Revenge of the 47 Ronin - January 30, 1703

On this day in 1703, a group of ronin, or samurai without a master, avenged the death of their master by killing Kira Yoshinaka. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class. It's a production of I
Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves and welcome to This
Day in History Class, a podcast where we dust off
a little piece of history and placed it ever so
gently on your brainshelf. Every day today is January. The

(00:24):
day was January oh three. A group of forty six
ronan or samurai without a master, avenged the death of
their deceased master by killing Kida Yoshinaka. Though the event
occurred on January thirty based on the Western calendar, Japan
used a lunar calendar at the time. According to contemporary dating,

(00:46):
the event took place in Genroku fifteen, on the fourteenth
day of the twelfth month. This difference in calendars has
caused some confusion over the date of the event. That said,
the Japanese temple where the Ronan were buried holds a
festival commemorating the event every year on December fourteen. During
the Tokugawa period, which lasted from sixteen o three to

(01:09):
eighteen sixty seven, Japan was under the rule of the shogunate,
or a military government. The shogun or chief military commander
ruled in the name of the Emperor daimyo or feudal
lords were vassals of the shogun, though they were limited
from gaining too much independent power. Samurai no longer had

(01:29):
to engage in battle since Japan was at peace, but
each daimyo did hire an army of samurai to protect
their families and property, and samurai still had codes of
honor and conduct known as bushido, that they abided by.
Ronan often became masterless because they didn't fulfill their duties,
because they were defeated in battle, or because their master

(01:51):
fell from power or die. If a samurai's master died
or was deposed, the samurai could choose to serve the
new damyo, but if his master was defeated or killed
in battle, or if he did not want to transfer
his allegiance, the samurai may choose to die by suicide.
Those who chose to live as ronan often did so

(02:11):
in disgrace. The story of the forty seven Ronin, one
of the most well known in Japanese history, began when
Emperor Higashi Yama sent imperial envoys from Kyoto to the
Shogun's court at Edo or present day Tokyo. A high
official named Kita Yoshinaka was in charge as master of
ceremonies for the visit. Asano Naganori, a daimio from Ako,

(02:34):
was one of the damio assigned to receive the envoys.
Kita said about training him and another daimio in court etiquette,
but Kitta allegedly treated Asano poorly, possibly because of Asino's
inexperience or because the presents Asino offered weren't good enough.
Either way, Asino attacked Kita. Kitta wasn't hurt badly, but

(02:58):
Asino's action was considered a huge offense. Asano was ordered
to die by sappuku, or a form of ritual suicide
by disembowment. After Asino's death, forty seven of his samurai,
led by Oishi Yoshio, chose to become a ronan and
seek revenge by killing Kida. They started gathering information on

(03:18):
Kidda's house, and they split up, taking jobs as laborers
and merchants to throw Kida and other shogunate officials off
their trail. Awishi began to drink alcohol heavily and frequent
geisha houses to alleviate suspicions. Kita and his agents began
to think that the ronan were harmless. But on the
night of January seventeen o three, the forty seven Ronan

(03:41):
met near Edo. One of the Ronan, teda Saka Kichiemon,
was sent to Ako to announce that the raid on
Kita's mansion was happening. Other accounts of the incident say
that he left after the battle, But on this snowy night,
the Ronan told Kida's neighbors of their plans to attack
his mansion, and they went forward with their plan. After

(04:02):
killing and wounding many of Kitta's samurai, they found Kara
hiding and beheaded him. All the Ronans survived the attack,
which lasted into the pre DoD hours of the next morning.
They then took Kitta's head to Asano's grave at the
Sangha Kuji temple, and the story of their revenge spread.
The Ronan were praised by many for their loyalty and

(04:24):
for killing Kitta. They had avenged the death of their master,
but their actions were still illegal. Instead of ordering them executed,
the shogun allowed them to commit seppuku, a more honorable
way to die. Forty six Ronan did so and were
buried at the Sanga Kuji temple in Etto Many sources
say that the Ronan was pardoned, lived to an old age,

(04:48):
and was buried near his fellow Ronan. The graves at
the temple are now a site of commemoration. The tale
of the forty seven Ronan, also known as the a
co Incident, has inspired many plays, poems, essays, TV shows,
and films. Fictionalized accounts of an incident are known as Tushinghuda.

(05:09):
I'm Eves Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little
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(05:31):
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(05:53):
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