Lord Asano, Kira, Oishi, Daisuke, 1200 Ronin, 300 Ronin, 47 Ronin

Kira was assigned to be Lord Asano's advisor for the royal party. It was in October when Kira came and he was supposed to be offered in politeness. Although the offering was polite, Lord Asano only gave him a commonly baked tuna. Kira was offended by this and barely helped Lord Asano at all. Lord Asano was to be honored at this party, and wondered if he should kneel at the top of the steps (which was honorary) or the bottom of the steps (which was also honorary). So he asked Kira, but Kira wouldn't tell him due to the bad offering. In anger Lord Asano struck out at him with his Katana*. Lord Asano was arrested and was sentenced to Seppuku*. With no lord, Edo* was defense less. Oishi, who was the chief steward, heard of this. A few months passed and so they sent a letter to Lord Asano's brother, who was not very nice. Oishi intercepted this letter, and destroyed it. They never had a reply to his brother, Daisuke, so Kira was appointed lord.

At this time 1200 Samurai,* now Ronin,* were out of their jobs, due to Lord Asano's seppuku. Oishi organized a revolt against Kira, because Kira was being an evil lord. Only 300 out of the 1200 Ronin signed a form to kill Kira and save Edo. Kira heard of this revolt and had spies sent everywere. Now because of this, Oishi divorced his wife and children for their safety and only took his oldest son. After that he moved to Kyoto* and led a carefree life. Their plan had worked.

Oishi made it seem like they were bluffing and faking, leaving Kira's defense down. Two years later, Oishi took his best 47 Ronin to attack Kira's castle. Every guard was killed in Kira's castle, yet he was nowhere to be found. They searched and finally found Kira in a supply shed. He had two choices: he would commit seppuku, or he would be killed there and now. He didn't want to die. Out of rage, Oishi took the same dagger that Lord Asano used in his seppuku, and he chopped Kira's head off.

After the death of Kira, Oishi's men took Kira's head and put it in a cloth, parading it around Edo. After the parading, they bathed his head in a well. None of Oishi's men were hurt or killed in the take over of Kira's castle.

Weeks after this event, people made a Kabuki play after it, which became one of the most famous and popular plays even until today.

Words you may not understand:

Katana - An Asian or a Japanese sword used by Ronin or Samurai

Seppuku - An honorable way of suicide, usually used as a law sentencing

Samurai - A Asian warrior who is controlled by a higher ranking command

Edo - A famous Japanese town were the 47 Ronin took place

Kyoto - The town were Oishi went to hide from Kira

Ronin - An masterless samurai