Chushingura: A Treasury of Loyal Retainers

[Charlie]

Hey, guys. Probably over the years of our reading about samurai and such we've heard the story of the "47 Loyal Retainers" or "the 47 Ronin." I finally got around to reading a full-length version of one of the definitive versions of this play, Chushingura, translated by Donald Keene.

I believe this is a cornerstone of Japanese literature, the Hamlet of Nippon perhaps. It was easy and fun to read but it has taken some effort to wrap my brain around it because it started as a benraku play (puppet) and was also performed as kabuki (stylized drama). So the action, originating as it did with puppets, is a bit fast-paced and caricatured (not because it was a kid's play although I think children may have been in the audience but because of the limited nuances of the various puppets, complex though they may be).

Anywho, this is a fascinating read and maybe not what one would expect. The story, as you may know, concerns the retainers of a feudal lord (Lord Enya) who is embarassed at court by a conniving fellow courtier (Lord Moronao) and ordered to commit seppuku. Enya's house is cast upon the winds and the retainers break up. However, venegance is alive and well in these retainers! But the problem is, how will they pull it off? Moronao knows they will seek revenge and so has trebled his guards and guards all his movements.

The chief retainer and organizer of the league of revenge-seekers is Yuranosuke. He orders Enya's house to simple dissipate - on the surface. Meanwhile, they meet secretly and plan their revenge, but they have to give the appearance that they have given up. For his part, Yuranosoke acts like a drunken old fool by visiting the pleasure quarters of Gion and giving the appearance that he has just let himself go to drink. (Shades of Hamlet - acting insane to throw off his adversaries.) The story also concerns what happens to other samurai in the league of what eventually becomes 47, some of whom divorce their wives and sell their land to raise money for arms and armor for their task.

Anywho, you know the ending because it is a matter of historical record. Moronao (not the real name of the person in the original story) does indeed relax his guard, and Yuranosoke and his crew break into his house, fight with his guards, and take his head, where they offer it to the spirit of their dead master and commit seppuku themselves.

A great read. (Eric, I would like to lend you my copy.) Lots of tropes that would make their way into all samurai literature and film. Lots of stuff we would find strange - for example, divorcing your wife and selling her into prostitution so that you can raise money for vengeance on behalf of your dead lord; we find this disgusting but the characters and audience of the time found it honorable and heart-breaking. This was a story that is often referenced and, in fact, several versions were made and performed, but this one (authored by three playwrights) is considered one of the definitive versions.

Lemme see here, some links:

The book: http://www.amazon.ca/Chushingura-Treasury-Retainers-Donald-Keene/dp/0231035314

The 47 Ronin at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chushingura

Next up for me, one of the movie versions: http://allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:87260

[Charlie]

Check out this chapter-by-chapter breakdown, meant to accompany a gallery exhibit of ukiyo-e of the story:

http://www.spencerart.ku.edu/chushin/chushtxt.htm

[Halcyon]

Next up for me, one of the movie versions: http://allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:87260
Dude, you are in for a treat. The 1962 version rocks! Revenge ... how sweet it is.

[Charlie]

Ah, you've seen it! Glad I read it first, or do you think that matters?

Some ukiyo-e of the play:

http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/historical_subjects/chushingura_1836/chushingura_1836.htm

[Shawn Dormishev]

I also have this movie, its very good. seen it about 5 times

[Charlie]

Look at this interesting little vid of a festival for the ronin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNNLNI_SuGU

Man, this story's roots seem to run deep in this culture. And the themes on display - fulfilling your duty to your lord at great personal expense, even prioritizing that duty above your wife and children - is some strong stuff. I find it almost incomprehensible, personally. I mean, seriously, nothing I know of would motivate me to send my wife away to her parents and let my child cry himself to sleep every night so I could assist in a consipracy to avenge someone who helped buidl my business (the Gihei character). I think the character I like the best is the all-too-human Kampei, whose dereliction of duty for love of his wife is the root of all his trouble.

[Halcyon]

Knowing the story may actually enhance your movie-viewing pleasure. Like reading Shakespeare on the page, then seeing a play.

Man, this story's roots seem to run deep in this culture. And the themes on display - fulfilling your duty to your lord at great personal expense, even prioritizing that duty above your wife and children - is some strong stuff.
Yup. From what I understand, there's still a good deal of ambivalence about the whole thing. From a dramatic standpoint, it's operatic in scope and themes. But as you can imagine, from a practical standpoint, it was the equivalent of a PR disaster for the Shogunate at the time. After all, what they did was an act of defiance and sedition. So there was an active PR campaign for the longest time to demonize the 47, or at least play it down. It's only been relatively recently that there's been some re-evaluation, partly thanks to things like the 1962 movie.

[John Seavitt]

... we've heard the story of the "47 Loyal Retainers" or "the 47 Ronin." I finally got around to reading a full-length version of one of the definitive versions of this play, Chushingura, translated by Donald Keene.

I believe this is a cornerstone of Japanese literature, the Hamlet of Nippon perhaps.

I'd say the story is quite a conerstone - even in tea circles, on the 14th of December you could have gishi-sai no cha, tea in memory of the legendary 47 ronin of Ako, as the theme for a tea gathering.

I'm not sure that it's a foundation on the literature side, though - there we'd want to look more to Genji and such, of course - inasmuch as the plays you mention fill out a lot of historical unknowns with dramatic story, perhaps not unlike the recent Flight 93 movie.

John

[yoda-waza]

In tribute to the honorable 47 "wave men", I keep a jar of Ako salt brought to me from Japan, the contents of which I only use during the winter season. The legend of the events that took place in Kyoto in 1701-03 may have been embellished through theater, but it's the honorable spirit behind the sacrifice that sustains the popularity of the tale.

The salt is fine, too.

[Charlie]

You know, I know very little about the canon of Japanese literature. Aside from this, I have only read some Mishima, some Haruki Murakami, some assorted folklore. In fact, I tried learning more about both benraku and kabuki and what they actually looks like and have found surprisingly little in the way of video that I could view.

[ZealUK]

Hey Charlie,

Some Kabuki here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q1MPwD7zCI&mode=related&search=

Lots of links there on the side...

This is Bando Tamasaburo, he's pretty famous. Forgotten the other popular one's name - he's on a tea advert at the moment (ooooooi! - ocha!).

Interestingly this clip combines both genres...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TQNcHdGFvs&mode=related&search=

Bit of highbrow Noh there too,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jd9XJeb-PY&mode=related&search=

[xvikingx]

It’s funny. My wife (Japanese) absolutely hates this story. She has seen and heard it many times over since she was a kid and feels it was a great waste of time and life.

I personally enjoy the story, but I don’t buy this “revenge for the honor of their fallen lord” stuff. In very version I’ve seen the story ends with the ronin getting their revenge and then taking their own lives as commanded by the shogunate, but their actions resulted in the re-establishment of the Asano clan. The death of their lord and the disbandment of their clan was a great blow to the region and left everyone under him unemployed. In the peaceful time of Edo, being an unemployed samurai was a pretty awful thing. Yes, they were doing their duty but I also see it as them being backed into a corner.



Forgotten the other popular one's name - he's on a tea advert at the moment (ooooooi! - ocha!).

I can't watch the clip because I'm at work but I think your talking about Ichikawa Ebizou right?

[Masahiro]

if any of you were familiar with the "group suicide" trend a while back in Japan, say around late 1990 or early 2000's. you can certainly see where that trend had its roots!

[ZealUK]

I can't watch the clip because I'm at work but I think your talking about Ichikawa Ebizou right?

That's the feller.

Personally I prefer Oiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Kocha!

[xvikingx]

The Mrs and I went and saw him and his pop, Danjuro, do Benkei. His stage presence will make the hairs on your neck stand up. Unfortunately you can see how Danjuro has been affected by his illness; he's not nearly as powerful as he used to be.

[Charlie]

Whoa, thanks, Leiv!

[xvikingx]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q1MPwD7zCI&mode=related&search

Finally got a chance to check out the links you posted. Great finds. The above was actually the very first performance I had ever seen, 6 years back in Kyoto. Absolutely amazing. Cheers Alex!

*EDIT: No problem Charlie!

[ZealUK]

Finally got a chance to check out the links you posted. Great finds. The above was actually the very first performance I had ever seen, 6 years back in Kyoto. Absolutely amazing. Cheers Alex!

*EDIT: No problem Charlie!

No worries. You can buy me a beer if I make it up to Osaka at some point. :)

I'm sure I read somewhere that Yamamoto Tsunetomo slagged off the 47 ronin for taking revenge too late. What if Kira had died of an illness in the time between the suicide of their lord and the attack on his mansion?

Personally I like the way Ii Naosuke got done over - now that was pretty quick and effective.

[xvikingx]

Beer I can buy, and I buy you another for sporting me Mother-in-laws mon.

Yeah I do believe there was something in the Hagakure about the 47 ronin.

[Kuma]

Charlie, when Eric is done I'd like to borrow that, if I may. I'm familiar with the story, but I'd like to see that translation.

And now that you've met Earl, I'm sure you can tell that under similar circumstances, he'd do no less for me. :D

[ZealUK]

Beer I can buy, and I buy you another for sporting me Mother-in-laws mon.

Yeah I do believe there was something in the Hagakure about the 47 ronin.

Your mother in law is a Shimazu? Did you know the Shimazu family has the longest traceable lineages of any warrior clan in Japan? The family name was changed from Koremune to Shimazu in the Kamakura era, but they can trace the lineage back to the 6th Century apparently.

Her kamon is also visible almost everywhere in Kagoshima city. I was surprised when I came here that the kamon was even on manhole covers!

Man, work is slow today.....

[xvikingx]

Her father (my wife's grandfather)was from Kagoshima. Since he was not the eldest son he moved to Osaka for work(quite common for people from Kyuushuu in that day) and then was shipped off to fight in the Pacific.　He came back in bad condition and died young, so my Mother-in-law isn't that familiar with her family lineage. However her younger brother has the family koseki because he is continuing the family name, Kakiuchi (柿内). Apparently the main branch of the family was not very about that. I would have to ask him for details.
My father-in-law's family are nobushi who have served in Kansai region for as far back as their koseki (had a chance to look at that once). They change their name from Hayashiyama to Sakaguchi and then from 坂口 to 阪口 when the city of Osaka changed the kanji. My Mother-in-law often gives him sh't because he come from a lower country side samurai family when they bicker. That's her trump card if she needs to pull it out.
I don't know if any of this is interesting but that's most of what I know.

*EDIT: forgive the mistakes. I can't be buggered to correct it now.

[Charlie]

Charlie, when Eric is done I'd like to borrow that, if I may. I'm familiar with the story, but I'd like to see that translation.

And now that you've met Earl, I'm sure you can tell that under similar circumstances, he'd do no less for me. :D

Truly, a treasure, that retainer! And of course you can get it next.

Yes, Tsunetomo felt the house of the fallen daimyo should have immediately taken arms, even if it meant their slaughter.