Today in History: The 47 Ronin

On this day (February 4) in 1703, 46 of The 47 Ronin committed ritual suicide on the orders of the shogun. The Ronin’s daimyo, Asano Naganori had been forced to commit suicide for attacking a court official named Kira Yoshinaka after Kira insulted him. As penalty, the shogun required Asano to kill himself. Now leaderless, Asano’s 47 samurai became Ronin and spent two years plotting the assassination of Kira, eventually attacking him at his home but being careful not to kill women and children. When they dragged Kira out of hiding, they offered him the chance to kill himself with the knife Asano had used to commit suicide, but Kira was too frightened to take advantage of what the Ronin saw as an honorable opportunity. So they held him down and cut his head off with the knife, then carried the head ten kilometers to the tomb of their dead lord.

Having avenged the honor of Asano Naganori, the Ronin sent a young member of their company to carry news of their vengeance and the other 46 turned themselves into the authorities. This presented the Shogun with a political problem. He needed to punish the Ronin for having killed one of his officials, but their actions were scrupulously proper under the code of bushido. To make matters worse, Kira had been unpopular and the Ronin were being heaped with praise by his populace. So the Shogun gave the Ronin the honorable option that they had offered to Kira and permitted the 46 to commit seppuku—which they did. Today, the 46 are regarded as folk heroes for their intense loyalty and sense of honor.