naganori.
Including the early Kanadehon Chūshingura (仮名手本忠臣蔵), the story has been told in kabuki, bunraku, stage plays, films, novels, television shows and other media.
With ten different television productions in the years 1997–2007 alone, Chūshingura ranks among the most familiar of all historical stories in Japan.
The ruling shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi placed Asano Takumi-no-kami Naganori, the daimyō of Akō, in charge of a reception of envoys from the Imperial Court in Kyoto.
On the day of the reception, at Edo Castle, Asano drew his short sword and attempted to kill Kira.
The shogunate confiscated Asano's lands (the Akō Domain) and dismissed the samurai who had served him, making them rōnin.
Nearly two years later, Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio, who had been a high-ranking samurai in the service of Asano, led a group of forty-six/forty-seven of the rōnin (some discount the membership of one for various reasons).
[1][2] In 1822, the earliest known account of the Akō incident in the West was published in Isaac Titsingh's posthumous book Illustrations of Japan.
Those recognizing the rōnin as chūshin gishi were really focusing on the basics of samurai code where loyalty to your master is the ultimate and most sacred obligation.
Sorai, Satō Naokata, and Dazai Shundai were some of those who believed that the rōnin were merely criminals and murderers with no sense of righteousness, since they did violate the law by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
The puppet play based on these events was entitled Kanadehon Chūshingura and written by Takeda Izumo (1691–1756),[5] Miyoshi Shōraku (c. 1696 – 1772)[6] and Namiki Senryū (1695 – c.
[7] It was first performed in August 1748 at the Takemoto-za theater in the Dōtonbori entertainment district in Osaka, and an almost identical kabuki adaptation appeared later that year.
To avoid censorship, the authors placed the action in the time of the Taiheiki (a few centuries earlier), changing the names of the principals.
They wanted a ferocious morale booster based upon the familiar rekishi geki ("historical drama") of "The Loyal 47 Ronin".
The Hollywood film 47 Ronin by Universal is a fantasy epic with Keanu Reeves as an Anglo-Japanese who joins the samurai in their quest for vengeance against Lord Kira who is aided by a shape-shifting witch, and co-stars many prominent Japanese actors including Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Kō Shibasaki, Rinko Kikuchi, Jin Akanishi, and Togo Igawa.
It was originally scheduled to be released on November 21, 2012, then moved to February 8, 2013, due to creative differences between Universal and director Carl Rinsch, requiring the inclusion of additional scenes and citing the need for work on the 3D visual effects.
Tōge no Gunzō, the third NHK Taiga drama on the subject, starred Ken Ogata, and renowned director Juzo Itami appeared as Kira.
In 2001, Fuji TV made a four-hour special of the story starring Takuya Kimura as Horibe Yasubei (one of the Akō rōnin) and Kōichi Satō as Ōishi Kuranosuke, called Chūshingura 1/47.
Eiji Yoshikawa, Seiichi Funahashi, Futaro Yamada, Kōhei Tsuka, and Shōichirō Ikemiya have also published novels on the subject.
An episode of the tokusatsu show Juken Sentai Gekiranger features its own spin on the Chūshingura, with the main heroes being sent back in time and Kira having been possessed by a Rin Jyu Ken user, whom they defeat before the Akō incident starts, and thus not interfering with it.
A 1982 comic book limited series written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Frank Miller titled Wolverine Vol.
The cast turn out to be actually assassins ordered to kill Mariko Yashida and her husband, forcing Wolverine to intervene to stop them.
The Tokaido Road (1991) by Lucia St. Clair Robson is a historical adventure novel linked to the story by a fictional daughter of the murdered lord searching for her father's loyal men so she can take part in the revenge.
