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The revenge of the , also known as the Akō vendetta or the , is an 18th-century historical event and a legend in Japan in which a band of ''ronin'' (leaderless samurai) avenged the death of their master. One noted Japanese scholar described the tale as the best known example of the samurai code of honor, ''bushidō,'' and as the country's "national legend."〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Kanadehon )〕 The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ''ronin'') after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to commit ''seppuku'' (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was ''Kōzuke no suke''. The ''ronin'' avenged their master's honor by killing Kira, after waiting and planning for a year. In turn, the ''ronin'' were themselves obliged to commit ''seppuku'' for committing the crime of murder. This true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the tale grew during the Meiji era, in which Japan underwent rapid modernization, and the legend became entrenched within discourses of national heritage and identity. Fictionalized accounts of the tale of the Forty-seven Ronin are known as ''Chūshingura.'' The story was popularized in numerous plays, including ''bunraku'' and ''kabuki''. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the ''Genroku'' era, which forbade portrayal of current events, the names were changed. While the version given by the playwrights may have come to be accepted as historical fact by some , the first ''Chūshingura'' was written some 50 years after the event, and numerous historical records about the actual events that predate the ''Chūshingura'' survive. The ''bakufus censorship laws had relaxed somewhat 75 years later in the late 18th century, when Japanologist Isaac Titsingh first recorded the story of the Forty-seven Ronin as one of the significant events of the ''Genroku'' era.〔Screech, T. (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan,'' p. 91.〕 The story continues to be popular in Japan to this day. Each year on December 14, Sengakuji Temple holds a festival commemorating the event. ==Name== The participants in the revenge are called the in Japanese, and are usually referred to as the "Forty-seven Ronin" or "Forty-seven lordless samurai" in English. The event is also known as the ''Akō vendetta'' or the . Literary accounts of the events are known as the . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Forty-seven Ronin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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