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Graves of the Forty-seven Ronin at
The revenge of the forty-seven rōnin (四十七士 Yon-jū-shichi-shi, forty-seven samurai), also known as the Akō incident (赤穂事件 Akō jiken) or Akō vendetta, is an 18th-century historical event in Japan in which a band of
(leaderless ) avenged the death of their master. The incident has since become legendary.
The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ) after their
(feudal lord)
was compelled to commit
(ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named , whose title was
. The rōnin avenged their master's honor by killing Kira, after waiting and planning for a year. In turn, they were themselves obliged to commit seppuku for committing the crime of . 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
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 Rōnin are known as . The story was popularized in numerous plays, including
and . Because of the
laws of the
, 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 's censorship laws had relaxed somewhat 75 years later in the late 18th century, when Japanologist
first recorded the story of the Forty-seven Ronin as one of the significant events of the Genroku era. The story continues to be popular in Japan to this day. Each year on December 14,
holds a festival commemorating the event.
The event is known in Japan as the Akō incident (赤穂事件 Akō jiken), sometimes also referred to as the Akō vendetta. The participants in the revenge are called the Akō-rōshi (赤穂浪士) or Yon-jū-shichi-shi (四十七士) in Japanese, and are usually referred to as the "Forty-seven Ronin" or "Forty-seven leaderless samurai" in English. Literary accounts of the events are known as the Chūshingura (忠臣蔵 The Treasury of Loyal Retainers).
For many years, the version of events retold by
(1871) was considered authoritative. The sequence of events and the characters in this narrative were presented to a wide popular readership in the . Mitford invited his readers to construe his story of the Forty-seven Ronin as h and while his version of the tale has long been considered a standard work, some of its precise details are now questioned. Nevertheless, even with plausible defects, Mitford's work remains a conventional starting point for further study.
Whether as a mere literary device or as a claim for ethnographic veracity, Mitford explains:
In the midst of a nest of venerable trees in Takanawa, a suburb of Yedo, is hidden Sengakuji, or the Spring-hill Temple, renowned throughout the length and breadth of the land for its cemetery, which contains the graves of the Forty-seven R?nin, famous in Japanese history, heroes of Japanese drama, the tale of whose deed I am about to transcribe.
— Mitford, A. B. [emphasis added]
Mitford appended what he explained were translations of Sengakuji documents the author had examined personally. These were proffered as "proofs" authenticating the factual basis of his story. These documents were:
...the receipt given by the retainers of Kira K?tsuké no Suké's son in return for the head of their lord's father, which the priests restored to the family.
...a document explanatory of their conduct, a copy of which was found on the person of each of the forty-seven men, dated in the 15th year of Genroku, 12th month.
...a paper which the Forty-seven Rǒnin laid upon the tomb of their master, together with the head of Kira K?tsuké no Suké.
for the widely known, yet significantly fictional narrative.)
print depicting Asano Naganori's assault on Kira Yoshinaka in the Matsu no ?rōka of Edo Castle
Memorial stone marking the site of the Matsu no ?rōka (Great Corridor of Pines) in , where Asano attacked Kira
In 1701, two , , the young daimyō of the
in western ), and Lord Kamei of the , were ordered to arrange a fitting reception for the envoys of
at , during their
service to the .
These daimyō names are not fictional, nor is there any question that something actually happened in Genroku (year) 15, on the 14th day of the 12th month (元禄十五年十二月十四日, Tuesday, January 30, 1703). What is commonly called the Akō incident was an actual event.
Asano and Kamei were to be given instruction in the necessary court etiquette by Kira Kozuke-no-Suke Yoshinaka, a powerful official in the hierarchy of 's shogunate. He became upset at them, allegedly either because of the insufficient presents they offered him (in the time-honored compensation for such an instructor), or because they would not offer bribes as he wanted. Other sources say that he was naturally rude and arrogant, or that he was corrupt, which offended Asano, a devoutly
. By some accounts, it also appears that Asano may have been unfamiliar with the intricacies of the Shogunate court and failed to show proper level of deference to Kira. Whether Kira treated them poorly, insulted them, or failed to prepare them for fulfilling specific
duties, offence was taken.
Initially, Asano bore all this stoically, while Kamei became enraged and prepared to kill Kira to avenge the insults. However, Kamei's quick-thinking counselors averted disaster for their lord and clan (for all would have been punished if Kamei had killed Kira) by quietly giving K Kira thereupon began to treat Kamei nicely, which calmed Kamei.
However, Kira allegedly continued to treat Asano harshly, because he was upset that the latter had not emulated his companion. Finally, Kira insulted Asano, calling him a country boor with no manners, and Asano could restrain himself no longer. At the , the main grand corridor that interconnects the Shiroshoin (白書院) and the ?hiroma of the Honnmaru Goten (本丸御殿) residence, Asano lost his temper and attacked Kira with a dagger, wounding him in the face w his second missed and hit a pillar. Guards then quickly separated them.
Kira's wound was hardly serious, but the attack on a shogunate official within the boundaries of the shogun's residence was considered a grave offence. Any kind of violence, even drawing a , was completely forbidden in . The daimyō of Akō had removed his dagger from its scabbard within Edo Castle, and for that offence, he was ordered to kill himself by . Asano's goods and lands were to be confiscated after his death, his family was to be ruined, and his retainers were to be made
(leaderless).
This news was carried to , Asano's principal counsellor, who took command and moved the Asano family away, before complying with bakufu orders to surrender the castle to the agents of the government.
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Two of the Forty-Seven Ronin: Horibe Yahei and his adopted son, Horibe Yasubei. Yasubei is holding an .
Of Asano's over 300 men, 47, especially their leader ?ishi, refused to allow their lord to go unavenged, even though revenge had been prohibited in the case. They banded together, swearing a secret oath to avenge their master by killing Kira, even though they knew that they would be severely punished for doing so.
Kira was well guarded, however, and his residence had been fortified to prevent just such an event. The rōnin saw that they would have to put him off his guard before they could succeed. To quell the suspicions of Kira and other shogunate authorities, they dispersed and became tradesmen and monks.
?ishi took up residence in Kyoto and began to frequent brothels and taverns, as if nothing were further from his mind than revenge. Kira still feared a trap, and sent spies to watch Asano's former retainers.
One day, as ?ishi returned home drunk, he fell down in the street and went to sleep, and all the passers-by laughed at him. A
man passing by was infuriated by this behaviour on the part of a samurai—by his lack of courage to avenge his master as well as his current debauched behaviour. The Satsuma man abused and insulted ?ishi, kicked him in the face (to even touch the face of a samurai was a great insult, let alone strike it), and spat on him.
Not too long after, ?ishi went to his loyal wife of twenty years and divorced her so that no harm would come to her when the rōnin took revenge. He sent her away with their two younger children to l he gave the eldest boy, Chikara, a choice to stay and fight or to leave. Chikara remained with his father.
?ishi began to act oddly and very unlike the composed samurai. He frequented geisha houses (particularly ), drank nightly, and acted obscenely in public. ?ishi's men bought a geisha, hoping she would calm him. This was all a ruse to rid ?ishi of his spies.
Kira's agents reported all this to Kira, who became convinced that he was safe from Asano's retainers, that they must all be bad samurai indeed, without the courage to avenge their master after a year and a half. Thinking them harmless and lacking funds from his "retirement", he then reluctantly let down his guard.
The rest of the faithful rōnin now gathered in Edo, and in their roles as workmen and merchants gained access to Kira's house, becoming familiar with the layout of the house and the character of all within. One of the retainers (Kinemon Kanehide Okano) went so far as to marry the daughter of the builder of the house, to obtain the house's design plans. All of this was reported to ?ishi. Others gathered arms and secretly transported them to Edo, another offence.
Modern day reenactment of a samurai armed for the attack
The rōnin attack the principal gate of Kira's mansion
After two years, when ?ishi was convinced that Kira was thoroughly off his guard, and everything was ready, he fled from Kyoto, avoiding the spies who were watching him, and the entire band gathered at a secret meeting place in Edo to renew their oaths.
In Genroku 15, on the 14th day of the 12th month (元禄十五年十二月十四日, Tuesday, January 30, 1703), early in the morning in a driving wind during a heavy fall of snow, ?ishi and the ronin attacked Kira Yoshinaka's mansion in Edo. According to a carefully laid-out plan, they split up into two groups and attacked, armed with swords and bows. One group, led by ?ishi, was to a the other, led by his son, ?ishi Chikara, was to attack the house via the back gate. A drum would sound the simultaneous attack, and a whistle would signal that Kira was dead.
Once Kira was dead, they planned to cut off his head and lay it as an offering on their master's tomb. They would then turn themselves in and wait for their expected sentence of death. All this had been confirmed at a final dinner, at which ?ishi had asked them to be careful and spare women, children, and other helpless people.
?ishi had four men scale the fence and enter the porter's lodge, capturing and tying up the guard there. He then sent messengers to all the neighboring houses, to explain that they were not robbers, but retainers out to avenge the death of their master, and that no harm would come to anyone else: the neighbors were all safe. One of the ronin climbed to the roof and loudly announced to the neighbors that the matter was an act of revenge (, 敵討ち). The neighbors, who all hated Kira, were relieved and did nothing to hinder the raiders.
After posting archers (some on the roof) to prevent those in the house (who had not yet awakened) from sending for help, ?ishi sounded the drum to start the attack. Ten of Kira's retainers held off the party attacking the house from the front, but ?ishi Chikara's party broke into the back of the house.
Kira, in terror, took refuge in a closet in the veranda, along with his wife and female servants. The rest of his retainers, who slept in barracks outside, attempted to come into the house to his rescue. After overcoming the defenders at the front of the house, the two parties led by father and son joined up and fought the retainers who came in. The latter, perceiving that they were losing, tried to send for help, but their messengers were killed by the archers posted to prevent that eventuality.
Eventually, after a fierce struggle, the last of Kira's r in the process, the ronin killed 16 of Kira's men and wounded 22, including his grandson. Of Kira, however, there was no sign. They searched the house, but all they found were crying women and children. They began to despair, but ?ishi checked Kira's bed, and it was still warm, so he knew he could not be far away.
A renewed search disclosed an entrance to a secret courtyard hidden b the courtyard held a small building for storing charcoal and firewood, where two more hidden armed retainers were overcome and killed. A search of the building di he attacked the searcher with a dagger, but the man was easily disarmed.
He refused to say who he was, but the searchers felt sure it was Kira, and sounded the whistle. The ronin gathered, and ?ishi, with a lantern, saw that it was indeed Kira—as a final proof, his head bore the scar from Asano's attack.
At that, ?ishi went on his knees, and in consideration of Kira's high rank, respectfully addressed him, telling him they were retainers of Asano, come to avenge him as true samurai should, and inviting Kira to die as a true samurai should, by killing himself. ?ishi indicated he personally would act as a
("second", the one who beheads a person committing seppuku to spare them the indignity of a lingering death) and offered him the same dagger that Asano had used to kill himself.
However, no matter how much they entreated him, Kira crouched, speechless and trembling. At last, seeing it was useless to ask, ?ishi ordered the other ronin to pin him down, and killed him by cutting off his head with the dagger.
They then extinguished all the lamps and fires in the house (lest any cause the house to catch fire and start a general fire that would harm the neighbors) and left, taking Kira's head.
One of the ronin, the
Terasaka Kichiemon, was ordered to travel to Akō and report that their revenge had been completed. (Though Kichiemon's role as a messenger is the most widely accepted version of the story, other accounts have him running away before or after the battle, or being ordered to leave before the ronin turned themselves in.)
The ronin, on their way back to Sengaku-ji, are halted in the street, to invite them in for rest and refreshment.
Women have their own ritual suicide, in which they slit their own throats. Here, the wife of Onodera Junai, one of the Forty-seven Ronin, prep note the legs tied together, a female feature of seppuku to ensure a "decent" posture in death
As day was now breaking, they quickly carried Kira's head from his residence to their lord's grave in
temple, marching about ten kilometers across the city, causing a great stir on the way. The story of the revenge spread quickly, and everyone on their path praised them and offered them refreshment.
On arriving at the temple, the remaining 46 rōnin (all except Terasaka Kichiemon) washed and cleaned Kira's head in a well, and laid it, and the fateful dagger, before Asano's tomb. They then offered prayers at the temple, and gave the abbot of the temple all the money they had left, asking him to bury them decently, and offer prayers for them. They then
the group was broken into four parts and put under guard of four different daimyō.
During this time, two friends of Kira came to collect the temple still has the original receipt for the head, which the friends and the priests who dealt with them had all signed.
The shogunate officials in Edo were in a quandary. The samurai had followed the precepts by avenging the but they had also defied the shogunate authority by exacting revenge, which had been prohibited. In addition, the shogun received a number of petitions from the admiring populace on behalf of the rōnin. As expected, the rōnin were sentenced to death for the murder of K but the Shogun finally resolved the quandary by ordering them to honorably commit seppuku instead of having them executed as criminals. It is known that each of the assailants ended his life in a ritualistic fashion. ?ishi Chikara, the youngest, was only 15 years old on the day the raid took place, and only 16 the day he committed seppuku.
Each of the 46 rōnin killed himself in Genroku 16, on the 4th day of the 2nd month (元禄十六年二月四日, Tuesday, March 20, 1703). This has caused a considerable amount of confusion ever since, with some people referring to the "forty-six rōnin"; this refers to the group put to death by the shogun, while the actual attack party numbered forty-seven. The forty-seventh rōnin, identified as Terasaka Kichiemon, eventually returned from his mission and was pardoned by the shogun (some say on account of his youth). He lived until the age of 87, dying around 1747, and was then buried with his comrades. The assailants who died by seppuku were subsequently interred on the grounds of Sengaku-ji, in front of the tomb of their master.
The clothes and arms they wore are still preserved in the temple to this day, along with
their armor was all home-made, as they had not wanted to arouse suspicion by purchasing any.
The tombs became a place of great veneration, and people flocked there to pray. The graves at the temple have been visited by a great many people throughout the years since the Genroku era. One of those was the Satsuma man who had mocked and spat on ?ishi as he lay drunk in the street. Addressing the grave, he begged for forgiveness for his actions and for thinking that ?ishi was not a true samurai. He then committed suicide and was buried next to the rōnin.
Though the revenge is often viewed as an act of loyalty, there had been a second goal, to re-establish the Asanos' lordship and finding a place for fellow samurai to serve. Hundreds of samurai who had served under Asano had been left jobless, and many were unable to find employment, as they had served under a disgraced family. Many lived as farmers or did simple handicrafts to make ends meet. The revenge of the forty-seven rōnin cleared their names, and many of the unemployed samurai found jobs soon after the rōnin had been sentenced to their honorable end.[]
Asano Daigaku Nagahiro, Naganori's younger brother and heir, was allowed by the Tokugawa shogunate to re-establish his name, though his territory was reduced to a tenth of the original.[]
Below are the names of the 47 ronin in the schema Family name - Pseudonym () - Real name (). Alternative readings are listed in italics.
?ishi Kuranosuke Yoshio/Yoshitaka (大石 内蔵助 良雄)
?ishi Chikara Yoshikane (大石 主税 良金)
Hara Sōemon Mototaki (原 惣右衛門 元辰)
Kataoka Gengoemon Takafusa (片岡 源五右衛門 高房)
Haribe Yahē Kanamaru/Akizane (堀部 弥兵衛 金丸)
Haribe Yasubē Taketsune (堀部 安兵衛 武庸)
Yoshida Chūzaemon Kanesuke (吉田 忠左衛門 兼亮)
Yoshida Sawaemon Kanesada (吉田 沢右衛門 兼貞)
Chikamatsu Kanroku Yukushige (近松 勘六 行重)
Mase Kyūdayū Masaaki (間瀬 久太夫 正明)
Mase Magokurō Masatoki (間瀬 孫九郎 正辰)
Akabane Genzō Shigekata (赤埴 源蔵 重賢)
Ushioda Matanojō Takanori (潮田 又之丞 高教)
Tominomori Sukeemon Masayori (富森 助右衛門 正因)
Fuwa Kazuemon Masatane (不破 数右衛門 正種)
Okano Kin’emon Kanahide (岡野 金右衛門 包秀)
Onodera Jūnai Hidekazu (小野寺 十内 秀和)
Onodera Kōemon Hidetomi (小野寺 幸右衛門 秀富)
Kimura Okaemon Sadayuki (木村 岡右衛門 貞行)
Okuda Magodayū Shigemori (奥田 孫太夫 重盛)
Okuda Chidaemon Yukitaka (奥田 貞右衛門 行高)
Hayami Tōzaemon Mitsutaka (早水 藤左衛門 満尭)
Yada Gorōemon Suketake (矢田 五郎右衛門 助武)
?ishi Sezaemon Nobukiyo (大石 瀬左衛門 信清)
Isogai Jūrōzaemon Masahisa (礒貝 十郎左衛門 正久)
Hazama Kihē Mitsunobu (間 喜兵衛 光延)
Hazama Jūjirō Mitsuaki (間 十次郎 光興)
Hazama Shinrokurō Mitsukaze (間 新六郎 光風)
Nakamura Kansuke Masatoki (中村 勘助 正辰)
Semba Saburobē Mitsutada (千馬 三郎兵衛 光忠)
Sugaya Hannojō Masatoshi (菅谷 半之丞 政利)
Muramatsu Kibē Hidenao (村松 喜兵衛 秀直)
Muramatsu Sandayū Takanao (村松 三太夫 高直)
Kurahashi Densuke Takeyuki (倉橋 伝助 武幸)
Okajima Yasoemon Tsuneshige (岡嶋 八十右衛門 常樹)
?taka Gengo Tadao/Tadatake (大高 源五 忠雄)
Yatō Emoshichi Norikane (矢頭 右衛門七 教兼)
Katsuta Shinzaemon Taketaka (勝田 新左衛門 武尭)
Takebayashi Tadashichi Takashige (武林 唯七 隆重)
Maebara Isuke Munefusa (前原 伊助 宗房)
Kaiga Yazaemon Tomonobu (貝賀 弥左衛門 友信)
Sugino Jūheiji Tsugifusa (杉野 十平次 次房)
Kanzaki Yogorō Noriyasu (神崎 与五郎 則休)
Mimura Jirōzaemon Kanetsune (三村 次郎左衛門 包常)
Yakokawa Kambei Munetoshi (横川 勘平 宗利)
Kayano Wasuke Tsunenari (茅野 和助 常成)
Terasaka Kichiemon Nobuyuki (寺坂 吉右衛門 信行)
The rōnin spent more than 14 months waiting for the "right time" for their revenge. It was , author of the , who asked the well known question: "What if, nine months after Asano's death, Kira had died of an illness?" His answer was that the forty-seven rōnin would have lost their only chance at avenging their master. Even if they had claimed, then, that their dissipated behavior was just an act, that in just a little more time they would have been ready for revenge, who would have believed them? They would have been forever remembered as cowards and drunkards—bringing eternal shame to the name of the Asano clan. The right thing for the rōnin to do, wrote Yamamoto, was to attack Kira and his men immediately after Asano's death. The rōnin would probably have suffered defeat, as Kira was ready for an attack at that time—but this was unimportant.
?ishi was too obsessed with success, according to Yamamoto. He conceived his convoluted plan to ensure that they would succeed at killing Kira, which is not a proper concern in a samurai: the important thing was not the death of Kira, but for the former samurai of Asano to show outstanding courage and determination in an all-out attack against the Kira house, thus winning everlasting honor for their dead master. Even if they had failed to kill Kira, even if they had all perished, it would not have mattered, as victory and defeat have no importance. By waiting a year, they improved their chances of success but risked dishonoring the name of their clan, the worst sin a samurai can commit.
The tragedy of the Forty-seven Ronin has been one of the most popular themes in Japanese art, and has lately even begun to make its way into Western art.
Immediately following the event, there were mixed feelings among the intelligentsia about whether such vengeance had been appropriate. Many agreed that, given their master's last wishes, the rōnin had done the right thing, but were undecided about whether such a vengeful wish was proper. Over time, however, the story became a symbol of loyalty to one's master and later, of loyalty to the emperor. Once this happened, the story flourished as a subject of drama, storytelling, and visual art.
The incident immediately inspired a succession of
the first, The Night Attack at Dawn by the , appeared only two weeks after the ronin died. It was shut down by the authorities, but many others soon followed, initially in
and , farther away from the capital. Some even took the story as far as , to spread the story to the rest of Asia.
The most successful of the adaptations was a
play called
(now simply called Chūshingura, or "Treasury of Loyal Retainers"), written in 1748 by Takeda Izum it was later adapted into a kabuki play, which is still one of Japan's most popular.
In the play, to avoid the attention of the censors, the events are transferred into the distant past, to the 14th century reign of shogun . Asano became Enya Hangan Takasada, Kira became Ko no Moronao and ?ishi became ?boshi Yuranosuke Y the names of the rest of the rōnin were disguised to varying degrees. The play contains a number of plot twists that do not reflect the real story: Moronao tries to seduce Enya's wife, and one of the rōnin dies before the attack because of a conflict between family and warrior loyalty (another possible cause of the confusion between forty-six and forty-seven).
The story was turned into an opera, Chūshingura, by
The play has been made into a movie at least six times in Japan, the earliest starring . The film's release date is questioned, but placed between 1910 and 1917. It has been aired on the Jidaigeki Senmon Channel (Japan) with accompanying
narration. In 1941, the Japanese military commissioned director , who would later direct , to make . They wanted a ferocious morale booster based on the familiar rekishi geki ("historical drama") of The Loyal 47 Ronin. Instead, Mizoguchi chose for his source Mayama Chūshingura, a cerebral play dealing with the story. The film was a commercial failure, having been released in Japan one week before the . The Japanese military and most audiences found the first part to be too serious, but the studio and Mizoguchi both regarded it as so important that Part Two was put into production, despite lukewarm reception to Part One. Renowned by postwar scholars lucky to have seen it in Japan, the film wasn't shown in America until the 1970s.
The 1962 film version directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, , is most familiar to Western audiences. In it,
appears in a supporting role as spearman Tawaraboshi Genba. Mifune was to revisit the story several times in his career. In 1971 he appeared in the 52-part television series
as ?ishi, while in 1978 he appeared as Lord Tsuchiya in the epic
(Ako-Jo danzetsu).
Many Japanese television shows, including single programs, short series, single seasons, and even year-long series such as Daichūshingura and the more recent NHK
Genroku Ryōran, recount the events of the Forty-seven Ronin. Among both films and television programs, some are quite faithful to the Chūshingura, while others incorporate unrelated material or alter details. In addition,
dramatize events and characters not in the Chūshingura.
in 1994. In 2004, Saito Mitsumasa directed a 9-episode mini-series starring , who also starred in a 1999 49-episode TV series of the Chūshingura entitled Genroku Ryoran. In 's 2006 film , the events of the Forty-seven Ronin story were used as backdrop, with one of the ronin being a neighbour of the protagonists.
Most recently, it was made into a 2013 American movie, titled , released on December 25, 2013, and then again into a more stylized version titled , released April 3, 2015.
The Forty-seven Ronin is one of the most popular themes in , or
and many well-known artists have made prints portraying either the original events, scenes from the play, or the actors. One book on subjects depicted in woodblock prints devotes no fewer than seven chapters to the history of the appearance of this theme in woodblocks. Among the artists who produced prints on this subject are , [], , , , and . However, probably the most widely known woodblocks in the genre are those of , who produced at least eleven separate complete series on this subject, along with more than twenty .
The earliest known account of the Akō incident in the West was published in 1822 in 's posthumously-published book Illustrations of Japan.
Memorial to the unswerving loyalty of
and 46 others, at the site where they died
burns at the graves of the Forty-seven Ronin at Sengaku-ji
Graves of the Forty-seven Ronin
Entrance to Sengaku-ji
Woodcut by
depicting the attack (early 1800s)
Postcard depicting the attack, early 1920s
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Benesch, Oleg (2014).
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dickens, Frederick V. (1930) Chushingura, or The Loyal League. London.
Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2012). Forty-Seven Ronin: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Edition. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00ADQGLB8
Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2012). Forty-Seven Ronin: Utagawa Kuniyoshi Edition. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00ADQM8II
Keene, Donald. (1971). Chushingura: A Puppet Play. New York.
Mitford, Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, Lord Redesdale (1871). . London: University of Michigan.
Robinson, B.W. (1982). Kuniyoshi: The Warrior Prints. Ithaca.
Sato, Hiroaki. (1995). Legends of the Samurai. New York.
Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, . London.
Steward, Basil. (1922). Subjects Portrayed in Japanese Colour-Prints. New York.
Titsingh, Isaac. (1820). Mémoires et Anecdotes sur la Dynastie régnante des Djogouns, Souverains du Japon. Paris: Nepveu.
Weinberg, David R. et al. (2001). Kuniyoshi: The Faithful Samurai. Leiden.
Robson, Lucia St. Clair (1991) The Tokaido Road. Forge Books. New York.
– Comparisons of the accuracy of accounts by Mitford, Murdoch and others, as well as much other useful material, by a noted scholars of Japan
– Web site produced by students at Ako High S contains the story of the 47 ronin's story, and images of wooden votive tablets of the 47 ronin in the Oishi Shrine, Ako
by Henry D. Smith II, Japan Review, -65
National Diet Library: ;
Turnbull, Stephen. (2011). The Revenge of the 47 Ronin, Edo 1703; Osprey Raid Series #23, Osprey Publishing.
Jorge Luís Borges. (1935). The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette K?tsuké no Suké; A Universal History of Infamy, Buenos aires 1954, Emecé 1945
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