The 47 Ronin | The Edo Period Episode 7

As Japan comes under a wave of strict new laws decreed by Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the tension is set to burst when a group of 47 Ronin carry out a now legendary attack against a rival government official, eventually coming to be known as the Ako Incident.
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Sources Used:
"Legends of the Samurai" by Hiroaki Sato
"A History of Japan" by RHP Mason and JG Caiger
"A History of the Samurai" by Jonathan López-Vera
"The Samurai Encyclopedia" by Constantine Nomikos Vaporis
"Hagakure" by Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Additional information found through the Japanese Wiki Corpus
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Music from:
"In the West" by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommon...
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Music from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2
Music from Rise of the Ronin
Artwork:
Classical art, which in most cases can be considered public domain.
Other modern artist renditions and photos as well as photos from Wikipedia, if you see your work in this video please contact me so that I can give you proper credit!
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Social Media:
Facebook: / theshogunateyoutube
Twitter: / shogunatethe
Support the channel on Patreon! www.patreon.co...
#Samurai​​ #History​​ #Japan

[@A_Toastonawhiteplate]

47 Ronin sounds like a great story...would be crazy if they made a movie out of it but for some reason keanu reeves and dragons are in it

[@gilet102]

I mean that’s the Hollywood version. But there’s a recent Japanese one that’s actually pretty good

[@Alastor343]

There's some pretty good other versions to watch at least. One of which has the legend himself Sonny Chiba

[@Alastor343]

​@@gilet102there's a new one?

[@gilet102]

@@Alastor343 no my bad I’m sorry. The movie that was on my mind is 13 assassin whose premises is very similar to 47 ronin. There isn’t a new one

[@Alastor343]

@@gilet102 darn. 13 Assassins is kino tho

[@aboodyabdulqadir5487]

bro i started watching the whole sengoku gedai series few weeks ago, binged the whole thing n now waiting for every episode like its an actual tv show

[@SecretMarsupial]

Right there with ya

[@khalilsabbagh1179]

I rewashed it twice. This series is amazingly well made!

[@gilet102]

I’ve been watching for the past 2 years. I’ve been glued to it ever since.

[@sukitron5415]

Loving the KOTOR 2 music, glad one of my favourite KZbinrs knows about one of the best RPGs ever

[@sasusaku3373]

Exactly what I was about to say the minute e I heard if I was taken in by nostalgia.

[@hanchiman]

The way they plan the revenge was like a romance novel, except it happened in reality, not to mention they executed their operation flawlessly. Anyways I recall the author of Hagakure Yamamoto Tsunetomo had the gall to critize the 47 Ronins of "Take time to plot revenge instead of taking action immediately". All I can say is "Easy for you to say", not to mention coming from an mediocre "Samurai" who was only a "Office Samurai" in name only and become famous because he wrote a book about how samurai should act.

[@jeffreysams3348]

Tsunetomo comes off as a obnoxiously pious but clueless blowhard...

[@shiroamakusa8075]

No, more like a mafia hit.

[@jeffreysams3348]

@@shiroamakusa8075 They were interesting killing him, not having a fair and equal fight. And while one can find "Fair" duels in history, most battles are based on getting an advantage over their enemies

[@gregbarthjr9621]

It's great to see you back. Continuing to provide us with wonderful information and historical content. This episode was truly entertaining and well worth the wait. Keep up the Great work.

[@SamBroadway]

This channel is awesome and has captured my imagination.... I am going to have to dig in to the playlist and check out some of these series.

[@TheRealOzWookiee]

LOVE the use of the Star Wars soundtrack on the intro for this episode, sounds like the Knights of the Old Republic IIRC.

[@a84c1]

They prove that you must avenge your master no matter how long it been.

[@atomixfang]

In June I watched a comedy called "Dont lose your head!" which is based on this event. It was really good in case anyone feels like watching it.

[@thomaswrightson2230]

The thing I find fascinating about the Ako Incident is its controversy in Japan. While they are revered, some people/scholars have said that by the established dictates of samurai codes, those ronin should have taken revenge immediately and died bravely rather than deliberately waiting all that time. By Western cultural standards those ronin may have done something right, but it shows an interesting contrast between Western and Japanese attitudes about revenge.

[@dante8478]

Sorry for my bad english. Can u make vid about kamakura to sengoku period foods what warriors ate that time & difference amlng peasants samurai daimyo eat. I know its not diverse like today Japan foods

[@nickekrnikku644]

Man I really love the Edo period and all it's stories.

[@fossilmannate7192]

Digging the KOTOR 2 music brother. Keep it coming with videos, they are great!

[@markusforsberg6741]

You togheter with history_of_china i just loves to watch your two youtube channels over and over im a big nerd with history.:D

[@ChrisGildart]

Dude, your videos are always done to the level of a documentary that you'd expect to see on TV or released in retail stores. Great job as always!

[@TheShogunate]

Thanks man!!

[@-RONNIE]

Thank you for the video I think they're story will be one of those Legends that lives on forever. A true testament of Honor

[@claudiegarnier4560]

Thanksss ❤

[@zalop.]

finally ep 7 has been released 🙏🙏🙏

[@TheMercian13]

Most informative!

[@atsukorichards1675]

Thank you for a very fair explanation.

[@YnMxvintrimm]

Finally my prayer has been answered🙌🏾🙌🏾thank you Mr. Shogunate

[@TheManFromWaco]

I'd be interested in a video going into more depth on how popular perception of the 47 Ronin impacted Japanese culture across centuries. Skipping ahead more than 200 years, the Imperial Japanese military had consistent problems with insubordination and insurrection, all the way up to the Kyujo Incident on August 14th, 1945, because many officers fully embraced the idea that a true samurai would undertake an illegal act and not shy away from receiving the full punishment for it, if his sense of loyalty and moral duty and compelled him to do so.

[@Shinobusagi]

A cool story, though it's highly doubtful these men had the "noblest and loyalest" of intentions. After all, storming someone's house with a few dozen warriors and murdering the owner could have been done at any time. It is much more likely they just sought to make a name for themselves, as the quote by Satō Naotaka points out. Their inspiration for this act was the Jōrurizaka Incident (1672), in which 10 people were murdered by about 40 members of another family, as revenge for something that happened four years earlier. Thanks to interference by Ii Naosumi (grandchild of the famous Ii Naomasa, and holding the title of tairō), the killers were merely banished for a few years, and later came to be employed by the Ii family. With this in mind, the 47 were probably hoping to impress a future benefactor, and went ahead with their plan despite the ban on revenge killings that was instated by that time. But alas, they had no influential friends to help them out...

[@saymyname2417]

I read this for the first time. I have the feeling ytubers just regurgitate what has been parroted countless times already. Maybe I find a video or text on this matter that is less superficial and questions more points. Do you have any suggestions? Anyway, thanks so much for your input and have a great weekend!

[@NP3GA]

A bit late but I after watching the last episode, there's been a thought in my head. The three big fires of Edo/Tokyo happened at the end of an era. The first one was, which destroyed the mightiest castle of Japan, happened after the sengoku jidai was officially over, the second near the end of the final Shogunate and the third near the end of the imperial era. I just find it interesting.

[@elpadrinofe]

YOOOOOOOOOOO I was looking for something to watch during lunch break and I find out that the next episode is out. Lucky me~ thanks, dude, I was waiting for this one~

[@Mickey-v7p]

The iconic outfit of the 47 Ronin (the one with the mountains adorning the sleeves) is later emulated by the Shinsengumi albeit with a touch of baby blue. Also, Hollywood decided to bastardize the 47 Ronin legend by making a 47 Ronin movie with Keanu Reeves as the main star (hey, let’s make a white dude a principal player in an epic about loyalty and honor among samurai!). Also, there are three actors in that movie who are involved in the Mortal Kombat series with Tadanobu Asano and Hiroyuki Sanada in Mortal Kombat 2021 and of course, Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 95, Mortal Kombat Legacy Season 2 and Mortal Kombat 11.

[@bjwaters]

I actually enjoyed the 47 Ronin movie with Keanu Reeves. It wasn't trying to be an accurate retelling, so I wasn't bothered by the liberties they took. It was a fun fantasy film.

[@robertfan4266]

I mean, there's no point for them to make an faithful version of it. Japanese has already made multiple Taiga drama and films on that topic, it's nearly impossible for them to top it.

[@saymyname2417]

They more took the basic story and ran with it to make a thing so different from the Ako Incident that its source is unrecognizable. That's Hollywood, baby...

[@Mickey-v7p]

@@saymyname2417 the focus of the movie should be about the titular 47 Ronin themselves, not Keanu Reeves (after all, the movie’s called 47 Ronin, not Keanu Reeves and the 47 Ronin) but Hollywood decided that the movie would sell more if they put someone else as the main focus, preferably a Caucasian one.

[@saymyname2417]

@@Mickey-v7p - Reeves is not Caucasian, he is mixed-raced. AFAIK he is Chinese, Hawaiian and German-Scottish. Yet, he has played white roles galore. Because DNA is one thing, looks another. Actually, he would have been quite a 'blue-eyed' samurai even in yet another version of the Ako Roshi. It would have been historically incorrect, though and I'm absolutely not into that. But they needed a stage for who is really important to them. But you need to understand that the industry never cared for correct history, quite on the opposite and €pean culture in particular has always been one of the MOST targeted. The industry wants to push messages, no matter what. It is only now that others than the pale faces are affected.

[@Dfathurr]

In arts of Kabuki, tale of 47 Ronin would always be paired with Yotsuya Kaidan (which, while this is a horror story, the plot also revolved around revenge). The reason why actually they paired, is that both of the tale show the duality of samurai class. Samurai in the past were considered the harbinger of honor (much like Oishi and his 46 other retainers of Asano Naganori). While samurai at that time were no different than ruffians and bandits (much like Iemon, husband of Oiwa). Both show the critics of Samurai during Edo period, whom most felldown poor and dishonor conpared to Samurai in ages of war and popular imagination

[@suechef1170]

I have a kimono with the crossed feather emblem but had never seen it in any videos before. Same as on Asano Naganori's. Thanks for your videos. I love them and especially the beautiful artwork.

[@MrWertheron]

While the 47 Ronin were well seen as the beginning of the 18th century and were presented as a positive rolemodel during the Meiji era when rhe government tried to apply samurai ideal (mythical one of course) to the rest of the country at the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th, we have to remember that from the end of the 18th to the mid 19th century kabuki plays or novels were really negative and hostile to them, lot of commoners and rich merchants saw it as an exemple of Samurai stubborness and useless bravado. This period of history where samurai were dispised by a fair share of the population (and rightfully so when you look at this cast that wanted to keep it's privilege) is not really known. Hope that the last episodes of this Edo series will talk about this flourishing commoner/bourgeois/merchants society of the late Edo period (that at the end lost, when you look at the Meiji restoration and its samurai domination both in politics or in the administration : 80% of officials from the central administration were from samurai fmailies at the beg of the 20th century... No surprise as why propaganda and school textbooks used this story again and again).

[@Wittle_Boyo]

Yooo!!! I hear the Rise of the Ronin soundtrack in the background. How appropriate ❤

[@jonkeogh3160]

The KOTOR 2 music makes a return. Love it!

[@icaricc]

Very fitting to have ROTR music

[@MasterMercenaryMusic]

Well done!

[@zenzehra1070]

I love your videos and I wish I could just safe all that information in my brain

[@landonsmith2154]

The fact that it's 1703 in this series already is mind blowing! We are only a few decades away from Hokusai's birth! (The one who made The Great Wave off Kanagawa) Speaking of Hokusai, was his work considered significant at the time? I'm really curious!

[@31Ikura]

As a Japanese, I really hope you are not going to be the second Thomas Lockley.

[@TheShogunate]

I'll always seek to be transparent with people. I never want anyone to think I've purposely mislead them. While I don't think that was Thomas Lockley's intentions, which is especially clear for anyone who read his book and knows his work, I do understand how people might see him as doing that unfortunately. I just want to enjoy samurai history and spread the awesome story to the samurai to everyone.

[@FayN_]

​​​@@TheShogunate maybe, next time bring actual japanese historian that willing to correct you or all of that is just nothing but mere sweet talk . This is someone else culture and history we are talking about. If we want to respect it, include them to offer better point of view and transparency. . Like i do very very dissapointed by this whole ordeal and cant really support it anymore

[@If-Liberty-Means-Anything...]

Well he did threaten people with censorship if you didn't go along with the Woke Yasuke angle. Not to mention i just noticed he deleted his interview after defending Lockley tooth and nails while others simply brought his Thomas fake speculations into question. It was already obvious Lockley was lying in an older interview about his book seeing as all he did was speculate while showing no proof that it was actually stated Yasuke was a samurai in any sense. This is commently pushed by westerner even in our own history they are being rewritten to suit a political agenda. And most likely Lockley wanted to make a name for himself by boosting Yasuke up. This is the same reason a lot of fake Black historians are now claiming everything was made by Black folks, or that the western world was full of black folks and they just stole their inventions.

[@KhemBMD]

You’re one of my fav channels. I have followed you for quite a while and you’ve def helped supplement my interest in history and in particular Japanese history. The topic of yasuke has been a hot topic and I saw your interview with Thomas lockley. I came out of that still pretty skeptical as I am familiar with the historical documents some of which I’ve read albeit open to learning. Being that I hold you in high regard I especially was open to what was being said. However to my extreme disappointment (albeit not that surprising) turns out my skepticism was well placed. In the interest of transparency, and accuracy can you please address the situation?

[@OneWingedAngelsBand]

One of my favorite Edo stories. 🙂 Hopefully The Shogunate also uploads the story of Kawakami Gensai and the other Hitokiri (who Himura Kenshin was based on). 🤘😤

[@Effect_____]

Awesome

[@matthewmelange]

lol that kotor 2 music in the background had me tripping

[@jeffreysams3348]

If anybody is coming to visit Tokyo, I highly recommend visiting Sengakuji 泉岳寺 temple, where lord Asano and the 47 ronin are laid to rest. It just is an amazing experience. There is also a museum there. In addition, once a month, they have a public zazen session and even instructions for beginners (sometimes they might have English speaking staff as well - The Soto sect of Zen is very comfortable with foreigners)

[@jeffreysams3348]

There was a movie a few years ago that focused on Terasaka and the idea (of course this is fiction) that he was sent by Oishi to give money to the families of the 46 samurai who had died

[@truthmatters2290]

Thanks for the history lesson sensei

[@Hilversumborn]

The actions of the 47 ronin made the samurai look at themselves in the mirror and reflect upon what a samurai should be.

[@josenathanieltendencia245]

Brings me back watching the 47 Ronin movie but the story has a half breed character and a bit of magical powers. Yep. An interesting samurai story.

[@Gilbertmk2]

Interesting, I thought the 47th ronin had been sent after the raid to bring news of the success back to the family and that he turned himself in once he returned. He was allowed to live and was buried with the 46 when he died That's what I've heard.

[@ryanmuhanmadfalah8582]

Cmiiw Tokugawa Tsunayoshi once made a animal care policy or somekind of it which is a strict prohibition to harm animal

[@kaidorade1317]

I attempted to read Eji Yoshikawa’s “The New Chusingura: The Forty-Seven Ronin” novel and couldn’t get into it. Maybe I just don’t have a taste for his writing style

[@akechijubeimitsuhide]

I read Musashi and Taiko. The man just has no idea about good pacing and describes battles in such boring detail it gives me Waterloo flashbacks.

[@kaidorade1317]

@@akechijubeimitsuhide I’ve also attempted “Musashi” twice. You’d think a book about a samurai who barely survives a battle would be engaging and entertaining. The way he writes, makes Bible Battle scenarios seem like something out of a Peter Jackson film!

[@samcarter565]

I hear you Knights of the Old Republic soundtrack…

[@darealblazegamer2416]

Could you please go over the Yagyu clan, I've recently become interested in Yagyu Muenori and his writings on the sword, and Yagyu Shinkage Ryu

[@mikele53]

Like always good work , but i have a sugestions, could you make video about cavalry ( i should say combat use of horse during battle) by samurai ? Its confusing how many theory are maked about koyo gunkan where author wrote that Takeda clan having circa 9100 horsemen.

[@TheShogunate]

I would love to dive deeper into cavalry! I did took about them a bit in a video I made talking about warriors of the kanto

[@mikele53]

@@TheShogunate Thank you , that will be very interesting material because how different mounted tactics was in Sengoku Japan compare to Medieval/Early modern Europe.

[@dapperduck4250]

Is that... is that the song from the main menu of KOTOR at 0:00 ??? If so massive props for the nostalgia Edit: added the time stamp for the background music I was referencing

[@ThomasBarsegian-co3du]

Are you Japanese? Great Channel. Learn a lot. Again?!!! R.U.Japanese??

[@mads5693]

good video

[@HappyHappyJoyJoy658]

Does anyone know if there are surviving plans of the original layout of Lord Kira's residence, all that ever comes up in searches is links to the current contemporary site in Tokyo which obviously due to 3 centuries of reconstruction having passed is now purely symbolic for remembrance purposes, any suggestions or pointing of a more productive line of inquiry would gladly be welcomed & appreciated.

[@bjwaters]

The story of the 47 Ronin is a curious one because I feel like the adaptations have romanticized them so much that it's hard to know what the real history was. I know some of them show Asano being baited into attacking Kira to try and make the Ronin more valiant in their revenge, but did that really happen, or was Asano the problem and the 47 Ronin weren't really that righteous? I know you made references to various commentators debating the situation, which was neat, but I feel like there really isn't much information about the events themselves. Are we not really able to separate the history from the tales with this one?

[@MrLantean]

According to the official records, Asano Naganori is not the honorable gentleman portrayed in the story but a young feudal lord with a rash, hot-head and impulsive personality. His record in the official records only reveals rather negative attributes. The administration of his domain of Ako is done not by Asano but by his chief retainer Oishi Yoshio as Asano lacks the interest of ruling and instead preferred to indulge in pleasure. Asano and another feudal lord were selected to host a visiting envoy from Kyoto. Kira Yoshinaka was assigned to teach them court protocols and etiquettes as he was a Koke which was a Master of Ceremony. Kira was portrayed in the story as a greedy and corrupt court official who demanded bribes for teaching court etiquettes. However official records revealed that Kira had a reputation of a fair and honorable person and earned the respects from his peers which included the shogun himself. He often funded the construction of infrastructures in his home domain and earned the respect from its residents. Therefore, it is unlikely for him to a greedy and corrupt court official. Kira's position as Koke is highly prestigious but unfortunate a rather low-income position with the annual income equivalent to 10% of Asano's annual income. Kira might have expected to receive rich gifts as tokens of appreciation as well as a mean to supplement his annual income. Asano lacked interest as well as discipline to learn court etiquettes and as a result got frequent reprimanded by Kira. Due to his rash personality, Asano perhaps saw the reprimands as insults as well as the decision to strike Kira within the Shogun's castle. If Asano was the honorable gentleman, he would wait patiently and chose time and place to strike at Kira as drawing a sword within the Shogun's castle is punishable by death. His action was based on impulse. As result, Asano was punished by the way of seppuku and Ako domain got confiscated and the Asano Clan got abolished. The actions of the 47 ronins was also questionable. Some saw them as prime example of Bushido while others saw them as self-interest agendas. Kira suffered a rather one-sided and unfair fight. He was not a wealthy man as portrayed in the story where he employed more than a thousand guards. Due his lower income position, he was able to afford only a handful. According to official records, the 47 ronins were heavily armed with various types of weapons which included gunpowder weapons. As a result, Kira's guards were outnumbered, outfought and outgunned. The author of Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo asked a well-known question of what happened if Kira had died from natural cause in less than a year. The average life in Edo Period was between 40-50 years old and Kira was already at the advance age of 60. When he did die from natural causes, the ronin would lose their only chance and were forever branded as cowards for bring further shame to the Asano Clan. The ronins actually failed to guide their feudal lord to be a person. They chose to blame the misfortune of the Asano Clan on an elderly court official with decades of good service records to the Shogunate instead of their rather incompetent feudal lord. They accused Kira as a greedy and corrupt court official in order to justify their attack on him. The ronins also chose to ignore the Shogun's order not to carry out revenge attack. Asano did break the law and was dealt with accordingly. The ronins may expected to be pardoned by the Shogunate on grounds of Bushido and allowed them to find employment elsewhere.A rash and impulsive feudal lord is posthumously romanticized as a honorable gentleman worthy of a samurai while an elderly court official with good service records to the Shogunate is vilified posthumously as a greedy and corrupted person that deserved to be killed by the ronins. In reality, the true victim of injustice is Kira Yoshinaka instead of Asano Naganori. He is unfortunate to be assigned to teach a rash impulsive feudal lord court etiquettes as well as being unfortunately blamed for the downfall of Asano Clan by the ronins.

[@bjwaters]

@@MrLantean Thank you so much for all that detail. I guess the story really has been so romanticized beyond the truth that they're nearly different stories. Which is frustrating, as adaptations of the 47 Ronin are often presented with the epigraph "To know this story is to know Japan." But when the romanticized version of the story is so removed from the history, what are we supposed to know about Japan from this story? Are we just supposed to learn the morals presented in the romanticization? It's just confusing now.

[@MrLantean]

@@bjwaters Unfortunately it is the embellishment that makes the story of the 47 Ronins very popular otherwise it will be just another chapter in the history of Japan only known by historian enthusiasts. In my personal opinion, the story of the 47 Ronins is perhaps being exploited as a satire to criticize the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Tokugawa Shogunate had been suppressing regional feudal lords to prevent any attempt of rebelling. They were subjected to Sankin-Kotai where they must maintain their residences in Edo under the watchful eyes of the shogunate. They must spend alternate residence between their home domains and their residences in Edo annual. Their families must stay behind in Edo while they returned to their home domains. They also must submit their annual income reports to the Shogunate to be studied by the accountants to verify their annual income. Sankin-Kotai is very costly and in most cases half of the annual is spent for maintaining both residences along with large numbers of employees. For those that angers the Shogunate, there are various punishments. Clan abolishment is considered the most severe punishment. Some feudal lords are reduced in their annual income by either reducing the size of their domain or are assigned less productive domains. All these resulted resentment by various feudal lord towards the Shogunate. The greedy and corrupt Kira Yoshinaka portrayed in the story represents the greedy and corrupted Tokugawa Shogunate perceived by the various feudal lords while the honorable Asano Naganori portrayed in the story represents the various feudal lords being victimized and bullied by the Tokugawa Shogunate.

[@Martial-Mat]

All those deaths because of Naganori's ego, and then his retainer's misplaced loyalty. Nothing noble or heroic here - it's pitiful and despicable.

[@patrickjoshuasenica2388]

what loyalty from tokugawa shonate that ako incidents how war between kai and muishi joint forces of 47 ronin right bat destroyed the city of tokyo from burning villages towns and even castles with bow archers

[@joaomanoel3197]

Muito bom

[@dannygreenland4853]

Another interesting chapter 47 Ronin huh a lot different from the movie I bet Keanu Reeves character was made up also. Overall very good, I wonder if 13 Assassins was real or just a movie.

[@saymyname2417]

I believe 13 Assassins is fiction but it is ANYTIME more realistic than Reeve's 47 Ronin flick which even veers into magical humbug fantasy 🙄...

[@gadgetro7184]

The star wars music🎵

[@loneshinobi2682]

I might be alone in this but idc, the Keanu reeves 47 ronin movie despite being complete nonsense was still at least entertaining (for me anyway) lol

[@hanzohattori5908]

❤❤❤❤❤