Who Is Hara Soemon Mototoki (Hara Mototoki)?
Hard-line captain of foot soldiers
Hara Soemon was a captain of foot soldiers (ashigaru-gashira) in the Asano house of Ako and one of the express messengers who carried news of his lord's incident from Edo to Ako. He later joined the raid as one of the 47 Ronin.
At the council in Ako Castle, he is said to have sided with the hard-line view of holding out in the castle or dying in loyal suicide before its gates. Afterward he stayed with Oishi Kuranosuke as one of the comrades who believed they should attack quickly.
After the raid, like the other ronin, he was placed in the custody of a daimyo house and committed seppuku.
Episodes featuring this character8
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 4
His Lord Is Dead. He Parties Every Night.Oishi Kuranosuke, "The Daytime Lantern"
Episode 4 of the 47 Ronin series. His lord is dead and his house abolished, yet chief retainer Oishi Kuranosuke Yoshio still hopes the clan can be restored. Meanwhile he spends every night in the pleasure quarters, and the townsfolk and his own comrades all laugh at him. For one moment, in the shadows behind the party lights, he shows a stone-cold sober look. Was it an act, or the real man? Dawn comes with no answer.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 5
He Was Late Once. He Won't Wait AgainHoribe Yasubei and the Duel at Takadanobaba
Years ago, the swordsman Horibe Yasubei arrived too late to save the man who raised him in a duel. Now he pushes Oishi, the chief retainer who keeps telling everyone to wait, to strike Kira down as soon as possible. When Kira moves house and retires, Yasubei sees his chance. He storms into Yamashina, and in front of Oishi, his hand goes to his sword.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 7
Take Back Your Oath, and Walk Away AliveThe Maruyama Conference and the Returned Oaths
The last hope of restoring their late lord's house is gone, and in Maruyama, Kyoto, Oishi decides to strike down Lord Kira. First, though, he hands back the sworn oaths. Some comrades accept theirs and leave. Others throw them back and stay. Terasaka, the foot soldier who carried the box of oaths for the two messengers, is finally handed the last sheet: his own.
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