Traditional Stories (Study Guide) - Forty-Seven Ronin, Ch Shingura, Once Upon a Time (Paperback)

This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Forty-Seven Ronin, Ch shingura, Once Upon a Time. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin Shi-j Shichi-shi), also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Ak vendetta, or the Genroku Ak incident Genroku ak jiken) took place in Japan at the start of the eighteenth century. The tale has been described by one noted Japanese scholar as the country's "national legend." It recounts the most famous case involving the samurai code of honor, bushid. The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kzukeno suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for over a year to kill Kira. In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. With much embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that all good people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the almost mythical tale was only enhanced by rapid modernization during the Meiji era of Japanese history, when it is suggested many people in Japan longed for a return to their cultural roots. While sources do differ as to some of the details, the version given below was carefully assembled from a large range of historical sources, including some still-extant eye-witness accounts of various portions of the saga. Fictionalized accounts of these events are known as Chshingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays including bunraku and kabuki; because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the ...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=17531