Japan: 47 Ronin buried

Shinagawa is now a large Tokyo area and a huge railway junction. Here is the Sengakuji Temple, in which 47 ronin are buried. He became world famous thanks to the sensational real story at the beginning of the 18th century - the revenge of the Ako clan for his treacherously killed prince (daimyo) Asano Naganori. The temple is a 15-minute walk from Shinagawa Station. Despite its colossal fame, the Sengakuji Monastery - as it is officially called - is popular with Japanese visitors, foreigners almost never appear there. Maybe because some efforts must be made to find him in the maze of alleys of Sinagawa, he is not in sight and it is difficult to find him, there are no special signs near the metro.

Sengakuji itself has a rather ancient history, and by the time of the story with the Ako clan, in January 1703, it was the family cemetery of the Ako clan, to which Asano belonged.

I will add a few details that clarify this very vague story for a European, especially incomprehensible in the field of the wild popularity of this incident in Japan itself for more than 300 years.

Daimyo Asano was the victim of the intrigues of a large official (actually the first minister) at the court of the Shogun Tokugawa Tsunaesi named Kira Yoshihisa. Kira, using humiliation and bullying at the court, forced Asano to draw his sword and attack him right in the shogun's palace in Edo. This was tantamount to an attempt on the life of the shogun himself and high treason; people with weapons in their arms were forbidden to enter Edo. Asano was tried and sentenced to death, he committed seppuku (hara-kiri), his estate and property were confiscated, and his servants and samurai were expelled. They became rhonins - samurai without a master. Rhonins could do farming, rob, and, in general, lead an asocial lifestyle, as they would say now. Or engage in another gentleman. It should be remembered that the insult to the Ako clan was done in front of everyone, and Kira, knowing that he could be threatened by the revenge of the samurai Ako, surrounded himself with an army of bodyguards, and turned his house into Edo into a real fortress.

By the way, Asano had more than 300 samurai in the service, he was a very high daimyo. And only 47 of them decided to take revenge on Kira under the Bushido code for the death of their master. The remaining 250 ronin Ako chose to disappear and dissolve among the people.

The conspirators were led by Asano Oishi Kuranosuke's chief adviser. In order not to arouse suspicion of Kira, who was actually the master of Japan, the conspirators for 2 years behaved like ordinary ronin, dissolving in the lower classes. Oishi himself divorced his wife, lived with his mistress and defiantly drunk. When Kira, after 2 years of surveillance, became convinced that Asano's ronin was not dangerous, loosened control over Ako, Oishi gathered all the conspirators and prepared an attack on Kira's fortress house.

I will not go into the details of the attack, I can only say that it was a real military operation. It all happened on January 30, 1703. The ronins attacked Kira's estate, killed the guards and bodyguards, but almost missed Kira himself, who hid in a well-prepared cache. The noise and screams coming from Kira's house woke his neighbors, and they sent to ask what was the matter and what was going on at the estate. In response, Oishi politely bowed, said that he apologizes for the anxiety and that the noise will stop now. After that, he found a secret passage along which the ronins (without suffering any losses, by the way) entered the cache and pulled out Kira from there. He was offered to commit suicide, but he refused, and then Oishi simply chopped off his head.

After that, all ronin under a drum battle went to our Sengakuji monastery and laid the head of the murdered Kira on the grave of Asano.

The government regarded this, as it should have, as a rebellion in the capital itself, Edo, weapons penetration and murder. And the ronins were sentenced to death, they were offered an honorable death - seppuk (otherwise they would simply have their heads chopped off, like commoners). 46 ronin performed seppuku here in Sengakuji on March 20, 1703, the 47th, the youngest, was pardoned and sent to Ako as a messenger. The excitement began among the people that the execution was unfair, that the ronins had fulfilled justice and duty under the Bushido code. Perfect ronin justice (similar Robingudovsky) over the ominous omnipotent Kira stirred up the country. The shogun’s government tried not to notice this, much less to encourage the memory of the rebels. But then an unexpected thing happened that changed the whole course of history.

On October 23, 1703, at 2 a.m., the Great Genroku Daijisin earthquake occurred. Shocks destroyed the shogun’s castle in Edo and many city blocks to the ground. This earthquake was one of the three largest in the entire Tokugawa era, with a magnitude 8.2 on the Richter scale. A tsunami up to 10 meters high hit the East Coast. Shocks at short intervals shook Edo until May 1704, preventing the restoration of what was destroyed. A special shelter from an earthquake was built in the shogun’s castle, and many thought that this disaster would never end.

Wandering preachers in the temples openly said that it was the wrath of the gods for the unjust punishment of the ronin. The people began a pilgrimage to the graves of courageous warriors who were clearly unlawfully executed.

Frightened by the ongoing earthquake, the Shogun’s government, worried about panic among the population, issued a decree to rename the era of rule and reckon a new period in the history of Hoei, which meant a complete rejection of all the injustices of the past. 47 ronin (46 executed and 1 alive) were rehabilitated and forgiven.

Actually, after this, the people began a real cult of the ronin Ako. The last ronin was pardoned by the emperor, returned to Edo, lived 78 years and was buried right there in Sengakuji, among other comrades.

As a matter of fact, Asano himself and his ancestors and descendants are buried right there.

The graves of 47 ronins are located in a separate area, to which the signs lead.

Surprisingly, all the tombstones and monuments remained almost untouched even during the Second World War. Unfortunately, I can’t read the names of the ronin, as I don’t know the history of everyone, although everything is written in detail about any of them.

In any case, if necessary, their biographies are easy to find, but I did not set such a goal.

Of course, walking among these graves, which are pretty similar in appearance and content, is not very impressive. However, other graves of prominent nobles or the Tokugawa shoguns themselves and their relatives, although they look more magnificent, are still strict and modest according to Buddhist canons.

In general, this ancient place makes a very cozy impression. It is strange that there are few people here.

Near the graves themselves, I saw only two elderly women who lit candles and placed them in the shrine.

There was also a large rest area in front of the temple, where only smokers sat. Judging by the number of benches, there are still plenty of people here during the holidays.

Statues of arhats (apostles of the Buddha).

In general, the temple impresses with its antiquity, especially against the backdrop of remodels throughout Tokyo. Before that, I saw such ancient temples in Osaka and Kamakura.

Well, in general, this is a place worth visiting at least once.