Tag Archives: Tradition

Submitted by: Hyunhee Park, Associate Professor, Dept. of History, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

This play is not available online at the John Jay library or on the open Internet. However, the physical book is located at the John Jay Library in the Stacks at PL794.6.K3 E5 1971. The original document may be borrowed from the Internet Archive at archive.org. It is a free sign up and you can borrow the book for up to 2 weeks. Do a search at the site.

“Chushingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), also known as the story of the Forty-Six (or Forty-Seven) Ronin, is the most famous and popular of all Japanese dramas. Written around 1748 as a puppet play, it is now better know in Kabuki performances (and originally published in the 1800s). In the twentieth century, cinema and television versions have been equally successful. Donald Keene here presents a complete translation of the original text, with notes and an introduction that increase the reader’s comprehension and enjoyment of the play. The introduction also elucidates the idea of loyalty. This traditional virtue, as exemplified in Chushingura, has never completely lost its hold on audiences, in spite of twentieth-century changes in Japanese society and moral ideas. Moreover, as Professor Keene points out, the excitement, color and violence expressed in the play may be considered the counterpoint to the austere restraint and understatement which are more commonly thought to be “traditionally” Japanese. Popularly known as the Tale of the 47 Ronin, this is one of the most famous stories in Japanese history and literature – and one well worth knowing because it is so basic to an understanding of Japanese culture. Based on a series of actual events at the beginning of the 18th century, Chushingura tells the story of a group of samurai who have lost their Master to ritual suicide (“seppuku”). The suicide was ordered as honorable atonement for the master’s purportedly unjustified treatment of a court official. The term “Ronin” refers to samurai (also known as “retainers”) who are masterless – which usually means their master (lord, or daimyo) has been killed or disgraced. In this story the samurai, now left on their own as ronin, plot revenge against that court official. Without going further with the story, it’s impact was to underscore the basic Japanese virtues of loyalty, bravery, and self-sacrifice. You’ll find treatments of this famous historical incident throughout Japanese literature, art, film and drama. This version was written for the puppet theater, known as Bunraku.”

This original play is out of copyright. However, a new publication date of 1971 is copyrighted. It is not available online, but may be checked out of the library. It may be borrowed from the Internet Archive at archive.org. It is a free sign up and you can borrow the book for up to 2 weeks.