Who Is Lord Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori (Asano Naganori)?
Lord of Ako who drew his sword in the Pine Corridor
Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori
Lord Asano Takumi-no-Kami was the ruler of the Ako domain in Harima Province, worth 50,000 koku, who attacked Lord Kira Kozuke-no-Suke in the Pine Corridor of Edo Castle on the 14th day of the third month of Genroku 14 (1701). That incident set off the entire story of Chushingura.
That year Asano had been put in charge of entertaining envoys sent by the imperial court, and Kira was his instructor in the ceremonies. After the attack, Asano was placed that same day in the mansion of Tamura Ukyo-no-Daibu, lord of the Ichinoseki domain in Mutsu, and was ordered to commit seppuku. He was 35 by the traditional Japanese count. The Asano house was abolished, and its retainers became ronin.
Asked why he attacked, Asano said only that he held a grudge and never explained it. Many theories have been told since, such as that Kira bullied him or that his gifts to Kira were too small, but nothing is known for certain. His grave is at Sengakuji Temple in Takanawa, Tokyo, and the ronin were buried beside him. In the play Kanadehon Chushingura he appears as Enya Hangan.
Episodes featuring this character7
NEWEpisode 1
He Drew His Sword. No One Ever Knew WhyThe Pine Corridor Incident
Edo Castle, the 14th day of the Third Month, 1701. Lord Asano is already strained by the great duty of hosting the Emperor's envoys. In the Pine Corridor he suddenly draws his blade on Lord Kira, the master of ceremonies who has been tutoring him in the ritual. Kajikawa happens to be standing there and grabs him from behind, and the blow falls short. Asano tells no one why he did it.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 2
385 Miles to Deliver the Worst NewsLord Asano's Seppuku and the Express Palanquin
On the very day he drew his sword inside Edo Castle, Lord Asano is ordered to commit seppuku, and he meets his end with quiet dignity. Meanwhile, Hayami and Kayano tie themselves into an express palanquin and race some 620 km to Ako in four and a half days. When Oishi Kuranosuke finally hears all of the news, he says only two words.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 3
An Army at the Gate. Orders: Don't Fight.The Surrender of Ako Castle
Episode 3 of the series. Their lord is dead and his house abolished, and the retainers of Ako Castle are split between fighting and dying. Oishi Kuranosuke decides that now is not the time to draw swords. A senior retainer slips away, the domain's paper money is about to become worthless, and hotheads ride in from Edo. Through all of it, Oishi hands over the castle without spilling a single drop of blood.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 9
We Broke In. His Bed Was Still Warm.The Raid on Kira's Mansion
On a snowy night in the twelfth month of Genroku 15, the ronin, after nearly two years of patient waiting, gather in Honjo. Before dawn they storm Kira's mansion from two sides, the front gate and the back gate. They show every courtesy to the neighbors and watch a young retainer die defending his lord. But when they burst into the bedchamber, all they find is a bed that is still warm.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 10
Their Enemy Was Shivering in the DarkThe Raid on Kira's Mansion
Dawn is closing in, and Lord Kira Kozuke-no-Suke Yoshinaka is still nowhere to be found. In a dark charcoal shed behind the kitchen, the ronin find only a frail old man in a white nightrobe, trembling. When the hunt that lasted a year and nine months finally ends, nobody cheers. There are only quiet tears.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 11
They Had the Head. They Didn't Run.The March to Sengaku-ji
The raid is over. With the head of their enemy, Lord Kira, raised on a spear, the ronin march through the snowy streets of Edo to the grave of their late lord. Along the way, one foot soldier, a dried persimmon from a comrade tucked in his robe, quietly slips out of the line. At the grave, Oishi weeps for the first time.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 12
47 Ronin. Only 46 Graves.The Seppuku of the 47 Ronin and Sengaku-ji
After the raid, the forty-six ronin are placed in the custody of four daimyo houses. At the Hosokawa mansion, Horiuchi Den'emon listens to their stories and is eventually entrusted with a letter from Oishi Kuranosuke to his son Chikara. On a spring day the verdict arrives: seppuku. At the graves of Sengaku-ji, the aged storyteller Terasaka Kichiemon finishes his tale, and the story passes on to the stage as the curtain rises on Kanadehon Chushingura.
19 pages