In April,1701, Asano Takuminokami, who was the daimyo feudal lord of the Ako domain in present-day Hyogo Prefecture, suddenly slashed Kira Kozukenosuke Yoshinaka with his katana sword inside the Edo Castle during the annual reception of an imperial envoy from Kyoto. The Kira family is a special high-ranking samurai family to teach the know-how of the ritual to a daimyo in charge of entertaining imperial envoy of the year. It was strictly forbidden to draw a katana in Edo Castle, and it was the important day of the reception for the imperial envoy, therefore the anger of the then shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was so fierce that Asano was ordered to commit seppuku (hara-kiri) on the same day. And the Asano family was dispossessed of their Ako domain. All the retainers of Asano lost their status consequently and became the so-called ronin. This Sengaku-ji Temple was the family temple in Tokyo for the Asano family, thus he was buried here right after the seppuku. This incident was a kind of big fight between two samurais, so it was unspoken agreement in the samurai world that they should have been equally punished in this case at that time. However, only Asano was strictly punished. Against this unfair judgment of the shogunate, Oishi Kuranosuke, the former chief retainer of the late Asano, and other ronins made a decision to revenge their late lord on Kira. They thought to correct the wrong judgement of the shogunate. At long last, they attacked the mansion of Kira in Edo to behead him in December, 1702. Then they marched all the way to Sengaku-ji Temple, 10km west of the mansion, with Kira’s head on the top of a long spear. After offering Kira’s head to the grave of Asano, they surrendered to the authorities. Two opinions conflicted within the shogunate on how to judge them. One was that they were no more than terrorists against the social order, and the other was that they were ideal samurais who risked their lives on behalf of their former lord. The former opinion finally gained ground three months after the attack, and they were ordered to commit seppuku. All of them were buried beside their lord in Sengaku-ji Temple. The incident from Asano’s slash to the ronins seppuku became a hot topic of conversation among the citizens in Edo at that time and public opinion regretted their deaths.
In front of their small gravestones at the temple, 47 of them, there still is streaks of incense smoke trailing off in the wind. The first photo shows Oishi’s gravestone accompanied by other ronins’ gravestones. The second one is the well, which is supposed to have been used to wash Kira’s head before they offered it to Asano’s gravestone.
Licensed tour guide, travel consultant,
Masahisa Takaki.
全国通訳案内士 高木聖久。
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