Kanadehon Chūshingura

The Treasury of Loyal Retainers (仮名手本忠臣蔵, Kana dehon Chūshingura[1]) is an 11-act bunraku puppet play composed in 1748.

[10] The short sequence with the highwayman Sadakurō has been developed into an elaborate mime, rendering it a "coveted assignment" for ambitious actors.

[16] Early materials listed the authors in order as: Likely Izumo conceived the overall plot and write acts 1, 4, 6, & 9; Shōraku likely wrote 2, 10, and 11.

After World War II, during the Occupation of Japan, performance of Chūshingura was banned "because it glorified militarism and was feudalistic in its insistence on such outmoded concepts as honor and loyalty"; later in 1960, members of the Japanese Diet criticized performances of Chūshingura overseas by traveling kabuki companies over similar fears that it would give foreigners misleading ideas[23] The chiefest theme of Chūshingura is the code of bushido & loyalty, as exemplified by its protagonist, the chief retainer of the dead lord, Yuranosuke.

[24] The retainers seek revenge for their lord even though they know no good will come of it, as Yuranosuke admits in Act 7: "I realized when I thought about it calmly that if we failed in our mission our heads would roll, and if we succeeded we'd have to commit seppuku afterwards.

[29] "The same holds true of a country at peace: the loyalty and courage of its fine soldiers remain hidden, but the stars, though invisible by day, at night reveal themselves, scattered over the firmament.

Here we shall describe such an instance ..."—Narrator[30]The shōgun Ashikaga Takauji has put down the Genko uprising led by the nobleman Nitta Yoshisada, and has built a shrine to the kami of war Hachiman to commemorate his victory.

As the conference ends, Moronao, who has been tutoring En'ya's wife in classical waka poetry, presses upon her a love letter.

Honzō applauds the plan, suggests that Wakasanosuke take a nap first, and immediately departs to find Moronao first to bribe him.

After an interlude in which a minor retainer of En'ya, Kanpei, gives into temptation to leave his post with his lover, Wakasanosuke arrives.

Outside, Kanpei hears the commotion and rushes to the back gate, only to realize his failure as a samurai: he dallied and was not there when his master needed him.

Yuranosuke orders the men to not commit seppuku nor barricade the mansion and die fighting the shogunate, but likewise to seek vengeance.

The other rōnin categorically denies this: the meetings and solicitations are for the charitable purpose of raising funds for a fitting memorial for En'ya's grave.

Later, an old man comes along the road with the large sum of 50 ryō in his wallet, earned by selling his daughter — Kanpei's wife — to a brothel.

Kanpei does not see clearly the body in the dark, but takes the money as a gift from heaven and hurries home with his donation to find the other rōnin.

Impressed by his dying sincerity, they accept the donation and allow Kanpei to sign in blood the written oath of vengeance to become the 46th member.

"It's quite true that I felt a certain amount of indignation — about as big as a flea's head split by a hatchet — and tried forming a league of 40 or 50 men, but what a crazy notion that was! ...

"—Yuranosuke[32]Kudayū, now a spy for Moronao, arrives at a teahouse in the pleasure quarter of Gion — Yuranosuke's favorite haunt (in reality Ichiriki Chaya, which changed its name to the disguised name in this play).

But seeing Yuranosuke casually break a taboo and eat octopus on the anniversary of En'ya's death, and looking at how rusty his sword is, Kudayū is almost convinced — but he hides under the veranda to spy on the letter, to make sure.

The mother and daughter resolve to commit seppuku, impressing Yuranosuke's wife, who consents if Honzō's head is brought to her as a wedding gift.

The merchant Gihei of the port of Sakai is loading onto a ship his highly illegal cargo: more than 40 sets of samurai armor and weapons.