Asano Naganori
Asano Naganori is a name most – Japanese included would fail to recognise when first hearing it.
Throw in a few hints about him being a former daimyo from the Ako Region in western Honshu though, and the clouds will start to clear as Asano will be remembered as the lord whose death in 1701 led to one of the most famous stories of loyalty and revenge in the Middle Ages.
On April 21st that year, in what is often referred to as the Ako Incident, Asano, to put it incredibly simple lost his temper, drew his weapon – a forbidden act when in the service of the Shogun at the Edo Castle that was later to become the Imperial Palace – and injured the main most seen as baiting him – a lord by the name of Kira.
Within hours Asano Naganori had taken his own life; ordered to do so by the ruling Shogun Tsunayoshi.
His final words – recorded in his death poem of:
“kaze sasofu,
hana yori mo naho
ware wa mata
haru no nagori o
ika ni toyasen”
can translate as
“More than the cherry blossoms,
inviting a wind to blow them away,
I am wondering what to do,
with the remaining springtime.”
Asano was later buried in the graveyard of Sengaku-ji Temple in Shinagawa – the site of his statue (pictured).
His retainers became masterless samurai and the rest as they say – is history – their avenging of the death of their leader achieved by killing Kira on December 15, 1702.
Asano's statue at Sengaku-ji
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Tags: 47, Ako, Asano Naganori, death, Kira, samurai, Sengaku-ji
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