Who Is Terasaka Kichiemon Nobuyuki (Terasaka Nobuyuki)?
The one foot soldier who did not commit seppuku
Terasaka Kichiemon was the only one of the 47 Ronin of ashigaru (foot soldier) rank to join the raid, and the one who left the group afterward, never committed seppuku, and lived a long life. He served under Yoshida Chuzaemon, one of the senior ronin.
After taking part in the raid, he disappeared from the group either on the march back to Sengakuji Temple or shortly after. Because of this he was not among the ronin who committed seppuku, and he is said to have lived to the age of 83. His account of the raid, the Terasaka Nobuyuki Hikki, is an important record. In the manga, Terasaka, the writer of this account, serves as the narrator of the whole series.
Why he left the group is unclear. One theory says Oishi ordered him to carry news of the raid to the families of the fallen; another says he fled on his own.
Episodes featuring this character8
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 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 8
He Learned Tea to Steal a Single DateThe Ronin in Hiding & Ōtaka Gengo
To protect his family, Oishi divorces his wife Riku, and the Ako ronin slip into Edo disguised as townsfolk. Otaka Gengo becomes a pupil of tea master Yamada Sohen and learns the day Kira will host a tea gathering at his mansion. Without a word, the ronin begin saying their goodbyes.
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