Act Eleven, Scene Three, The Capture of Moronao, from the series Chushingura

The kabuki play Copy Book of the Storehouse of Loyal Retainers is based on one of the most notorious historical events of the Edo period. On January 30, 1703, forty-seven masterless samurai avenged the death of their master, Lord Asano. After repeated provocation, Lord Asano had drawn his sword and wounded a rival official in the corridor of Edo Castle, which was a capital offense. Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi immediately ordered Lord Asano to commit ritual suicide. His death and the subsequent vengeance by his faithful samurai came to epitomize the “way of the warrior,” immediately capturing the public imagination. This design from a series of sixteen prints depicts the climactic scene when a group of the masterless samurai discovers the villainous Kira Yoshinaka—who had provoked Lord Asano to draw his sword—hiding in a charcoal shed on his grounds. The samurai, shown in their distinctive black-and-white patterned costumes holding lanterns, surround the culprit who is defiant to the end. Given the chance to commit honorable suicide with the same blade that was used by Lord Asano, Kira refuses and is unceremoniously beheaded.