of not being strong enough to make them and to see that they were carried out; he only hoped that his judgments would carefully arrived at and truly
best for the house of Asano and the spirit of his departed master” Allyn, 1970:47.
One of his companions, however, questioned his carefully planned decision by calling him as being hesitated and inquiring him why did not take the
decision to immediately act to defend the castle of Ako Allyn, 1970:48. Yet once again Kuranosuke showed a good self control upon the matter, by replying:
“We‟ll be ready for whatever comes, don‟t worry. Now I think the best plan for all of us is to try to get some sleep. I must have more time to think
before I can make any sort of worthwhile plans” Allyn, 1970:48-49.
This was but the right decision to do according to Kuranosuke as he did also believe this was the best decision in responding to the push of surrender by
Daigaku Asano. He also admitted how hard it was to make the decision by saying that
“When there were two valid viewpoints to reconcile, it was not always easy to choose the side that was right” Allyn, 1970:50. The result on his considerate
manner was good as he managed to indeed restore the honor of the name of Asano. This was a self control to choose the best among two available decisions
without refusing one of them directly. He made the right one amidst his grief and anger. It was clear that he based his self control on his pure loyalty towards his
beloved master, and it was maintained by tremendous focus on restoring the honor he had been looking forward to carry.
“If only I‟d been with you‟, Oishi cried as he knelt with his hands pressed together and lifted upward in a gesture that asked for forgiveness. Then he
dropped his hands to his knees and cast his eyes down in humility” Allyn, 1970:51.
The featured segment depicted the grief and the regret Kuranosuke had suffered during his decision making moment. It was also due to his capability in
controlling his emotion also that he was able to maintain order in planning his revenge. The following was another segment which showed the reader, that Oishi
Kuranosuke was a man with noble dedication, able to control himself in the harshest situation even:
“His hand went to the blade of the knife at his belt but then dropped away. His primary duty now was to
the living. To Lord Asano‟s widow and little daughter and to all the retainers and people in the castle town who would
look to him for guidance. If the time came when his suicide would serve a purpose, he would be ready” Allyn, 1970:51.
It was said in the segment that he planned to do the honor of doing the seppuku
after he had finished rendering his service to the remaining living member of the house of Asano. It could be seen from the passage that he would
rather took the shameful status of being a ronin, while maintaining his duty, than to take the honor of seppuku immediately, but discarding the responsibility he had
been trusted. He did not choose the action which could end the line of the house of Asano that very moment. He did not act rashly but rather be careful as he took the
burden of restoring the honor doomed house that he had been serving. He did even consider
the honor to the name of his master‟s ancestors‟ which he most probably did not even know. In the following segment, a story in which he withheld himself
to start an immediate assault in the name of vengeance is told: “The urge to strike out against those who would bring this to pass came
strongly over him, but he knew in his heart that a siege would be a futile gesture. In the end they would lose and the graves of the ancestors would
be just as neglected” Allyn, 1970:53.
The devoted loyalty of Oishi Kuranosuke to his duty and responsibility could not be proved and maintained without the ever sturdy self control he has. It was due to
his self control that he managed to protect the daughter of Asano, to successfully lead the man for the two-year wait, and to finally exact his honorific vengeance,
resulting in the demise of Kira. Oishi displayed his self control a chief of masterless samurai through his
patience and perseverance. Before the confiscation of the Asano castle, Oishi
asked his men their choices of action regarding revenge. He says:
“We have but two alternatives: either to kneel before the castle and commit seppuku as a final protest, or to surrender the castle peaceably and
then split up and wait until the right moment to take revenge on Kira
himself Allyn, 1970: 63” Oishi and his men waited many, many months before finally killing Kira. Some of
the Samurai gave up, and abandoned any hope for revenge. They were loyal, but had no enough self control. Oishi and others, however, remained steadfast and
kept their self control to bring back lord Asano‟s honor, with Oishi the loyal and honor samurai
of all to their cause. Oishi‟s self control as lord Asano‟s samurai allowed him to wait, and wait, and wait until the lucky dice to kill Kira came.
Oishi was very loyal, but his self control kept him by Lord Asano‟s side and made
the best decision even when other loyal retainers surrendered.
3. Oishi Kuranosuke’s Honor
The importance and the earnest of honor for the feudal Japanese people was, indeed, a crucial matter. Rather than living in shame, it was better to die an
honorable death. Suicide was an accepted way to remove all blemishes and restore
the honor. There are, of course, accounts of great men committing suicide by disembowelment that served as reminders for others not to neglect the duty called
giri to one‟s name.
The concept of samurai honor as depictured in the story was shown firstly by none other than Lord Asano himself. The writer suggested that Kuranosuke
gets the greatest influence upon which to reserve honor in life, from this virtuous master of
his. Asano‟s traditional belief on the importance of keeping the honor straight was shown quite many times, in some dialogues of his, before his death.
The writer believed that what Asano had here was both influential and inspirational to his retainers. The following was an example of how Asano
inherited his belief in preserving honor, as shown in this letter he wrote for Kuranosuke.
“Kira is the man to watch out for … he is an unscrupulous bribetaker and uses his office solely for his own ends. There is seemingly no way of
dealing with such menexcept to play their game, but this I refuse to do. …
I will not pay Kira for his services, which are supposed to be supplied by the court. This may be a stubborn attitude, but as far as I am concerned it
is the only honorable one for a samurai to take. I do not expect that I alone can turn back the wave of decadence that seems to have engulfed the
court, but I can try to hold my head above the dirty water as long as there
is breath left in me. Allyn, 1970:21”
Nitobe 1969, as previously mentioned in the second chapter of this study, elaborated that the sense of honor wa
s one‟s vivid consciousness of his personal dignity and worth. Incented by the proud sense of duty and the privilege of their
profession as a warrior, fear of disgrace haunts them in every action they take. Lord Asano showed his honor as the head of his family that he would rather die
honorably than to live engaging bribery. The same thing happened also to his
loyal retainers. They would rather lived as ronin as to prepare for an honorable death in avenging their master, than to live a comfortable life while disregarding
the honor of the Asano name that they serve. At the first time, he knew the tragedy happened. Oishi traveled to the
Asano burial grounds and temple. Oishi considered Lord Asano to be the kind of
lord and commander that he “would follow…anywhere, even to the grave if it is
necessary, and he would have no hesitation in drawing his dirk and joining him Allyn, 1970: 49”. Oishi, by looking after Lord Asano‟s daughter, was loyal, but
by being willing to commit suicide for his Lord, he displayed his honor to his lord. Loyalty required no goodwill on either side, only duty. Honor in the name of lord
required a willingness and enthusiasm within the duty and loyalty. Duty could compel action, but it took something more than duty to make a man kill himself
for another‟s honor. In the case of Oishi, this was his honor in the name of samurai and Lord Asano‟s retainer as a great man and leader. Oishi did not see
suicide as an escape from his hard life. Instead, he saw it as a viable political option. The willingness of a man to disembowel himself for his cause and beliefs
was very powerful. Be willing to kill him revealed an amount of commitment and dedication to a cause unparalleled by any other. If all else failed, the suicide of
Oishi may had at least given the Shogun pause to think about his actions. In the contrary, Oishi would rather avenge his lord and make a point than allow the
dishonor to continue, with or without driving his point home, and so did not commit seppu
ku. His honor of lord Asano‟s name asked him to fight on when he could give up and kill himself.
The honor as a samurai owned by Oishi Kuranosuke could be seen through his willingness to sacrifice him selves from the very beginning of the
rising problem. He was in fact willing to disregard his wealth and social status by becoming a ronin for the sake of the long wait of his vengeance. He endured to
protect the land of Ako, as well as the family of his Lord Asano. He did not accept to take pride in his social status as well as to take bribes nor was he willing to do
something not honorable as to abandon his responsibility and let his fellows in stray.
Kuranosuke was told to surrender in the middle of his endeavor, by none other than Daigaku Asano, a relative to his lord. Daigaku Asano, convinced one
of Kuranosuke‟s companions, Hara, to tell Kuranosuke to surrender and leave everything behind
lest he further scorn the honor of the family‟s name. As told in the story:
“and they advised Hara to tell you Oishi that we should surrender peaceably in order not to increase the disgrace that has already fallen on
the family” Allyn, 1970: 49. In the other hand, he decided not to leave the honor of his responsibility to avenge
his master, and furthermore to stand against the corrupted government as a protest.
He had to adapt himself in such time to gain the ability of leadership amidst chaos as the quote below said that:
“Since he was only used to carrying out orders, not formulating policy, and this was a difficult experience for him. He realized how much
depended on his ability to decide what was best for all and the
responsibility weighed on him heavily” Allyn, 1970:51-52.
From this point, it could be seen that Asano did not chose Kuranosuke as a leader for his army for nothing. The quality best served by the chief retainer who always
put the honor of his duty above his own. He understood also that by the end of the process, if necessary he was also demanded to take his own life. He was willing to
do it with a strong determination to firstly finish his duty, and then to proclaim the right for justice in the name of his lord Asano.
In the case on the understanding of the justification that revenge should be exacted immediately for it to be true, Kuranosuke had his own idea. He responded
to Hara‟s justification on loyalty in the name of maintaining honor, as such: “And I say it doesn‟t matter what anyone thinks as long as we‟re
convinced in our own minds that we‟re right. Think for a moment of our mistress, Lady Asano, and of her little daughter. Will taking the life of a
miserable creature like Kira help regain their home? More likely they would only be executed along with the rest of us for our unsuccessful
attempt. Consider also what such open rebellion would mean to Ako. Will the ancestors of the Asano family be pleased to have their tombs
desecrated in view of a ruined castle?” Allyn, 1970: 59-60.
In this explanation of his, he defended his argument that by serving the remaining living members of the family, they could show the true loyalty to
maintain the honor of the house of Asano. He elaborated how killing Kira directly would only worsen the situation in case they should fail, in which the probability
was high by the look of their inferior number as compared to Shogun ‟s. To carry
out attacking immediately under the banner of the recently fallen Asano, meant that they declared the very own house that they served, as rebels. This would
certainly scorn the honor of the family. Ako will most certainly be taken in disgrace, and the name of Asano would be nipped in the bud.
