Who Is Horiuchi Den'emon?
Caretaker who recorded the ronin's last days
Horiuchi Den'emon was a retainer of the Hosokawa family of the Kumamoto domain in Higo who looked after Oishi Kuranosuke and the other 16 ronin placed in Hosokawa custody after the raid.
The head of the family, Hosokawa Tsunatoshi, treated the ronin generously, and Den'emon talked with them almost every day. In the Horiuchi Den'emon Oboegaki he wrote down what he heard from them and how their seppuku was carried out on the 4th day of the second month of Genroku 16.
This memoir is an important record for understanding the ronin's characters and their final days.
