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Los 47 ronin: El tesoro de los leales vasallos
La venganza de los 47 "ronin" (samuráis huérfanos de su señor y, por tanto, desplazados del orden social) es sin duda una de las historias más famosas y populares de la cultura japonesa. Recrea un acontecimiento histórico: la sangrienta venganza consumada en 1702 por 47 de estos samuráis para reivindicar el honor de su señor, caído en desgracia y forzado al "seppuku" o suicidio ritual por la avaricia de un poderoso funcionario del gobierno. Este inesperado suceso conmovió al pueblo llano del Japón del período Edo, que no tardó en convertirlo en motivo de novelas y piezas teatrales con las que expresar de forma simbólica su oposición al régimen militar de los Tokugawa. Obra concebida para el " joruri " o teatro de marionetas, representada y celebrada hasta el día de hoy, "El tesoro de los leales vasallos" encarna la culminación de todo cuanto se escribió en esos años en torno al caso. En su acción, que avanza inexorable, brilla la obsesión por el honor y la venganza que alimentaba el alma del samurái, que campa a sus anchas por la obra hasta destruir a todos sus personajes. Un oportuno enlace a Youtube permite al lector interesado asistir a la representación de la obra en el Japón actual.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1748
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September 6, 2016Kanadehon Chūshingura is a play written for the Bunraku theater in 1748 by Izumo Takeda, Shoraku Miyoshi and Senryu Namiki. According to Donald Keene, "The most famous and popular work in the entire Japanese theatrical repertory is, beyond any doubt, Chūshingura." The play is based upon events some 50 years earlier in which a young Japanese lord wounded a representative of the Shogun (probably because he felt insulted by him) and was commanded by the Shogun to commit seppuku, which he did. The Shogun then went further, confiscating the lord's properties and casting out all his family and retainers. The now masterless samurai (ronin) of the late lord Asano revenged his death a few years later by attacking the flunkey's mansion, killing him and placing his severed head upon Asano's gravesite. After deliberating for some time and calling in the advice of leading philosophers (!), the Shogun commanded that the 46 ronin commit seppuku in their turn. Which, of course, they did. Not two weeks later the first play based on the incident was performed and promptly shut down by the authorities.
This story of duty resolutely carried out to the most extreme lengths resonated within the core of the Japanese people and became the basis for a nearly boundless waterfall of plays, novels and films. The works in this tradition are collectively referred to as Chūshingura, in honor of this play, recognized as the masterpiece in the tradition. Preceded already by many plays, including one by the great Monzaemon Chikamatsu, Chūshingura adopted elements from that burgeoning tradition going well beyond the historical facts and added some of its own. Later works in the tradition made additions/subtractions with differing emphases and interpretations. One can well imagine that the study of the Chūshingura tradition keeps an army of scholars busy. I'm not one of them, so I'll have to leave a comparative study aside here.
One of the non-historical adjustments made in Chūshingura and its predecessors was to transplant the events into the 14th century in order to placate the Shogun's censors. (In the early 1800's, Tamenaga Shunsui felt safe enough to move the setting of his novelistic fictionalization of the story, which I review here
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
back to the beginning of the 18th century.) Another was to make 47 the number of rebellious ronin, for that is the number of kana (letters, let's call them) in one of the main Japanese writing systems. This had already been done before the composition of Chūshingura, in which the number 47 occurs in further significant ways. In some texts the 47th ronin dies before the final attack for some reason or another.
The multiple authorship of this play, in which, according to experts, different authors wrote different acts, led to a recognized unevenness in quality among the acts, as well as inconsistencies in the characters, resulting in one particular character being played by one actor early in the play and by another at the end! But it also resulted in a great variety in the scenes, which has contributed greatly to the dominance of this particular play in the tradition, according to Keene.
Reading theater, as opposed to seeing it performed as intended, is problematic - one can only appreciate certain aspects of the piece. Not unexpectedly, the text is much less formal than Noh plays; there are long passages of natural conversation. The many moments when a Noh play intensifies its language to high poetry are absent in this play. The narrator's role is to describe the action and setting in lieu of stage directions in nearly the same manner as the narrator of an occidental novel. A modern Western reader needs to make very little adjustment in their literary expectations when undertaking this text.
Though I appreciated Shunsui's portrayal of mid-Tokugawa society, going well beyond the tale of the 47 ronin, this play is less sentimental and less repetitive than his novel The Loyal Ronins. The characters are more clearly and convincingly drawn, and, probably due to the lack of digression, the powerful underlying drama of the incident is more effectively brought to the fore in the play. Unlike the novel, the play builds up to the initial wounding of the flunkey, which, after all, precipitated all of the tragedy, in a foreboding manner that made the wounding ineluctable instead of merely a sudden hot headed act of anger (though, in fact, there is one). There are also moments of comedic relief, and consider this: A woman places her hand in a man's hand and indirectly suggests a tryst. At that moment, from a Noh play being performed in the castle wafts over to the pair the line "I approach the base of the pine and rub the trunk..." No prudes, these Japanese... Nor were they in the least prudish about violence - the many forms of violent death are described in great detail by the narrator.
This play, even more than the classic texts on bushido (the way of the samurai), brings home to me the terrible coherence and alienness of a culture willing to sacrifice absolutely everything and everybody to a code of honor in which duty to one's liege is far and away the highest value, where parents will sell their daughter into prostitution so that their son-in-law will have money to contribute to a monument to his deceased liege (and she goes willingly in the name of her duty to her husband and parents), just to mention one example of many. It is made clear in the play that not everyone is equal to the demands of this duty, but that those who are are the most admirable of human beings. Now imagine that this play would be at the center of your culture...
Though later adapted for the Kabuki theater, Chūshingura was originally written for the unique puppet theater called Bunraku. Briefly, the puppets are large and not manipulated by strings from above or hands from below, but by three operators garbed in black who stand behind the puppet in full view of the audience. The operators are silent. One man at the side of the stage, the Tayu, accompanied by a samisen player, recites all the parts as well as his part of narrator. A little introduction, as well as excerpts from a performance, can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TKt67...
A lengthier broadcast may be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44dH7j...
Keene provides an excellent introduction and footnotes to help the lay reader with orientation and context.
Rating
http://leopard.booklikes.com/post/753...-
This story of duty resolutely carried out to the most extreme lengths resonated within the core of the Japanese people and became the basis for a nearly boundless waterfall of plays, novels and films. The works in this tradition are collectively referred to as Chūshingura, in honor of this play, recognized as the masterpiece in the tradition. Preceded already by many plays, including one by the great Monzaemon Chikamatsu, Chūshingura adopted elements from that burgeoning tradition going well beyond the historical facts and added some of its own. Later works in the tradition made additions/subtractions with differing emphases and interpretations. One can well imagine that the study of the Chūshingura tradition keeps an army of scholars busy. I'm not one of them, so I'll have to leave a comparative study aside here.
One of the non-historical adjustments made in Chūshingura and its predecessors was to transplant the events into the 14th century in order to placate the Shogun's censors. (In the early 1800's, Tamenaga Shunsui felt safe enough to move the setting of his novelistic fictionalization of the story, which I review here
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
back to the beginning of the 18th century.) Another was to make 47 the number of rebellious ronin, for that is the number of kana (letters, let's call them) in one of the main Japanese writing systems. This had already been done before the composition of Chūshingura, in which the number 47 occurs in further significant ways. In some texts the 47th ronin dies before the final attack for some reason or another.
The multiple authorship of this play, in which, according to experts, different authors wrote different acts, led to a recognized unevenness in quality among the acts, as well as inconsistencies in the characters, resulting in one particular character being played by one actor early in the play and by another at the end! But it also resulted in a great variety in the scenes, which has contributed greatly to the dominance of this particular play in the tradition, according to Keene.
Reading theater, as opposed to seeing it performed as intended, is problematic - one can only appreciate certain aspects of the piece. Not unexpectedly, the text is much less formal than Noh plays; there are long passages of natural conversation. The many moments when a Noh play intensifies its language to high poetry are absent in this play. The narrator's role is to describe the action and setting in lieu of stage directions in nearly the same manner as the narrator of an occidental novel. A modern Western reader needs to make very little adjustment in their literary expectations when undertaking this text.
Though I appreciated Shunsui's portrayal of mid-Tokugawa society, going well beyond the tale of the 47 ronin, this play is less sentimental and less repetitive than his novel The Loyal Ronins. The characters are more clearly and convincingly drawn, and, probably due to the lack of digression, the powerful underlying drama of the incident is more effectively brought to the fore in the play. Unlike the novel, the play builds up to the initial wounding of the flunkey, which, after all, precipitated all of the tragedy, in a foreboding manner that made the wounding ineluctable instead of merely a sudden hot headed act of anger (though, in fact, there is one). There are also moments of comedic relief, and consider this: A woman places her hand in a man's hand and indirectly suggests a tryst. At that moment, from a Noh play being performed in the castle wafts over to the pair the line "I approach the base of the pine and rub the trunk..." No prudes, these Japanese... Nor were they in the least prudish about violence - the many forms of violent death are described in great detail by the narrator.
This play, even more than the classic texts on bushido (the way of the samurai), brings home to me the terrible coherence and alienness of a culture willing to sacrifice absolutely everything and everybody to a code of honor in which duty to one's liege is far and away the highest value, where parents will sell their daughter into prostitution so that their son-in-law will have money to contribute to a monument to his deceased liege (and she goes willingly in the name of her duty to her husband and parents), just to mention one example of many. It is made clear in the play that not everyone is equal to the demands of this duty, but that those who are are the most admirable of human beings. Now imagine that this play would be at the center of your culture...
Though later adapted for the Kabuki theater, Chūshingura was originally written for the unique puppet theater called Bunraku. Briefly, the puppets are large and not manipulated by strings from above or hands from below, but by three operators garbed in black who stand behind the puppet in full view of the audience. The operators are silent. One man at the side of the stage, the Tayu, accompanied by a samisen player, recites all the parts as well as his part of narrator. A little introduction, as well as excerpts from a performance, can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TKt67...
A lengthier broadcast may be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44dH7j...
Keene provides an excellent introduction and footnotes to help the lay reader with orientation and context.
Rating
http://leopard.booklikes.com/post/753...-
October 11, 2024
در قرن هجدهم میلادی، ۴۷ سامورایی رونین(سامورایی های بدون ارباب، رونین نامیده میشدن) که ارباب خودشون رو از دست داده بودن دست به انتقام زده و بعد به سپوکو(هاراکیری: خودکشیِ آئینی سامورایی ها که با دریدن شکم صورت میگرفت) محکوم شدند!
اربابِ ۴۷ رونین که آسانو ناگانوری نام داشت به دلایل نامشخص(احتمالا مورد تحقیر و توهین واقع شدن از سمت کیرا) به کیرا یوشیناکا ضربه ی ناموفقی وارد کرده و از سمت شوگون وقت، به سپوکو محکوم شده و اموالش مصادره شده بود..
نمایشنامه ی چوشینگورا، با الهام از حادثه ی آکو و یا انتقام ۴۷ رونین نوشته شده.
اسامی اشخاص در نمایشنامه تغییر کرده و در میان روایت واقعیِ این انتقام، وقایعی خیالی هم گنجونده شده ان!
از اونجایی که چوشینگورا به حادثه ای واقعی و مهم در تاریخ ژاپن میپردازه که هنرمندانه با تخیل نویسنده، ترکیب شده و جزئیات و توصیفات زیبایی داره میتونم بگم از بهترین نمایشنامه هایی بود که تا به حال خوندم و خوندنش رو هم، به همه پیشنهاد میکنم!
فقط باید اشاره کنم نمایشنامه پر از اسامی مختلف ژاپنیه که ممکنه کمی باعث گیجی بشه و لازم باشه برای یادآوری، گهگاهی به عقب برگردید و اسامی و نقش ها و جایگاهشون رو چک کنید!
البته اگر تجربه ی زیادی در مطالعه ی ادبیات ژاپن داشته باشین به مشکلی برنمیخورین..
دو فیلم سینمایی از ماجرای انتقام ۴۷ رونین ساخته شده که اولیش مربوط به سال ۱۹۴۱ و ساخت کارگردانِ معروف؛ کنجی میزوگوچیه
و دومی ساخت سال ۲۰۱۳ و محصول آمریکاست،
به کارگردانی کارل لینچ و با بازی کیانو ریوز!
من حتما فیلم میزوگوچی رو خواهم دید و به شما هم پیشنهاد میکنم اگر قصد دیدن فیلمی مربوط به این واقعه رو دارین حتما سراغ همین نسخه برید…
اربابِ ۴۷ رونین که آسانو ناگانوری نام داشت به دلایل نامشخص(احتمالا مورد تحقیر و توهین واقع شدن از سمت کیرا) به کیرا یوشیناکا ضربه ی ناموفقی وارد کرده و از سمت شوگون وقت، به سپوکو محکوم شده و اموالش مصادره شده بود..
نمایشنامه ی چوشینگورا، با الهام از حادثه ی آکو و یا انتقام ۴۷ رونین نوشته شده.
اسامی اشخاص در نمایشنامه تغییر کرده و در میان روایت واقعیِ این انتقام، وقایعی خیالی هم گنجونده شده ان!
از اونجایی که چوشینگورا به حادثه ای واقعی و مهم در تاریخ ژاپن میپردازه که هنرمندانه با تخیل نویسنده، ترکیب شده و جزئیات و توصیفات زیبایی داره میتونم بگم از بهترین نمایشنامه هایی بود که تا به حال خوندم و خوندنش رو هم، به همه پیشنهاد میکنم!
فقط باید اشاره کنم نمایشنامه پر از اسامی مختلف ژاپنیه که ممکنه کمی باعث گیجی بشه و لازم باشه برای یادآوری، گهگاهی به عقب برگردید و اسامی و نقش ها و جایگاهشون رو چک کنید!
البته اگر تجربه ی زیادی در مطالعه ی ادبیات ژاپن داشته باشین به مشکلی برنمیخورین..
دو فیلم سینمایی از ماجرای انتقام ۴۷ رونین ساخته شده که اولیش مربوط به سال ۱۹۴۱ و ساخت کارگردانِ معروف؛ کنجی میزوگوچیه
و دومی ساخت سال ۲۰۱۳ و محصول آمریکاست،
به کارگردانی کارل لینچ و با بازی کیانو ریوز!
من حتما فیلم میزوگوچی رو خواهم دید و به شما هم پیشنهاد میکنم اگر قصد دیدن فیلمی مربوط به این واقعه رو دارین حتما سراغ همین نسخه برید…
December 21, 2017
A Japanese puppet play (not like anything known in the West) based on the doomed heroism of 46 Ronin – leaderless Samurai. They plot to take the head of a tyrant responsible for their leader’s seppuku. Bloody throughout, the play emphasizes duty, loyalty and honor above all other virtues, which is pretty typical of Japanese culture for centuries. It is exciting and well paced. A good read.
Read
October 30, 2021I read this play many years ago when I was in college. I’d forgotten so much of the original story’s details, despite coming up against countless retellings and borrowings of it in contemporary Japanese culture - it was good to immerse myself again in Donald Keene’s excellent translation.
May 30, 2009
I do not want to give too much of the plot away, since the play is very short and proves to be a very quick read. Chushingura is about samurai whose master is forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide), making them ronin (master less samurai). They pledge to avenge the death of their late master and plan to attack the man who provoked their master to disgrace his honor. The play was written by three different playwrights, which is why some of the characters personalities change drastically throughout the play.
The play does an amazing job showing the devotion of samurai to their code of ethics and to their masters. The samurai believed in their duty to their master to the point that they would commit seppuku if they felt that they had disgraced their master in any way. It also shows how much the family of a samurai has to devote to the master, like the wives being sold as prostitutes to help fund the plan to avenge their late master.
The play was originally written for the puppet theater, bunraku, but was originally adapted into a play for the kabuki theater. Since the original play was written there have been numerous adaptations in film, novels, and television productions. The Sprouse twins (The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) have even made a graphic novel series called the 47 R.O.N.I.N., which has nothing to do with samurai's but involves ninjas and underground societies....
I would definitely recommend Chushingura to anyone who has a love of Japan or who find samurai interesting. I do not read many plays, but I was able to be enveloped in the story and was so compelled by it that I finished it the day that I started it. However if you have not seen any of the adaptations of the book, I would recommend saving the intro for last because it does give away many of the important twists and turns of the storyline which kind of ruined the shock factor of some of the famous parts of the play.
The play does an amazing job showing the devotion of samurai to their code of ethics and to their masters. The samurai believed in their duty to their master to the point that they would commit seppuku if they felt that they had disgraced their master in any way. It also shows how much the family of a samurai has to devote to the master, like the wives being sold as prostitutes to help fund the plan to avenge their late master.
The play was originally written for the puppet theater, bunraku, but was originally adapted into a play for the kabuki theater. Since the original play was written there have been numerous adaptations in film, novels, and television productions. The Sprouse twins (The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) have even made a graphic novel series called the 47 R.O.N.I.N., which has nothing to do with samurai's but involves ninjas and underground societies....
I would definitely recommend Chushingura to anyone who has a love of Japan or who find samurai interesting. I do not read many plays, but I was able to be enveloped in the story and was so compelled by it that I finished it the day that I started it. However if you have not seen any of the adaptations of the book, I would recommend saving the intro for last because it does give away many of the important twists and turns of the storyline which kind of ruined the shock factor of some of the famous parts of the play.
March 23, 2016
I'm going to see this as a kabuki in March. I'll try to remember at that time to come back and write a rating - I don't think reading it as a play does it justice.
Edit, after seeing the kabuki play:
Definitely better performed. It was heavily edited, as the play is very long and would be over 10 hours if the entire thing were performed. As it stood, it was still a 3 hour play. I stayed completely enthralled, but then again, I have been studying Japanese literature all quarter and had read the play, so I knew what was happening. The people I brought with me thought it overly long.
There were little to no stage directions in my edition, so actually seeing what was happening was way more compelling than just reading lines.
It made it a better story for sure. It is very strange and just seems really foreign without a lot of context.
Edit, after seeing the kabuki play:
Definitely better performed. It was heavily edited, as the play is very long and would be over 10 hours if the entire thing were performed. As it stood, it was still a 3 hour play. I stayed completely enthralled, but then again, I have been studying Japanese literature all quarter and had read the play, so I knew what was happening. The people I brought with me thought it overly long.
There were little to no stage directions in my edition, so actually seeing what was happening was way more compelling than just reading lines.
It made it a better story for sure. It is very strange and just seems really foreign without a lot of context.
January 30, 2022
Enya Hangan es un noble samurái de una gran casa. Un día, mientras acudía a la casa de Ko no Moronao, este es insultado y agraviado por el abuso de poder del gobernador de Kamakura. Hangan le ataca, consiguiendo herirle, y es sentenciado a hacerse seppuku. Sus 47 samuráis a cargo se convierten en ronin y traman una venganza para restablecer el honor de su señor caído. Una historia basada en hechos reales producido en 1702 en el Japón del periodo Edo.
Esta historia es un teatro para el joruri, un teatro de marionetas, representada y celebrada incluso hoy día y representa un testimonio bastante completo de los hechos acontecidos. En él vamos a encontrar a numerosos personajes, una larga lista, cuyos nombres son, al principio, bastante difíciles de recordar (aunque los principales ya se harán muy familiares). Tendremos personajes muy variopintos y diversos: gobernadores, señores de alta alcurnia, aduladores, samuráis de baja estirpe, comerciantes, prostitutas, mujeres, criados, etc. Aclarar que un ronin es un samurai sin señor, un samurai errante. También que estos personajes no son reales, pero sí están basados en parte en los personajes históricos del acontecimiento.
Quiero destacar a las mujeres. Estas tienen unas personalidades distintas y, a veces, contradictorias, cambiando constantemente a lo largo de la historia según las circunstancias. A veces encontramos mujeres sumisas, siempre bajo la voz de un hombre y siempre como "madre de" o "hija de". Pero en ocasiones esas mujeres transmiten una fortaleza increíble y tanto honor y lealtad como los hombres. Esto se ve cuando, en ocasiones, asumen el control de sus casas, hablando como el padre de familia en ausencia de este o demostrando u honor y lealtad. Incluso no tendrán miedo de enfrentarse a sus enemigos y de hacerse seppuku para su honor.
Este teatro es un fiel reflejo de los principios básicos del samurái. Estos, de forma muy resumida, son: honor y fidelidad. El tema del honor y de la fidelidad hacia el señor de la casa es una constante y está presente siempre. El honor cae cuando Hangan muere y sus samuráis se dispersan. Van a coger caminos distintos: unos se unirán a otras casas o al mismo enemigo, otros se dedicarán al pillaje y a asaltar, robar y matar en los caminos y otros se dedicarán a malvivir con trabajos precarios, siempre con el sentido de la venganza palpitante. Cuando estos personajes, fuertes y con las ideas claras, se ven deshonrados no dudarán en hacerse seppuku, el ritual de suicidio más honroso de un samurái (y algunos lo harán). El otro tema grande es la venganza y cómo perpetrar el plan. Como subtemas encontramos la vida de las clases más humildes, los caminos desviados de la vida (como el alcoholismo, la prostitución, la promiscuidad, etc.).
Al principio, el libro cuenta con una extensa introducción de algo más de 100 páginas donde se habla de la leyenda de los 47 ronin, explicaciones de la obra y una larga bibliografía sobre el tema. La historia cuenta con 11 actos, en los cuales el narrador es otro personaje más que va describiendo la historia (recordemos que es un teatro de marionetas). Además, al principio de cada acto encontramos un resumen de lo que vamos a encontrarnos. El lenguaje es bastante sencillo y hay numerosas notas finales donde se aclaran y explican términos japoneses, notas históricas y sociales, etc., que ayudan mucho más a entender la historia. En cuanto al ritmo, este es bastante rápido y el teatro se lee en un suspiro. Se convierte en una buena lectura, cargada de drama y sentimientos, pero también de amor en todo su esplendor. Al mismo tiempo, veremos cómo era un verdadero samurái y todos los lazos de parentesco (familiares y no) que se pueden generar entre todos, casi formando como una verdadera familia.
https://lagranbibliotecadedavid.blogs...
Esta historia es un teatro para el joruri, un teatro de marionetas, representada y celebrada incluso hoy día y representa un testimonio bastante completo de los hechos acontecidos. En él vamos a encontrar a numerosos personajes, una larga lista, cuyos nombres son, al principio, bastante difíciles de recordar (aunque los principales ya se harán muy familiares). Tendremos personajes muy variopintos y diversos: gobernadores, señores de alta alcurnia, aduladores, samuráis de baja estirpe, comerciantes, prostitutas, mujeres, criados, etc. Aclarar que un ronin es un samurai sin señor, un samurai errante. También que estos personajes no son reales, pero sí están basados en parte en los personajes históricos del acontecimiento.
Quiero destacar a las mujeres. Estas tienen unas personalidades distintas y, a veces, contradictorias, cambiando constantemente a lo largo de la historia según las circunstancias. A veces encontramos mujeres sumisas, siempre bajo la voz de un hombre y siempre como "madre de" o "hija de". Pero en ocasiones esas mujeres transmiten una fortaleza increíble y tanto honor y lealtad como los hombres. Esto se ve cuando, en ocasiones, asumen el control de sus casas, hablando como el padre de familia en ausencia de este o demostrando u honor y lealtad. Incluso no tendrán miedo de enfrentarse a sus enemigos y de hacerse seppuku para su honor.
Este teatro es un fiel reflejo de los principios básicos del samurái. Estos, de forma muy resumida, son: honor y fidelidad. El tema del honor y de la fidelidad hacia el señor de la casa es una constante y está presente siempre. El honor cae cuando Hangan muere y sus samuráis se dispersan. Van a coger caminos distintos: unos se unirán a otras casas o al mismo enemigo, otros se dedicarán al pillaje y a asaltar, robar y matar en los caminos y otros se dedicarán a malvivir con trabajos precarios, siempre con el sentido de la venganza palpitante. Cuando estos personajes, fuertes y con las ideas claras, se ven deshonrados no dudarán en hacerse seppuku, el ritual de suicidio más honroso de un samurái (y algunos lo harán). El otro tema grande es la venganza y cómo perpetrar el plan. Como subtemas encontramos la vida de las clases más humildes, los caminos desviados de la vida (como el alcoholismo, la prostitución, la promiscuidad, etc.).
Al principio, el libro cuenta con una extensa introducción de algo más de 100 páginas donde se habla de la leyenda de los 47 ronin, explicaciones de la obra y una larga bibliografía sobre el tema. La historia cuenta con 11 actos, en los cuales el narrador es otro personaje más que va describiendo la historia (recordemos que es un teatro de marionetas). Además, al principio de cada acto encontramos un resumen de lo que vamos a encontrarnos. El lenguaje es bastante sencillo y hay numerosas notas finales donde se aclaran y explican términos japoneses, notas históricas y sociales, etc., que ayudan mucho más a entender la historia. En cuanto al ritmo, este es bastante rápido y el teatro se lee en un suspiro. Se convierte en una buena lectura, cargada de drama y sentimientos, pero también de amor en todo su esplendor. Al mismo tiempo, veremos cómo era un verdadero samurái y todos los lazos de parentesco (familiares y no) que se pueden generar entre todos, casi formando como una verdadera familia.
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May 13, 2019
Once again around the middle of March it was my delight to come across this secondhand paperback at the Booklover Bookshop on Soi Rambutri, Banglampoo in Bangkok since it has been translated by Donald Keene (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_...) one the great Japanologists in the 20th century and beyond. I was grief-stricken when I knew that he passed away last February in Japan aged 96 so I scribbled a short note on its title page: In tribute to Prof. Donald Keene's passing with respect, gratitude and admiration. A reason is that I learned to know and enjoyed reading Japanese short stories, novellas, novels, etc. after I hesitatingly bought an old, brownish paperback entitled Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to Present Day (Charles E. Tuttle, 1972) in 2011. I just kept reading, bit by bit, and arguably enjoyed reading the stories and wrote a review. (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
I have since admired his translated works from Japanese originals and I have started collecting and reading his books. However, I found reading this book categorized as a puppet play in eleven acts inexplicably tedious due to probably its dated texts translated into modern narratives and dialogs; therefore, it is not an easy literary exploration in terms of another way of puppet-play reading in which it demandingly requires a kind of reading skill different from reading prose or narrative. Moreover, I think it also requires concentration as well as imagination while reading from each character and the narrator because it has primarily been written for its puppet play viewers on stage; therefore, this book is definitely secondary for its play readers and this is the key of its limited understanding and appreciation when the play is read rather than watched . . . .
To continue . . .
I have since admired his translated works from Japanese originals and I have started collecting and reading his books. However, I found reading this book categorized as a puppet play in eleven acts inexplicably tedious due to probably its dated texts translated into modern narratives and dialogs; therefore, it is not an easy literary exploration in terms of another way of puppet-play reading in which it demandingly requires a kind of reading skill different from reading prose or narrative. Moreover, I think it also requires concentration as well as imagination while reading from each character and the narrator because it has primarily been written for its puppet play viewers on stage; therefore, this book is definitely secondary for its play readers and this is the key of its limited understanding and appreciation when the play is read rather than watched . . . .
To continue . . .
October 25, 2013
At first I didn't want to list it here as I had to read this play for a class about Japanese history but then I really enjoyed and thought it'd also fit my private reading taste ;)
This story is based on a real event - the avenge of the 47 ronin (even if there were only 46 of them) in 1701. The play is set some centuries earlier but still depicts how intensely the action was discussed by then as the Tokugawa period was a time of change, peaceful and for the samurai then hard to find a place to fit in. The old rules of deep loyalty to their master were still important but a new system was becoming stronger: the shogunate law which was in conflict to the ancient samurai pride. After the ronin (masterless samurai) attack the enemy of their dead lord they act according to the old rules breaking the shogunate law by that. What follows is a long and very emotional discussion about the righteousness of this behavior and this play is part of it. But not only that, at the same time it's full with love, fights, betrayal, braveness and sacrifice - a compelling story to read even nowadays.
This story is based on a real event - the avenge of the 47 ronin (even if there were only 46 of them) in 1701. The play is set some centuries earlier but still depicts how intensely the action was discussed by then as the Tokugawa period was a time of change, peaceful and for the samurai then hard to find a place to fit in. The old rules of deep loyalty to their master were still important but a new system was becoming stronger: the shogunate law which was in conflict to the ancient samurai pride. After the ronin (masterless samurai) attack the enemy of their dead lord they act according to the old rules breaking the shogunate law by that. What follows is a long and very emotional discussion about the righteousness of this behavior and this play is part of it. But not only that, at the same time it's full with love, fights, betrayal, braveness and sacrifice - a compelling story to read even nowadays.
January 11, 2021
The Japanese Hamlet in that it is one of the most popular Japanese plays and deals with revenge. But the equivalent protagonist is unwavering in his vengeful will and too noble to live, making him more like a Japanese Coriolanus. It's too good and beautiful to really be said to "explore philosophical issues" or anything like that, but the transmutation of Chinese & Buddhist doctrines is admirable: the Taoist maxim about softness overcoming hardness etc. is used to praise the retainers' flexibility and patience -- in their aim of murderous revenge, and the Buddhist alphabet song about life being transient is used to incite eternal glory. The consistent citation of old poems, especially at the beginning of scenes, is good and Confucian but feels truer than the typical Confucian didactic usage. The action of the play mainly consists of various characters realizing their immense capacity for spite and shame, driving them to the point of killing themselves and/or others. It's magnificent.
March 21, 2015
Definitely a Japanese classic. If you're ever looking for a book on loyalty, this is the one. Not one thing said and not one action was done without thoughts of loyalty. It did kind of get redundant, but it was interesting to be able to experience reading a classic Japanese text.
One thing that was tough about reading this was keeping track of the names. Characters were at times referred to in different ways so just keeping track of everything was a little difficult.
An interesting aspect of this play is what it gets from the bunraku (puppet) theatre of Japan. In this type of theatre, characters would commit ritual suicide, but after they stab themselves, they continue to have long speeches about how loyal they are to their retainers. When reading the play, it's a bit odd, but one interesting thing to note about the text.
One thing that was tough about reading this was keeping track of the names. Characters were at times referred to in different ways so just keeping track of everything was a little difficult.
An interesting aspect of this play is what it gets from the bunraku (puppet) theatre of Japan. In this type of theatre, characters would commit ritual suicide, but after they stab themselves, they continue to have long speeches about how loyal they are to their retainers. When reading the play, it's a bit odd, but one interesting thing to note about the text.
October 30, 2007
A delightful, touching tale of feudal Japan; the loyalty due to the lords by their retainers. (Fans of King Arthur might enjoy this Eastern perspective!) All the more amazing when one considers this play was written for puppets--yet not the puppets we imagine from our Sesame Street childhoods; if you are serious about reading the play, take some time to study the theatrical aspects of the puppetry. You'll be astounded by the artistry and humanity portrayed.
November 14, 2020
This was fun, but not my favorite, It's actually a Puppet Play, so I think I would have liked it more if I could have seen it as the play instead of just reading it. It's very dramatic, it's all about honor, revenge, court politics, love, forbidden love. I was entertained but was not fully in love with it. but I do think that maybe finding the play and putting on the subtitles would be super fun way to experience this book.
did-not-finish
November 28, 2022So it turns out, feeling guilty because you were supposed to read a book for a college class over ten years ago but you didn't because you were in the middle of a major depressive break but you aced the class because you're good at faking it does not, in fact, make you obligated to read that book now if it turns out you're not super into it. Good effort, me.
October 31, 2019
نمادی از مقاومت در برابر قدرتی که با ارعاب حکومت میکند
February 20, 2022
Moronao, you dirty bastard, you had it coming.
November 29, 2021
"Kanadehon Chushingura" or "the story of the 47 loyal retainers" is perhaps the most famous story in Japan. It is based on two linked historical incidents: in 1701, Asano Naganori, the Lord of the Ako Domain, assaulted his superior Kira Yoshinaka in Edo Castle, presumably after having been provoked; for this transgression (violence was forbidden in the palace of the shogun), Asano was sentenced to commit seppuku, but Kira did not receive any punishment. The shogunate confiscated Asano's lands and dismissed the samurai who had served him, making them ronin, masterless samurai. Then almost two years later, after secret planning, the leader of these ronin, Oishi Kuranosuke, led a group of forty-seven of the ronin in an attack on Kira's mansion in Edo; they captured and executed Kira, and laid his head at the grave of Asano at Sengakuji. They then turned themselves in to the authorities, and were all sentenced to commit seppuku.
The uniqueness of the case and the motivations of its protagonists, soon made this story of the "Tormented Lord" and his "Loyal Retainers" extremely popular as fictional material, although the action had to be transposed back several centuries and the identities of its actors had to be hidden, as commentaries and plays about contemporary events and persons were forbidden by the shogunate. Between 1706 and 1892 about seventy Kabuki and Bunraku puppet plays were written about this hot subject. And the subject remained popular, also in modern times: in total about 70 Chushingura films were made in the 20th c., plus about 30 TV versions. They were generally box office hits, and served to propagate on a massive scale the ideal of loyalty and self-sacrifice (although most viewers may just have considered it as a good story). These modern films were based on the historical incident, rather, than the puppet play or Kabuki versions.
The most famous of these early plays became Kanadehon Chushingura, "Kana practice book Treasury of the Loyal Retainers," an 11-act bunraku puppet play from 1748. "Kanadehon" or "Kana practice book" in the full title refers to the coincidence that the number of ronin matches the number of Japanese kana syllables.
When you read this puppet play in Keene's translation, you will be surprised. We are used to calling the protagonists "Asano", "Oishi" and "Kira," but in Kanadehon Chushingura the names of the protagonists have been changed and the story has been transported back several centuries. Asano Naganori becomes Enya Hangan, Kira Yoshinaka becomes Ko no Moronao and Oishi Kuranosuke is Oboshi Yuranosuke. The setting is the mid-14th century, the time of the Ashikaga shoguns. The initial incident in the palace is transferred from Edo to Kamakura, as is the last scene of the attack on Moronao's mansion in Kamakura. The ronin have been hiding in Yamashina, a suburb of Kyoto, and travel by boat with their weapons from Sakai, a port near Osaka, to Inamuragasaki, a cape at the western end of Yuigahama Beach in Kamakura.
Here are the eleven acts of Kanadehon Chushingura:
Act I: Set in Kamakura's Hachiman Shrine, where Ko no Moronao unsuccessfully tries to seduce the wife of Enya Hangan.
Act II: Set in the Kamakura mansion of Wakanosuke, a colleague of Enya Hangan, who just as much has a grievance against Moronao, but is prevented from acting on it by his clever retainer Honzo.
Act III. The taunted Enya Hangan attacks Ko no Moronao in the Pine Corridor of the shogunal palace in Kamakura.
Act IV: Enya Hangan's seppuku; with his dying breath Enya Hangan asks Oboshi Yuranosuke to avenge his death; Yuranosuke takes possession of the dagger used by Asano during his seppuku and this becomes his keepsake, almost a fetish; in the end he will plunge the weapon into the body of his Lord's enemy.
Act V: A side story mostly dropped in later versions of Chushingura, concerning the 47th ronin and why he was not able to join the attack in the last act. On the Yamazaki Highway, between Kyoto and Osaka, Kanpei, a former retainer of Enya Hangan who wants to join the vendetta, by mistake shoots a robber and finds a purse with cash.
Act VI: Continuation of Kanpei's story. Kanpei mistakenly thinks that he has killed his father-in-law in the previous scene and commits suicide; in reality, he has killed a robber and retrieved the purse stolen by that robber.
Act VII: Set in the Ichiriki Teahouse in Kyoto's Gion area. Yuranosuke pretends to be debauched by making fun in Kyoto's licensed quarter.
Act VIII: Another side story: Konami, the betrothed of Yuranosuke's son Rikiya, travels to Yamashina (a village just east of Kyoto, now part of the city), where Yuranosuke is hiding.
Act IX: Continuation of Act Eight: Yuranosuke's wife is against the marriage of her son with Konami, but relents when Konami's father Honzo commits suicide to atone for his act of restraining Enya Hangan in the past.
Act X: Set in the House of Amakawaya Gihei, a merchant in the port city of Sakai. The ronin test the trustworthiness of Gihei, who will transport them and their weapons to Kamakura by boat.
Act XI: The attack on Moronao's mansion, led by Yuranosuke. The attackers come on shore in Kamakura at cape Inamuragasaki, and then march to the mansion of Moronao, whose head is then carried to Hangan's grave at Komyoji Temple.
Certain elements of this Bunraku / Kabuki play became standard to the story; others proved more extraneous. Central were acts III, IV, VII, and XI. I have marked two sequences (acts 5 and 6, and acts 8 and 9) as "side stories", but that is only from the perspective of the historical incident and later adaptations. In the puppet play these acts have been tightly integrated into the overall story. There are some inconsistencies, especially in characterization (perhaps because there were three different authors, Takeda Izumo, Miyoshi Shoraku and Namiki Senryu, who were each responsible for different acts), but overall the play has a great variety of scenes and a magnificent cumulative effect. It is also a great piece to read. A complete performance takes about ten to eleven hours. While the puppet play is sometimes staged in its entirety, in the many Kabuki versions based on it which would appear within a few years after 1748, it became customary to perform just a few selected acts and not the whole work.
Read more about the historical incident in my blog article about Chushingura: https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/20...
The uniqueness of the case and the motivations of its protagonists, soon made this story of the "Tormented Lord" and his "Loyal Retainers" extremely popular as fictional material, although the action had to be transposed back several centuries and the identities of its actors had to be hidden, as commentaries and plays about contemporary events and persons were forbidden by the shogunate. Between 1706 and 1892 about seventy Kabuki and Bunraku puppet plays were written about this hot subject. And the subject remained popular, also in modern times: in total about 70 Chushingura films were made in the 20th c., plus about 30 TV versions. They were generally box office hits, and served to propagate on a massive scale the ideal of loyalty and self-sacrifice (although most viewers may just have considered it as a good story). These modern films were based on the historical incident, rather, than the puppet play or Kabuki versions.
The most famous of these early plays became Kanadehon Chushingura, "Kana practice book Treasury of the Loyal Retainers," an 11-act bunraku puppet play from 1748. "Kanadehon" or "Kana practice book" in the full title refers to the coincidence that the number of ronin matches the number of Japanese kana syllables.
When you read this puppet play in Keene's translation, you will be surprised. We are used to calling the protagonists "Asano", "Oishi" and "Kira," but in Kanadehon Chushingura the names of the protagonists have been changed and the story has been transported back several centuries. Asano Naganori becomes Enya Hangan, Kira Yoshinaka becomes Ko no Moronao and Oishi Kuranosuke is Oboshi Yuranosuke. The setting is the mid-14th century, the time of the Ashikaga shoguns. The initial incident in the palace is transferred from Edo to Kamakura, as is the last scene of the attack on Moronao's mansion in Kamakura. The ronin have been hiding in Yamashina, a suburb of Kyoto, and travel by boat with their weapons from Sakai, a port near Osaka, to Inamuragasaki, a cape at the western end of Yuigahama Beach in Kamakura.
Here are the eleven acts of Kanadehon Chushingura:
Act I: Set in Kamakura's Hachiman Shrine, where Ko no Moronao unsuccessfully tries to seduce the wife of Enya Hangan.
Act II: Set in the Kamakura mansion of Wakanosuke, a colleague of Enya Hangan, who just as much has a grievance against Moronao, but is prevented from acting on it by his clever retainer Honzo.
Act III. The taunted Enya Hangan attacks Ko no Moronao in the Pine Corridor of the shogunal palace in Kamakura.
Act IV: Enya Hangan's seppuku; with his dying breath Enya Hangan asks Oboshi Yuranosuke to avenge his death; Yuranosuke takes possession of the dagger used by Asano during his seppuku and this becomes his keepsake, almost a fetish; in the end he will plunge the weapon into the body of his Lord's enemy.
Act V: A side story mostly dropped in later versions of Chushingura, concerning the 47th ronin and why he was not able to join the attack in the last act. On the Yamazaki Highway, between Kyoto and Osaka, Kanpei, a former retainer of Enya Hangan who wants to join the vendetta, by mistake shoots a robber and finds a purse with cash.
Act VI: Continuation of Kanpei's story. Kanpei mistakenly thinks that he has killed his father-in-law in the previous scene and commits suicide; in reality, he has killed a robber and retrieved the purse stolen by that robber.
Act VII: Set in the Ichiriki Teahouse in Kyoto's Gion area. Yuranosuke pretends to be debauched by making fun in Kyoto's licensed quarter.
Act VIII: Another side story: Konami, the betrothed of Yuranosuke's son Rikiya, travels to Yamashina (a village just east of Kyoto, now part of the city), where Yuranosuke is hiding.
Act IX: Continuation of Act Eight: Yuranosuke's wife is against the marriage of her son with Konami, but relents when Konami's father Honzo commits suicide to atone for his act of restraining Enya Hangan in the past.
Act X: Set in the House of Amakawaya Gihei, a merchant in the port city of Sakai. The ronin test the trustworthiness of Gihei, who will transport them and their weapons to Kamakura by boat.
Act XI: The attack on Moronao's mansion, led by Yuranosuke. The attackers come on shore in Kamakura at cape Inamuragasaki, and then march to the mansion of Moronao, whose head is then carried to Hangan's grave at Komyoji Temple.
Certain elements of this Bunraku / Kabuki play became standard to the story; others proved more extraneous. Central were acts III, IV, VII, and XI. I have marked two sequences (acts 5 and 6, and acts 8 and 9) as "side stories", but that is only from the perspective of the historical incident and later adaptations. In the puppet play these acts have been tightly integrated into the overall story. There are some inconsistencies, especially in characterization (perhaps because there were three different authors, Takeda Izumo, Miyoshi Shoraku and Namiki Senryu, who were each responsible for different acts), but overall the play has a great variety of scenes and a magnificent cumulative effect. It is also a great piece to read. A complete performance takes about ten to eleven hours. While the puppet play is sometimes staged in its entirety, in the many Kabuki versions based on it which would appear within a few years after 1748, it became customary to perform just a few selected acts and not the whole work.
Read more about the historical incident in my blog article about Chushingura: https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/20...
November 11, 2011
The Treasury of Loyal Retainers, or the revenge of the 47 ronin, is one of the most popular kabuki plays and familiar stories in Japanese history. It is a fictionalized account of real events that occurred between 1701 and 1703, and so was set much earlier. The story is relatively straightforward - a crime and affront to the honor of the master of the ronin is committed, and each plots revenge. One of the retainers was not present and should have been, and his humiliation, and that of his wife, are correspondingly worse. This play is, in short, fantastic. There is a reason it has been remade so many times, and adopted into so many different stories. It is timeless, and tells of morality, history, honor, and honesty. It is filled with action and wit. In it are great lines, such as this adaptation from the Chinese classic Li Chi, "The sweetest food, if left untasted, / Remains unknown, its savor wasted." Honzo quotes a proverb, "that if you keep to the shady side of the street in winter and to the sunny side in summer, steering clear of people on the way, you'll be as safe as in your own back yard, for there's no danger of a quarrel or argument with anyone crossing your path." This play, in short, is an absolute classic. That it is not read by more western readers is a shame. It has much to offer in the way of fantastic language, entertainment, and understanding. It is a must.
July 10, 2012
A.k.a. The 47 Ronin, this is a great revenge tragedy with post-Sengokujidai sensibilities. Having been originally conceived and presented as a joruri, or puppet play (bunraku, for you theatre majors), this is absolutely one of those dramatic works that needs to be experienced in performance in order to obtain the full scope of the play's impact. On the page, despite Keene's beautiful translation of the original Takeda/Miyoshi/Namiki text, the narrative can be very tedious, especially when straying away from the titular material. Nevertheless, a fantastic example of 18th century tragic drama, and a cornerstone of popular Japanese theatre.
July 28, 2011
Really a fascinating play, especially since I am more familiar with the traditions of English Medieval, Renaissance, and Restoration theatre. It is interesting to read a play that comes from not only a completely different value system, but also a completely different theatrical tradition.
Like many Western plays, this Japanese drama reveals and comments on many of the values of the samurai in the Tokugawa period.
Like many Western plays, this Japanese drama reveals and comments on many of the values of the samurai in the Tokugawa period.
May 26, 2007
This play is a retelling of a true story of Feudal Japan. The plot is filled with villians and heroes, and even if you aren't a fan of ritual suicide, much of the characters' motivations are easy to understand. Of all the renditions (and translations) of this classic tales, this is the best. It is essential reading for anyone interested in classical literature from East Asia.
January 13, 2009
This is a short, Japanese play translated into English which is often referred to as the Forty-Seven Ronin. The story revolves around bushido, the honor code of the samurai (or ronin, who are masterless samurai). It's an interesting insight into the ancient Japanese psyche, especially because is based on a historical event. Chushingura is a very moving tale and I would highly recommend it.
March 28, 2009
Important canon text, but not a play I especially enjoy.
April 22, 2023
A great translation and foreword; the three stars I would have given (with A Product of Its Time glasses firmly on) was knocked to two because I think the play is too long and wastes my time exaggeratedly testing characters' devotion (usually against innocent lives) when it could be exercising that devotion in service. Kitsch-like, the display became the purpose, rather than the revenge, and that annoyed me.
But, two thoughts: this play demonstrates in high form that purity to the point of stupidity, of madness, that I so enjoy experiencing in Japanese literature. And, this play shares the taste and morality of Odysseus's return.
But, two thoughts: this play demonstrates in high form that purity to the point of stupidity, of madness, that I so enjoy experiencing in Japanese literature. And, this play shares the taste and morality of Odysseus's return.
September 21, 2025
The movie Ronin has been one of my favorites, so reading the original play is long overdue. This translation is great because the translator gives an excellent history, context, and adds some deeper meaning at the beginning. The story is a classic vendetta, but the strongest theme throughout is that of loyalty. The samurai culture and code of bushido is on full display. There is so much richness to the characters, the layers of the story, and the dialog. An excellent reading. Full of action, humor, tragedy, deception, and depth.
April 14, 2023
The Chiushingura is the original story that the various "47 Rohin" movies are based on. This version stems from the 18th century and is appropriately ancient. Many characters find it necessary to "self-dispatch" by committing seppuku because of their honour being afflicted. The real action only comes at the very end and is by then a bit underwhelming.
Perhaps Keanu Reeves did a better job at entertaining us with this story?
Perhaps Keanu Reeves did a better job at entertaining us with this story?
November 22, 2021
Estupenda manera de disfrutar de Kanadehon Chushingura, una obra que tuvo y sigue teniendo un impacto enorme en la cultura popular japonesa. Siempre me cuesta leer teatro (prefiero verlo, jejejeje), pero en esta ocasión ha sido una manera fantástica de comprender mejor la obra y poder seguirla mucho mejor de viendo la representación teatral después. Muy recomendable!
September 12, 2024
Interesting insight into Japanese theater and some of the country's history. I will have to re-read a few acts and the introduction though because there were so many characters that I could not always follow who was who/related to whom/the meaning of their actions right away/etc. I had heard of the 47 ronin before so it was good to read about the original story
December 31, 2024
Brutal. Una historia legendaria tratada con mucha calidad literaria. Si bien es verdad que al lector occidental algunas tramas secundarias nos resultan extrañas, y hasta insultantes, no me cabe duda que he atisbado un pedacito del alma japonesa gracias a este libro.
August 24, 2025
A class tale of Japanese literature, yet unlike some classics, it’s still an easy breezy read to get through. Plenty of action, revenge and romance, honor, duty and sacrifice. I do wish the ending wasn’t so abrupt, but perhaps their final sacrifice is best left to the imagination, or to history.
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