Akō Rōshi (1961 film)

Akō Rōshi (赤穂浪士, Akō Rōshi) is a 1961 color Japanese film about the 47 Ronin directed by Sadatsugu Matsuda. It earned ¥435 million at the annual box office, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1961.

Cast

Forty-seven Ronin

The revenge of the forty-seven Ronin (四十七士, Shi-jū-shichi-shi, forty-seven samurai), also known as the Akō vendetta or the Genroku Akō incident (元禄赤穂事件, Genroku akō jiken), is an 18th-century historical event and a legend in Japan in which a band of ronin (leaderless samurai) avenged the death of their master. A noted Japanese scholar described the tale as the best known example of the samurai code of honor, bushidō, and as the country's "national legend." A contemporary historian and expert in bushidō, however, wrote that the tale is a good story of revenge, but by no means a story of bushidō.

The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor by killing Kira, after waiting and planning for a year. In turn, the ronin were themselves obliged to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. 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 Meiji era, in which Japan underwent rapid modernization, and the legend became entrenched within discourses of national heritage and identity.