ExEAS Teaching Unit
Law and Society: The Story of the 47 Samurai
Federico Marcon
Ph.D. Candidate, Department East Asian Languages and Cultures
Columbia University

Additional Documents
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  • Glossary download as PDF doc
  • “Manifesto of the Retainers of ASANO Takumi” download as PDF doc


  • All terms appearing in BOLD are included in the glossary.

    Introduction to the Story of the 47 Rônin
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    The tale of the 47 rônin (masterless samurai) is perhaps the most celebrated discussion of loyalty and warrior ethics in Japanese history. The story, which has been retold countless times in the centuries since it was first recounted in 1703, provides an excellent opportunity to familiarize students with the history and culture of early modern Japan while also introducing them to the idea that interpretations of past events and historical memory change over time.

    The incident at the beginning of the story took place on a spring morning in 1701 at the castle of the Tokugawa Shogun, located in the capital of Edo (present-day Tokyo ). Officials at the castle, led by the feudal lord ASANO Naganori (1665-1701), daimyo of the Akô domain in western Honshû, were ushering envoys from the imperial court in Kyoto through a series of diplomatic rituals at the Shogun’s court. Despite the attention given to the episode by contemporary observers and later commentators, the exact details of the incident itself remain somewhat murky, providing storytellers and historians alike with ample opportunity for speculation. What we do know is that on the last day of the envoys’ visit, Asano drew his sword in the corridors of the Shogun’s castle, a capital offense, and attempted to cut down his fellow samurai KIRA Yoshinaka (1641-1703), a senior government official and direct retainer of the Shogun. The cause of Asano’s anger is unclear. We only know from the testimony of a guard that Asano yelled, “Do you remember your recent affront!?” (Kono aida no ikon oboetaru ka) before slashing Kira.

    Asano wounded Kira only slightly on the shoulder and forehead before being restrained and taken into custody. Judgment was passed down quickly, and Asano was ordered to death by seppuku (ritual suicide) the same day for the high crime of drawing his sword within the Shogun’s castle. His domain was confiscated and his samurai retainers released from service and set adrift as rônin. Kira was praised for his restraint and escaped punishment, a situation that many of the Akô rônin found unacceptable.

    Forty-seven of Asano's former retainers vowed revenge, and twenty-two months later 46 of them declared that they were fulfilling their lord’s original intention and attacked the Edo mansion of Kira, decapitating him. The rônin — despite the fact that one of them dropped out just before the attack they have always been known as the “47 rônin” — then marched across the capital carrying Kira’s head to the temple of Sengakuji, where they presented their gruesome offering to their deceased lord’s grave.

    Government officials debated how to respond for a month and a half before finally ordering the 46 rônin to death by seppuku for the crimes of conspiracy and disturbing the peace in Edo , an honorable death because the men were allowed to take their own lives rather than being executed like common criminals. The rônin were buried in graves near their lord at Sengakuji, where to this day they continue to be worshiped as the “Righteous Samurai of Akô”.

    The materials in this unit encourage students to think critically about fundamental moral and metaphysical issues from a variety of perspectives that are still largely absent from the undergraduate study of philosophy. Issues of concern include:

    Historical Background and Interpretive Context
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    Japan underwent a series of broad-based changes at the turn of the seventeenth century. After more than a hundred years of civil war, the Tokugawa military clan pacified 200-odd domains by establishing a central government known as the bakufu in 1603. In an effort to institute order, the government then attempted to freeze society into a hierarchical order of four hereditary classes: samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants. At the top, the samurai had a monopoly on political and military power as well as the legitimate use of force. Below them, the other classes had no political rights, though in time merchants in particular would come to possess significant economic power. As civil war became a distant memory, the military class of samurai underwent a process of demilitarization and was transformed into a class of bureaucrats serving the central government and regional domains. A new ethic of righteousness and benevolence inspired by neo-Confucian philosophy as well as a new emphasis on literacy emerged. Neo-Confucianism normalized the new administrative functions of samurai and legitimated their authority over the other social classes through a complex system that sought to render the newly founded hierarchical order both natural and right.

    This process of demilitarization and social transformation — whereby social order was no longer produced by the direct coercive control of a military aristocracy by virtue of its martial power, but rather through indirect cultural mechanisms instituted by an educated elite that distinguished itself through intellectual superiority –was gradual, eventually taking root throughout the Japanese archipelago. It was not a bloodless process. Many violent clashes erupted as samurai struggled to negotiate between the enduring value placed on honor and martial prowess, on the one hand, and the social demands of a socio-economic system that endorsed order and cultural achievement, on the other. This clash between values and practice was one of the primary contradictions faced by the bakufu and throughout Tokugawa culture more broadly. The story of the 47 rônin provides us with one way to explore its depths.

    Themes and Goals
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    The contradictions that a samurai faced at the beginning of the eighteenth century concerned the very definition of his class. In the political context of the medieval feudalism of the previous centuries, the samurai distinguished himself through his abilities on the battlefield and loyalty to his lord. In the pacified world of Tokugawa Japan, however, he found his role redefined by the new government and its ideologues as protector and administrator of the legal order. The state urged the samurai to replace the protection of honor with the defense of law and order, and loyalty to one’s immediate lord with loyalty to the Tokugawa government. (For example, see Ogyû Sorai’s “Essay on the Forty-Seven Samurai”, pp. 447-448 in Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume Two: 1600 to 2000 . Second Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.) At the beginning of the eighteenth century, this process was not yet fully realized. The story of the 47 rônin demonstrates that at the same time that provincial samurai like Lord Asano and his retainers were proudly emphasizing a military ethics of honor and loyalty, “civilized” samurai like Lord Kira had adapted to court life, etiquette, and respect for the law. It might be argued that the contradictory process of social pacification illustrated here is characteristic of early modern societies more broadly. As new early modern states emerged in the context of changing economic circumstances, they began to lay exclusive claim to the legitimate use of force, a process that required members of the elite to reconsider their loyalties as they struggled to secure a place in the new order.

    The tale illustrates how slowly and erratically the new ethics spread. As the assigned readings show, the majority of scholars that engaged in the debate on the rônin’s vendetta praised their loyalty to their lord. Such loyalty was precisely the kind of behavior, commentators argued, that served to distinguish the samurai from the common people arrayed below them in the social hierarchy.

    At the popular level, the deeds of the 47 rônin were narrated in theater performances, novels, illustrations, and oral tales which emphasized heroism and individual action over impropriety and service to the state. The puppet theater play, Chûshingura: The Treasury of the Loyal Retainers (KEENE, Donald, ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971), from 1748 is the best-known example of this dynamic. In fact, the term “Chûshingura,” taken from this famous work has now become an umbrella term for the historical incident itself as well as all its numerous re-presentations in various media.

    Suggestions for ways to approach the story

    Note: These suggestions are arranged in order of increasing complexity, moving from more concrete concerns to more theoretical approaches.

    • The story exemplifies the contradictions of Japanese society in the early-modern period, especially regarding the changing role of the samurai. In a time of peace and political stability, the ruling class of samurai underwent a slow transformation from feudal warriors to bureaucrats . Though many (and perhaps most) samurai continued to be schooled to one degree or another in a traditional warrior ethic, their political and economic roles were becoming increasingly administrative and intellectual. These new social conditions demanded new ideological support, and this transformation found philosophical legitimacy in the neo-Confucian stress on benevolence and civility, which was communicated via a new canon of texts that emphasized proper moral conduct and etiquette over the protection of personal honor.
    • The story illustrates the ways in which the concepts of “honor” and “loyalty” changed with the transformation of samurai society . The samurai obligation to protect one’s “honor” through a display of violence, common throughout medieval Japan, was illegal by the beginning of the eighteenth century.
    • The intellectual debate triggered by the incident sheds light on the variety of neo-Confucian schools active in Japan at the time. An analysis of the different positions may provide insights on the different schools of thought active in the period and how they interpreted current events.
    • The revenge of the 47 rônin, was an event so shocking, so abrupt, and so exemplary of the changes that were occurring in Tokugawa society that in the decades and centuries since 1703, it has continued to be the subject of ballads, novels, theatrical pieces, movie, TV dramas, comics, music soundtracks, and scholarly debates.
    • The story of the 47 rônin may be useful for a discussion of how to deal with the discrepancies between social representations and social practices in history. While every society, culture, or group of people has theories about the world and their place in it (that is, either cognitive theories on how the world is or ethical or religious theories on how the world ought to be), the analysis of events often shows that there is a disjuncture between these representations and people’s actual practices. The juxtaposition of the ideals of samurai society that were circulating at the time of the violent and murderous actions of the 47 rônin, provides a rich topic for class discussion.
    • By comparing the different retellings of the story of the 47 rônin the instructor may lead the class into a discussion of how historical imagination is produced by successive and superimposed tales (i.e.: intertextuality), and how the ethical, cognitive, and philosophical connotations of the original story are enriched with each successive treatment.
    Audiences and Uses
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    The story of the 47 rônin will help students in a Japanese or East Asian history course understand the nature of Japanese society in the Tokugawa period. The unit may also be useful in a wide variety of other courses, including but not limited to:

    • East Asian Culture
    • History of the Samurai
    • Comparative or Japanese Art/Literature and Society/Politics
    • World History
    • Comparative Law and Society
    • Legal History
    • History: Methods
    • Anthropology: Storytelling, History, Performance
    Instructor Readings
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    *** Most important
    ** Recommended
    * Optional

    Introductory Readings

    *** IKEGAMI, Eiko. “The Vendetta of the Forty-Seven Samurai.” Chapter 11 in The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995. Pages 223-240.

    An excellent introduction for both students and instructors. Not only does Ikegami introduce the story, but she also presents it through the lenses of social change in a modernizing Japan.

    * BITÔ, Masahide. “The Akô Incident, 1701-1703.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:2 (Summer 2003).

    A short summary of the events. The author’s close attention to historical and cultural details of Tokugawa Japan may be ignored in classes not specifically on Tokugawa history.

    * SMITH, Henry D., II. “Rethinking the Story of the 47 Rônin: Chûshingura in the 1980s.” Available online at http://www.columbia.edu/~hds2/47ronin.htm

    A good introduction to the story, Smith’s article also highlights the importance of the Chûshingura tradition in the cultural history of modern Japan.

    On The Confucian Debate about the Incident

    ** MCMULLEN, James. “Confucian Perspectives on the Akô Revenge: Law and Moral Agency.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:3 (Fall 2003).

    A more or less comprehensive treatment of the Confucian debate over the ethical righteousness or wrongness of the vendetta of the 47 rônin of Akô. The author has a very personal take on the matter, but the article may be a useful guide to the primary readings.

    On the Story of the 47 Rônin in Popular Imagination and Japanese History

    **SMITH, Henry D., II. “The Capacity of Chûshingura.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:1 (Spring 2003), pp. 1-42.

    Probably the best introduction to the entire Chûshingura phenomenon, from the historical affair to its cultural development. This article can be read in place of SMITH, Henry D., II. “Rethinking the Story of the 47 Rônin: Chûshingura in the 1980s.” since it presents in a revised and expanded form many of the issues treated there.

    Student Readings and Activities
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    Two options for student readings are presented: one for a single class session or week and the other for two or more classes.

    Ideally, the instructor should provide a brief introduction to the story and its historical context before assigning the first set of readings. The instructor could also distribute copies of this short (just over one page) introduction:

    HANE, Mikiso. “Forty-Seven Rônin Incident.” In Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1983-2002. Available online for subscribers (many universities) at http://www.ency-japan.com.

    *** Most important
    ** Recommended
    * Optional

    Student Readings : One Week/Class Session

    Secondary Source:

    Select ONE of the following two articles. If the instructor wants to focus only on the historical incidents, Ikegami’s piece is better. If he or she plans to spend time on the impact of the affair on Japanese culture, Smith’s article is more comprehensive.

    *** IKEGAMI, Eiko. “The Vendetta of the Forty-Seven Samurai.” Chapter 11 of The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995. Pages 223-240.

    This chapter introduces the incident and alerts students to its importance for understanding the dynamics of samurai society in Tokugawa Japan.

    OR:

    *** SMITH, Henry D., II. “The Capacity of Chûshingura.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:1 (Spring 2003), pp. 1-42.

    This should be used as a guide to the primary sources. It is an excellent introduction to the entire phenomenon of the Chûshingura affair and its cultural impact.

    Primary Sources:

    *** “Manifesto of the Retainers of ASANO Takumi.” In Akô Gishi Jiten. Kobe: Akô Gishi Jiten Kankôkai, 1972. Translated by Federico Marcon. download as PDF doc

    This is the short declaration that the rônin who carried out the attack attached to a pike before and during their attack against Kira’s mansion. The instructor should emphasize the moral tone of the piece and the moral inevitability of revenge according to the loyal retainers of Asano.

    *** Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume Two: 1600 to 2000 . Ed. by Wm. Theodore DE BARY, Carol GLUCK, and Arthur E. TIEDEMANN . Second Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. Chapter 31: “The Way of the Warrior II”, pp. 437-458.

    This chapter includes the most important primary sources, contextualized by a brief introduction to each one. Instructors can choose to assign the entire chapter or a selection of the following:

    • OKADO Denpachirô, “Memorandum.” pp. 439-441.

    This is the most important testimony of a witness of Asano’s attack against Kira in the castle in Edo. Ask students how would they judge the “objectivity” of Okado’s account and discuss the possible motives behind his judgment. (Okado seems to support Asano, but historians do not know why.)

    • “The Verdict of the Bakufu.” Quoted in it’s entirety on page 444 of “Notes on the Forty-Six Men,” by SATO Naokata.

    This is the short verdict of the trial of the rônin. Note: 1) the emphasis on the guilt of Asano, and therefore 2) the misjudgment at the origin of the rônin decision, and 3) the banding together of the rônin.

    • The following five pieces should be read together:
      • HAYASHI Hôkô, “On Revenge”, pp. 443-44
      • MURO Kyûsô, “Preface to Records of the Righteous Man of Akô Domain”, pp. 445-446.
      • OGYÛ Sorai, “Essay on the Forty-Seven Samurai”, pp. 447-448
      • SATO Naokata, “Notes on the Forty-Six Men”, pp. 448-451.
      • ASAMI Keisai, “Essay on the Forty-Six Samurai”, pp. 452-4
    • These are the five most important arguments in defense of or against the rônin. Note the philosophical basis of the various arguments and have the students discuss how the conception of the duty of a samurai differs among the authors. (Instructors will find McMullen’s article—see Instructor Readings—useful for this task.) Ask students to categorize the arguments on the basis of how the authors saw the balance between the individualist samurai ethic and the necessity of protecting the public order.

    If the instructor plans to spend some time on the impact of the historical incident on Japanese culture, he or she could also assign:

    *** TAKEDA Izumo, MIYOSHI Shôraku, and NAMIKI Sôsuke. Translated by Donald KEENE. Chûshingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971: Acts 3 (pp.47-64) and 4 (pp. 65-76).

    The most important and famous theatrical piece on the story of the 47 rônin. Working questions: What kind of world is this? Is it still a samurai world or is it intermingled with the world of non-samurai commoners? What emotions the authors of the piece are trying to elicit? Are these emotions specific to samurai or are they more generally targeted?

    Student Activity: Week/Session One

    After about 30 minutes of discussion, divide the class into two groups: one is to play the role of the defense of the rônin, and the other the role of the prosecution. Guide the class in concentrating on the major themes of honor, loyalty, and law. The goal of the exercise is to have the students highlight the diverging conceptions of loyalty (to whom? the lord? the government?) and honor.



    Student Readings : Two or More Weeks/Class Sessions

    Readings : Week/Session One

    Secondary Source:

    *** IKEGAMI, Eiko. “The Vendetta of the Forty-Seven Samurai.” Chapter 11 of The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995. Pages 223-240.

    This chapter introduces the incident and alerts students to its importance for understanding the dynamics of samurai society in Tokugawa Japan.

    Primary Sources:

    *** “Manifesto of the Retainers of ASANO Takumi.” In Akô Gishi Jiten. Kobe: Akô Gishi Jiten Kankôkai, 1972. Translated by Federico Marcon. download as PDF doc

    This is the short declaration that the rônin who carried out the attack attached to a pike before and during their attack against Kira’s mansion. The instructor should emphasize the moral tone of the piece and the moral inevitability of revenge according to the loyal retainers of Asano.

    *** Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume Two: 1600 to 2000 . Ed. by Wm. Theodore DE BARY, Carol GLUCK, and Arthur E. TIEDEMANN . Second Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. Chapter 31: “The Way of the Warrior II”, pp. 437-458.

    This chapter includes the most important primary sources, contextualized by a brief introduction to each one. Instructors can choose to assign the entire chapter or a selection of the following:

    • OKADO Denpachirô, “Memorandum.” pp. 439-441.

    This is the most important testimony of a witness of Asano’s attack against Kira in the castle in Edo. Ask students how would they judge the “objectivity” of Okado’s account and discuss the possible motives behind his judgment. (Okado seems to support Asano, but historians do not know why.)

    • “The Verdict of the Bakufu.” Quoted in it’s entirety on page 444 of “Notes on the Forty-Six Men,” by SATO Naokata.

    This is the short verdict of the trial of the rônin. Note: 1) the emphasis on the guilt of Asano, and therefore 2) the misjudgment at the origin of the rônin decision, and 3) the banding together of the rônin.

    • The following five pieces should be read together:
      • HAYASHI Hôkô, “On Revenge”, pp. 443-44
      • MURO Kyûsô, “Preface to Records of the Righteous Man of Akô Domain”, pp. 445-446.
      • OGYÛ Sorai, “Essay on the Forty-Seven Samurai”, pp. 447-448
      • SATO Naokata, “Notes on the Forty-Six Men”, pp. 448-451.
      • ASAMI Keisai, “Essay on the Forty-Six Samurai”, pp. 452-4
    • These are the five most important arguments in defense of or against the rônin. Note the philosophical basis of the various arguments and have the students discuss how the conception of the duty of a samurai differs among the authors. (Instructors will find McMullen’s article—see Instructor Readings—useful for this task.) Ask students to categorize the arguments on the basis of how the authors saw the balance between the individualist samurai ethic and the necessity of protecting the public order.

    The following contextual readings are optional, but may be helpful in providing students with information on the social history of samurai in Japan.

    * IKEGAMI, Eiko. “The Coming of the Samurai” and “Vassalage and Honor,” and “Honor or Order.” Chapters 2, 3, and 10 in The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995. Pages 47-77, 78-94, 197-222.

    * SATO, Hiroaki. “The Duel,” “The Meaning of Revenge,” “Let Your Little Kid Be Stabbed,” and “The Forty-Seven Samurai: Arguments.” In Legends of the Samurai. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1995. Pages 19-21, 47-51, 71-79, 88-90, and 322-328.

    Student Activity: Week/Session One

    After about 30 minutes of discussion, divide the class into two groups: one is to play the role of the defense of the rônin, and the other the role of the prosecution. Guide the class in concentrating on the major themes of honor, loyalty, and law. The goal of the exercise is to have the students highlight the diverging conceptions of loyalty (to whom? the lord? the government?) and honor.

    Week/Session Two and Beyond

    The second week aims at introducing the students to the successive retellings of the story in Japanese history.

    *** SMITH, Henry D., II. “The Capacity of Chûshingura.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:1 (Spring 2003), pp. 1-42.

    Use this article as a guideline to the primary sources. It is probably the best introduction to the entire phenomenon of the Chûshingura affair and its cultural impact.

    *** TAKEDA Izumo, MIYOSHI Shôraku, and NAMIKI Sôsuke. Translated by Donald KEENE. Chûshingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971: Acts 3 (pp.47-64) and 4 (pp. 65-76).

    The most important and famous theatrical piece on the story of the rônin. It is quite long. The instructor may want to divide the class into two or three groups to read different sections, or have all students read the same selection of chapters (4, 5, 6, and 9 are a good selection).

    Working questions: What kind of world is this? Is it still a samurai world or is it heavily intermingled with the world of non-samurai commoners? What emotions are the authors of the piece are trying to elicit? Are these emotions specific to samurai or are they more generally targeted?

    ** MARCON, Federico, ed. “The Story of the Loyal Samurai of Akô, by MOTOORI Norinaga.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:4 (Winter 2003).

    This piece demonstrates how the story circulated through the activities of wandering storytellers. Ask students to compare the world of the oral story to that of Chûshingura (only four years separate them).

    * MARCON, Federico and Henry D. SMITH II. “A Chûshingura Palimpsest: Young MOTOORI Norinaga Hears the Story of the Akô Rônin from a Buddhist Priest.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:4 (Winter 2003).

    An introduction to MOTOORI Norinaga’s piece. Only recommended for specialized classes.

    * MUELLER, Jacqueline. “A Chronicle of Great Peace Played Out on a Chessboard: CHIKAMATSU Monzaemon’s Goban Taiheiki.” HJAS 46:1 (June 1986), pp. 221-267.

    An early theatrical piece.

    The following short pieces are some examples of the continuing importance of the story in modern Japan. Use Smith’s “The Capacity of Chûshingura ” (assigned above) as the secondary source of reference.

    *** “FUKUZAWA Yukichi, “From An Encouragement of Learning ” (1875).” Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume Two: 1600 to 2000 . Ed. by Wm. Theodore DE BARY, Carol GLUCK, and Arthur E. TIEDEMANN . Second Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, pp. 468-470

    ** “Fundamentals of Our National Polity.” Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume Two: 1600 to 2000 . Ed. by Wm. Theodore DE BARY, Carol GLUCK, and Arthur E. TIEDEMANN . Second Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, pp. 968-975.

    *** “The 47 Rônin: The Most Popular Play in Japan Reveals the Bloodthirsty Character of Our Enemy.” Life, November 1, 1943, p. 52.

    ** The Forty-Seven Rônin (Genroku Chûshingura). Directed by MIZOGUCHI Kenji, 1941-2. 222 minutes. In Japanese with English subtitles. Available on DVD and VHS.

    If time permits, the instructor may wish to organize a screening of this feature film.

    Student Activity: Week/Session Two

    Discussion Questions:

    • What kind of virtues did the heroes embody in each retelling? What does this tell you about shifting audiences for the tales? About Tokugawa society more broadly?
    • How were samurai virtues re-imagined to suit modern conceptions of the Tokugawa period? Were they secularized? Popularized? Whose interests did these re-imaginings serve?
    • How do popular versions of the tale change across the modern period? Is there a single dominant moral attributed to the tale or are there competing readings?
    • After two weeks of readings, what do you think of the statement often heard in Japan that Chûshingura is a mirror of Japanese culture and it exemplifies the inner nature of the Japanese heart? How might such assertions bolster the claims of the modern nation-state? What do they leave out [class, gender, etc.]?
    Further Reading
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    * BRANDON, James. “The Theft of Chûshingura: or The Great Kabuki Caper.” In Chûshingura: Studies in Kabuki and the Puppet Theater. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1982. Pages 111-154.

    ** DAVIS, Darrell William. “Genroku Chûshingura.” Chapter 6 in Picturing Japaneseness: Monumental Style, National Identity, Japanese Film. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. Pages 131-180. {in case of the projection of the movie for those students interested}

    * KEENE, Donald. “Variation on a Theme: Chûshingura.” In James Brandon, ed., Chûshingura: Studies in Kabuki and the Puppet Theater. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1982. Pages 1-13.

    * NITOBE, Inazo. Bushido, The Soul of Japan: An Exposition of Japanese Thought (originally published Tokyo, 1899), chs. 1 (“Bushido as an Ethical System”), 15 (“The Influence of Bushido”), and 16 (“Is Bushido Still Alive?).

    * POWELL, Brian. “The Samurai Ethic in Mayama Seika’s Genroku Chûshingura.” Modern Asian Studies 18:4 (1984), pp. 725-45.

    ** SATO, Hiroaki. Legends of the Samurai. (The Overlook Press, 1995): “The Forty-Seven Samurai: Arguments,” pp. 322-38.

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