is an 11-act bunraku puppet play composed in 1748.Keene 1971 ix It is one of the most popular Japanese plays,Keene 1971 xi; "The most famous and popular work in the entire Japanese theatrical repertory is, beyond any doubt, Chūshingura, 'The Treasury of Loyal Retainers'." ranked with Zeami's Matsukaze, although the vivid actionKeene 1971 26; "...it [Chūshingura] gives expression to the craving for excitement, color, and even violence that's the counterpart to the austere restraint and understatement more commonly held up as being 'typically' Japanese." of Chūshingura differs dramatically from Matsukaze.Keene 1971 26; "It would be hard to imagine two works for the theater more dissimilar than the Nō play Matsukaze and Chūshingura, but these two most popular plays of their respective theaters are both quintessentially Japanese, and both are masterpieces."
Medium During this portion of the Edo period, the major dramatists preferred not to write for the kabuki theater since the kabuki actors frequently departed from the texts to invent parts and aggrandize their own roles; however, Chūshingura was so successful that it was almost immediately adapted for the kabuki theater as well.Keene 1971 x
The general story has been depicted in many mediums such as ukiyo-e prints.Keene 1971 25
Kabuki The kabuki adaptation appeared shortly after the puppet play did in Osaka and Kyoto, and soon was being performed by three companies in Edo.Keene 1971, p. 25 It is "only intermittently faithful" and frequently cuts entire acts.Keene 1971, p. 22 The saved time is available for a lengthier 11th act, with a sequence featuring a duel on a bridge; as well, the kabuki theater could use a revolving stage to switch between scenes of the siege in Act 9.Keene 1971, p. 23 The short sequence with the highwayman Sadakurō has been developed into an elaborate mime, rendering it a "coveted assignment" for ambitious actors.Keene 1971, p. 24
History
Composition
On 20 March 1703, the 46 rōnin were ordered to commit seppuku by the shōgun. Two weeks later, a kabuki play opened in Edo. It was entitled Akebono Soga no Youchi ("Night attack at dawn by the Soga [Brothers]"; see Soga Monogatari), a standard topic of plays. It was shut down by the authorities, and is thought to have been a disguised version of the recent events. Perhaps because of the touchiness of authorities, kabuki companies did not attempt any further plays on the subject.Keene 1971, p. 3
In 1706, the great playwright Chikamatsu wrote a three-act puppet play entitled Goban Taiheiki ("A chronicle of great peace played on a chessboard"), placing the action in the era of Taiheiki (the 14th century); the third act appeared in another puppet play, and was ostensibly about the historical samurai Kō no Moronao; Moronao was actually a cipher for the offending master of court etiquette, Kira Yoshinaka, who was nearly slain by Asano Naganori.Keene 1971, p. 4 The use of Moronao's name for Kira and many of the other renamings would be copied in the later Chūshingura.Keene 1971, p. 5
Three years later in the Kyoto-Osaka region where censorship was reportedly lighter, Chūshingura premiered.Keene 1971, p. 6, citing pg 134 of Matsushima Eiichi, Chūshingura, Tokyo, Iwanami Shoten (1964)
It was an instant success, and was quickly imitated countless times, with variants coming out annually between 1706 and 1748.Keene 1971, p. 6
Authorship Early materials listed the authors in order as:
Takeda Izumo II Miyoshi Shōraku Namiki Senryū (Namiki Sōsuke)
Likely Izumo conceived the overall plot and write acts 1, 4, 6, & 9; Shōraku likely wrote 2, 10, and 11.Keene 1971 8; "...we may infer that Takeda Izumo planned and supervised the entire play and wrote most of the important acts, the sixth, ninth, fourth, and first. Miyoshi Shōraku probably wrote the least important, the second, tenth, and eleventh acts." Keene sources this evaluation of importance from Yokoyama Tadashi's Jōruri Ayatsuri Shibai no Kenkū, Tokyo, Kazama Shobō (1963), pg 593
The fiction author Jippensha Ikku, in his analysis & anecdotal history Chūshingura Okame Hyōban (1803), implies that authorship was:Keene 1971 8
Izumo: Act 9 Shōraku: 2 & 10 Senryū: 4
Keene suggests that Acts 6 & 7 be assigned to Izumo, and Act 3 to Senryū.Keene 1971 8; "If a few guesses may be allowed, it seems likely that Izumo wrote the sixth and seventh acts, and Senryū the third."
These identifications are tentative, and not based on stylometry or similar approaches.Keene 1971 10; "...as yet no attempt has been made to determine the authorship on the basis of stylistic features or characteristic plot techniques."
The multiple authorship may be responsible for some of the shifts characters undergo during the 11 acts:
"Sagisaka Bannai, for example, is a comical character in the third act, but by the seventh act there is hardly a trace left of his comicality, and at the end of the play the triumph of the loyal retainers is climaxed by killing Bannai, as if he, rather than Moronao, were the chief villain. Again, Kakogawa Honzō fawningly offers bribes to Moronao in the third act by no means appears the same man as the heroic Honzō of the ninth act... The same holds true of Rikiya; the blushing young man of the second act is so unlike the resolute hero of the ninth act as to require two actors."Keene 1971 10Recent scholarship - most notably the analyses of Uchiyama Mikiko - has questioned the traditional attributions, and suggests that it was Namiki Sōsuke (Namiki Senryū) who played the principal authorial role in shaping both the overall dramatic design and several major scenes of Kanadehon Chūshingura, with Takeda Izumo II and Miyoshi Shōraku contributing in more limited capacities.
Translations A Chinese translation appeared by 1794, and translations into English, French, and German by 1880 - making it 'probably the first work of Japanese literature to be translated' - and a play by John Masefield (The Faithful) appeared in 1915.Keene 1971 25
The Australian National University's Za Kabuki performed an English-language version of the play in 2001, directed by Mr. Shun Ikeda.
post-Edo period After World War II, during the Occupation of Japan, performance of Chūshingura was banned "because it glorified militarism and was feudalistic in its insistence on such outmoded concepts as honor and loyalty"; later in 1960, members of the Japanese Diet criticized performances of Chūshingura overseas by traveling kabuki companies over similar fears that it would give foreigners misleading ideasKeene 1971 x; "in 1960...members of the Japanese Diet opposed the inclusion of Chūshingura [in overseas performances]...fearing that American audiences might suppose the action was representative of contemporary Japan."
Plot The chiefest theme of Chūshingura is the code of bushido & loyalty, as exemplified by its protagonist, the chief retainer of the dead lord, Yuranosuke.Keene 1971 14: "From the moment of this superb entrance, Yuranosuke is unmistakably the hero of the play, and his particular virtue, loyalty, is its theme." The retainers seek revenge for their lord even though they know no good will come of it, as Yuranosuke admits in Act 7:
"I realized when I thought about it calmly that if we failed in our mission our heads would roll, and if we succeeded we'd have to commit seppuku afterwards. either way, it was certain death. It was like taking expensive medicine, then hanging yourself afterwards because you couldn't pay for the cure."Keene 1971 108-109
Yuranosuke in this speech is cloaking his true intentions, as he must constantly through the play,Keene 1971 16; "In this one act [Act 7] Yuranosuke has assumed many guises, but his every motion has been governed by his sense of loyalty and his awareness of the importance of his mission." rendering him a challenging role.Keene 1971 17: "Yuranosuke is probably the greatest role in all of Japanese drama. Famous actors have confessed their inability to display adequately all the different moods required by the seventh act. The actor must, for example, somehow convey intense repugnance while eating the octopus, even as he banters with Kudayū, who is intently observing his expression."
It has been argued that in reality, En'ya was undeserving of loyalty as he was arrogant & hot-tempered and Moronao was a good man who helped the peasants on his landKeene 1971 17: "The 'debunkers' of traditional history who have asserted that En'ya (Asano), far from being a noble samurai, was avaricious and cruel , only makes us marvel all the more at the unswerving loyalty of the forty-six rōnin. And if it is true...that Moronao (Kira), unlike the mean En'ya, was unusually generous to the peasants on his land, building waterworks for their benefit at his own expense, it is further proof that the rōnin were uninterested in anything by the claims of loyalty..." - thus further emphasizing the unconditional nature of Yuranosuke and the other rōnins loyalty.Keene 1971 17; "...in order to please modern audiences they [adapters] insist that En'ya earned the loyalty of his men by the sterling administration of his fief. The whole point of the play is the unconditional nature of loyalty."
Act 1
"The same holds true of a country at peace: the loyalty and courage of its fine soldiers remain hidden, but the stars, though invisible by day, at night reveal themselves, scattered over the firmament. Here we shall describe such an instance ..."—NarratorKeene 1971 29
The shōgun Ashikaga Takauji has put down the Genko uprising led by the nobleman Nitta Yoshisada, and has built a shrine to the kami of war Hachiman to commemorate his victory. Its chief trophy will be the helmet of the dead Yoshisada, but there is confusion as to which of the 47Note the number of helmets is the same as the number of rōnin; only the first of many appearances of the number. helmets found by his body is really his.
The shōguns brother & deputy, Ashikaga Tadayoshi, convenes a conference to discuss the issue. Attending is the governor of Kamakura, Lord Moronao (Kira), Wakasanosuke, and Lord En'ya (Asano). Moronao objects to preserving the helmet, even though Yoshisada was a noble descendant of the Genji, a mistake would be embarrassing, and there were many loyal retainers descended from the Genji anyway. En'ya and Wakasanosuke support the helmet's preservation.
Tadayoshi summons En'ya's wife, for as a maiden in the imperial palace, she saw the helmet presented to Yoshisada. She verifies the correct choice. As the conference ends, Moronao, who has been tutoring En'ya's wife in classical waka poetry, presses upon her a love letter. She rejects it entirely, and Moronao is embittered with hatred for En'ya.
Act 2 En'ya sends his retainers a message that he and Moronao have been charged with the welcoming of Tadayoshi the next day. Wakasanosuke, aware of Moronao's rejection, tells his fellow retainer Honzō of his plan to assassinate Moronao before Moronao can attack or provoke their master En'ya. Honzō applauds the plan, suggests that Wakasanosuke take a nap first, and immediately departs to find Moronao first to bribe him.
Act 3 Honzō finds Moronao at Tadayoshi's palace, and delivers his handsome bribe in the guise of thanks for etiquette instruction. Moronao accepts it and invites Honzō to an audience.
After an interlude in which a minor retainer of En'ya, Kanpei, gives into temptation to leave his post with his lover, Wakasanosuke arrives. When Wakasanosuke encounters Moronao, Moronao's attitude is so welcoming and apologetic that Wakasanosuke confusedly abandons his murderous intentions - as Honzō planned.
Unfortunately, when En'ya arrives, he comes bearing a note from his wife to Moronao; it is a poem from the Shin Kokin Wakashū which indicates her definitive rejection of Moronao's love.