Seichūgishi uchiiri seimei 誠忠義士討入姓名 [The names of the loyal retainers who attacked]

From [Bakumatsu nishikiejō] [幕末錦絵帖] [Folding book of brocade pictures from the Bakumatsu period (ca. 1853-1867)]

A 1703 night attack on the Edo mansion of Kira Yoshinaka by loyal samurai retainers of the late Asano Naganori intent on avenging their master’s death. The attack took place in a time of peace when samurai rarely saw battle, and private vengeance like this was illegal. Asano’s retainers killed Kira but were themselves sentenced to death. The vendetta inspired many theatrical retellings in the puppet and kabuki theatre, as well as more recent film adaptations. Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s puppet play Chūshingura 忠臣蔵 [The Treasury of Loyal Retainers] (1748) was the most famous and influential early version of the story. In this picture, Yoshikazu follows the way that the attack is depicted in the theatre, with heavy snow that would be unusual in Edo.