Chushingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers): A Puppet Play

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.

"Chushingura" is Japan's "Romeo and Juliet". Not literally, of course, as the stories are very different, but in the way that it is a story that every Japanese person knows. Based on an actual incident, the story has been glorified and told and re-told for every generation, and still reverberates in hearts today. It is also, traditionally, a very hard story for Westerners to come to grips with, because the morals on display are not what we would consider to be admirable. Loyalty is something we can admire, of course, but this is unearned loyalty. The 47 Ronin do not avenge their lord because he was a good man, because he is worthy of their loyalty. They avenge him because he is their Master, and because he was born to be their master. The samurai also did not earn their position, they were born samurai, as an inherited class. Their job, rank and income was all decided the moment they drew their first breath, along with whom they would owe their loyalty to. The very word "samurai" translates as "servant", and without someone to serve they have no purpose. They uphold an inherently unfair system, as shown by their unwillingness to include a merchant in their vendetta, not because his courage is less but because his birth-determined class is lower than theirs. Donald Keene has performed a minor miracle with his translation of "Chushingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers". First off, his introduction deals with the inherent difficulties in the work. Even in Japan, since the inception of the work their has been debate on who are the heroes and who are the villains. A hotheaded lord sacrifices his life, family, home and the lives of the hundreds who depend on him simply because he could not swallow an insult. His personal pride was more important to him than all of these people's lives, all of whom paid his price. Keene shows the various points of view, the commentary given by Japanese authors over the years, and the way the story has been interpreted to support the various viewpoints of society. On top of that, he has created a thrilling translation, one that can be read as a novel and is hard to put down once started. Think what you may of the moral lesson, the story itself is pure adrenalin, and it is hard not to cheer for the sword-hard loyalty that drives the 47 Ronin. In this translation, there is no dispute as to who the heroes are, even as they sell their wives into prostitution in order to raise funds for the vendetta, or willing slit the throats of their own children in order to prove their earnestness. Keene also provides annotations for some of the more obscure references and translations, especially the references to famous Chinese poems and allegories which are abundant. I picked up this book thinking it was going to be a study guide for Japan's most famous story, hoping to glean some insight into a tale I have seen dozens of times in different interpretations. I got that, but what I also got was a great book, fun and

I read this book because it was required by a class. However, after I started reading it, I can't put it down; it was very good translated, many Japanese names to remember for sure, but the interesting story will keep you going. I would recommend people who are interested in Japanese samurai period to read this book.

Keene is an especially apt translator, making notes about puns, implications, etc... that do not translate well, in addition to notes about historical context. The play itself is a good read, and very interesting. It is important just due to its tremendous popularity and staying power in Japan. A must read for anyone with an interest in Japanese culture.