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

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.

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 show more 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. show less

Translation of the most famous of the several plays based on the historical exploit of the 47 retainers who avnged the death of their lord

Oh, suicide and honor!