Who Is Hayami Tozaemon Mitsutaka (Hayami Mitsutaka)?
Master archer who raced the news to Ako
Hayami Tozaemon was one of the first express messengers to carry news of Lord Asano Takumi-no-Kami's sword attack from Edo to Ako, and later one of the 47 Ronin who took part in the raid. He was known as a master archer.
On the 14th day of the third month of Genroku 14, the day of the incident, he and the young Kayano Sanpei set off in express palanquins, changing bearers at each post town and traveling day and night. Tied into their palanquins to withstand the jolting, they covered about 620 km (some 385 miles) in roughly four and a half days, reached Ako, and delivered the news to Oishi Kuranosuke.
Sanpei, who made the journey with him, died before the raid, but Hayami stayed with his comrades to the end and committed seppuku after the raid.
Episodes featuring this character4
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 6
The 48th Ronin Who Should Have Been ThereKayano Sanpei
Sanpei, one of the riders who carried word of their lord's death, returns to his home village. There he is trapped between his vow to his comrades and his duty to his father, who has promised him to the family that once gave Sanpei his start. He tries to slip away and can't. The episode follows him to the morning of his lord's monthly memorial day, when he leaves behind a single haiku, and then to how his story lived on in the theater.
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 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