The true story behind the legend of the 47 Rōnin - Adam Clulow 

"We can't live under the same heaven as our lord's enemy" has to be one of the most metal lines ever said after killing someone.

I love how it's done similar to Samurai Jack's art style

The 47 Ronin is an amazing tale of honor, loyalty, and avenging the death of your leader.

Oishi's son, Chikara was among the 47. He joined the raid and committed seppuku. He was the youngest, only 16.

They forgot mention the lengths the samurai did to pretend like the they gave up vengeance but were secretly plotting revenge

Idk how right this is, but I learned in school that, in the two years of planning their revenge, the Ronins had to pretend to have lost all faith and honor, leading to them being publicly humiliated and spat on left and right, all to make sure no one got suspicious of them. After their success, some of the people that disrespected them also committed sepuku to apologize to the Ronins for their short sightedness.

Ted-Ed never fails to make quality content.

I very much appreciate the short form animated stories from both history and mythology. 😊

The story of the 47 Ronins itself is actually an embellishment of a true historical event known as the Ako Incident in the historical records of Japan. The story is portrayed in Chushingura instead of the official historical records. The historical Asano Naganori is not the gentleman portrayed in the story but a man with a rash hot-headed personality and often acts on impulse. The Shogunate had agents to spy on all the feudal lords and document their personalities. Asano's records in the Shogunate documents do not reflect any positive traits. The administration of Ako, Asano's domain was not done by Asano but rather by his chief retainer Oishi Yoshio as Asano lacks the interest in ruling his domain and spends most of the time indulging in pleasure. He and another feudal lord are assigned by the Shogunate to host a visiting envoy from Kyoto. Kira Yoshinaka being a koke or master of ceremonies is assigned to teach them on court etiquettes and rituals. Kira is portrayed as a greedy and corrupt court official who demand bribes for tutoring Asano and another feudal lord court etiquettes. Whether Kira is greedy and corrupt as portrayed will never be known. Kira's position as the master of ceremonies is highly prestigious but unfortunately a low paid position. His annual income is barely 10% of Asano's annual income. Perhaps Kira expected some rich gifts as compensations for tutoring as a supplement to his meagre income. As a master of ceremonies, Kira sets a very high standard and demands perfection. Official records mention that Kira has the reputation of a fair and honorable person and is highly respected by many people even by the shogun himself. Also Kira often funded the constructions of infrastructures in his hometown and is well respected by its inhabitants. Asano lacks patient to learn the court etiquettes properly and perhaps got frequent reprimanded by Kira. Being a rash person, Asano perhaps see all the reprimands by Kira as insults and decides to attack Kira while still inside the Shogun's castle. It will never be known whether Kira did insulted Asano though most likely it never happens in the first place. It is a great crime of drawing a sword while in the Shogun's castle and punishable by death. Asano will choose time and place to strike Kira if he is truly a gentleman as portrayed in the story and will not foolishly attack Kira while still within the Shogun's castle. Due to his rash hot-headed personality, he attacks Kira within the Shogun's Castle and got punished by committing seppuku. The action of the 47 Ronins is criticized by some renown samurais. The author of Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo, ask a well-known question of what happen if Kira died less than a year after Asano's death due to an illness. The ronins wait for more than a year before finding an opportunity to strike. Kira is already at the advanced age of 60 as the average life expectancy is around age 40 plus. When that happens, the ronins will lost their only chance to exact revenge and will forever be branded as cowards thus bringing shame to the Asano clan. Furthermore Asano did break the law and had to be dealt with accordingly and they are forbidden under law to seek revenge. The attack on Kira's residence is also one sided. Kira is not a wealthy man as portrayed in the story where he employs more than a thousand guards to protect himself. Due to his lower income position, he is able to afford only a handful of guards. Official records mentioned that the ronins are armed to the teeth as well as using gunpowder weapons. Kira's guards are not only outnumbered but also outfought. Also, the ronins may have self interest reason for reporting their plan to the Shogunate. Perhaps they expect to be pardoned by the Shogunate on grounds they had acted according to Bushido and enable them to find employment elsewhere. The ronins fail in their duty of guiding their feudal lord to become a better person. So they blame the misfortune of their feudal lord on a court official who has the misfortune of teaching court etiquettes to a feudal lord with a rash hot headed personality rather than their own incompetent feudal lord. They justify their attack by accusing Kira as a dishonorable and corrupt court official. Hence the story of the 47 Ronin is more about carrying out revenge based on misguided honor, loyalty and sacrifice. Also a feudal lord with a hot headed and impulsive personality is posthumously elevated as an honorable gentlemen worthy of a true samurai while an elderly court official with decades of good service records to the Shogunate is posthumously vilified as greedy and cowardly court official.

I'm amazed at how this video has converged with THE RISE OF THE RONIN

Intriguing narration of samurai loyalties and the advent of Tokugawa rules. It certainly provides a unique perspective about the struggles of the samurai class and cultural ideals in the wider socio-political context. Stirs the contemplation of honor, duty, and the extent to which one might go to uphold them.

Fun fact. Honor and loyalty in japan culture doesnt end with samurai. In WW2, hiroo onoda fought guerilla in the phillipines forest until 1974 because he think the war hasnt ended. He only surrendered after his commanding officer flew from japan to phillipines and formally ordered him to surrender. The officer has long since become bookseller.

Hey Ted -ed what you think make a video about the 1992 Los Angeles ritos.

The art style is simple and captivating. Respect to the artist. Can you imagine the conviction they had? Knowing the consequences of their actions. Hardcore.

WE CANNOT LIVE UNDER THE SAME HEAVEN AS OUR ENEMIES

John Wick being among the 47 Ronin is another honourable mention.

Oh this art style is beautiful! Wonderful legend!

Deep love & respect Ted ed ❤️💙

But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to appose me

❤ Awesome as always thanks

First Oiwa, now this. Amazing. Cant wait for more Japanese stories :)

By relating myths, legends and customs, TedEd unites us all .

God I love this story so much more than the movie

Hey Ted-ed, please make a video on Bengal famine 1943-1944

east or west.. ted ed is the best

Asano Naganori killed Kira Yoshinaka because he witnessed Kira doing something completely unacceptable. PEERING INTO LADIES’ PRIVATE QUARTERS! IT’S NOT PROPER!

I think the point of the story is the question about what it means to be a samurai and the dilemma between the times and society and who and what they are. A book written by a samurai called the Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, and the book is a philosophical examination about the qualities of and what essentially a samurai is, makes an interesting point which was that the only reason the story was any good, was because they were ultimately successful in their quest for vengeance, but looking at it as a whole from his point of view, he believed that the samurai were foolish. The reasons were, if loyalty and their place in the world was to be examined, then rather than thinking too difficultly about it, they should have followed their lord in death, but if it was vengeance, then rather than waiting two years until the heat of the possibility of something happening was gone, they should have done so straight away even if the possibility of success was lower, given that lord Asano could have died or illness or accident or any number of ways during their ploy of pretending to be drunken and depressed ronin who were unlikely to take revenge. His opinion is that at least one of them should have had the courage as well as the sense of loyalty and duty to charge in even alone and outnumbered with the intention of cutting down as many as possible and potentially taking the head of Asano himself before committing seppuku and following his lord to the next life. Yamamoto Tsunetomo faced a similar dilemma when before his lord died, he and the other retainers were ordered or not permitted to commit seppuku and follow him in death when his lord would die. Therefore, he chose to shave his head and become a monk and get rid of his name (essentially dying to his past self) and to be of use to others in a different way of serving the needs of the fief and clan and helped others to become better samurai. Ted-Ed should do a video on the Hagakure, it is a very good book.

I love ted ed❤

They are truly honourable, knowing that dozens of them wont survive the wrath of the Shogun, let alone their Daimyo. Sadly, people like them are rare nowadays.

I am so happy that I get to enjoy this content. RU-vid is filled with such nonsense and the algorithm pushing shorts isn't for me. Thank you Ted-Ed for quality videos that nourish my brain!

As a person who lived during the Ako Domain at the time I can confirm Keanu Reeves was there

Please help I cant stop binging ted-ed!!!!

Side note : The families of the dead Samuria whom defend Kira were taken care of while the families of the 47 Ronin lived (mostly) in Poverty. Mostly cause the Asano's brother didn't approved the revenge because he knew full well the problem wasn't with Kira but Tokugawa. Honor for one is paid with Honor while Honor for the other is not.

Samurai are life

It’s altogether a beautiful story

The animation is top notch

The OGs know this story from the Robert De Niro movie Ronin "They chose honour; they chose myth" "They chose wrong"

You can see where all of this stuff happened, just in the grounds outside of the modern imperial palace in Tokyo

A very awesome and epic story. I love it.

Give a video on Ahom Empire

I love that story

TED-Ed released this video at the perfect time, as Shogun is also streaming right now.

The ultimate 'Yes, but...'

Fun fact: Kira Yoshikage, the psychopath killer in JoJo, drawn inspiration from Kira Yoshinaka in the 47 Ronin. That shows how much the 47 are feared and respected.

ADAM CLULOW!!!! THE BEST HISTORY PROFESSOR AT UT!!!!

That's some next level loyalty

Ah, yes. The Anime art style. ✨

For anyone interested in this story, I highly recommend Chushingura 👍 I had to read it for a class but I probably read it about one sitting, it was a very dramatic page turner despite being the script of a play

Oh, to have friends like the 47 ronins

This certainly sounds good too, but I think it's still worth considering more reliable options like copy trading platforms such as Eledator, for example.

Where’s keanu reeves? Lol

Can you do a history vs Fritz Haber pls

Hope my homies are these loyal damn thats some crazy loyalty

Great video! I really appreciate the dedication in each video you post. Anyway, Long term investor's know that the market and economy will recover eventually, and investors should be positioned for such a rebound, I gained $180k from bitcoin in 2023, before the market crash and now I am buying again, adding more at a time. Having a good financial advisor like Ethan Jackson, will add to your success in the crypto market.

We can't live under the same heaven as our lord's enemy - that words sent shiver to my neck literally

nothing could have prepared me for that last statement

I was there. Seppuku wasnt fun but worth it

Aside from a few effy constume designs and an illustration strangely implies they assaulted Kira's residence like ninja (reality: they busted through the main doors and didn't conceal their identities at all), it's not a bad retelling of a story

It's an honour between man's of men.

Wow.

日本人ですが、アニメーションの節々に違和感を感じました。あくまでナレーションがメインと思って見るのがいいと思います。

1:03 nit picking here but I am pretty sure they used Calligraphy Brushs to write back then

The 47 ronin is an amazing tale of brutality, pomped up pride and military bravado from a ruling class that had a monopoly on violence being bound by the laws of the common man in a new age. Unless you view them as heroes, or honourable, in which case you for some reason bought into all the legend and myth making instead of the actual history too, just like the ronin, but with your access to proper records.

Now I know the origins for the name of Ronin - Hawkeye character in End Game 🤔

this is like one of those japenese ancient war movies

If you think about it, the story of human civilization is the story of revenge. As early as when some wolly mammoth trampled early man and they had to rally as many tribes to make overpowered numbers and overtake them

日本の話題嬉しい！

Simple, death before dishonor. I can dig that.

“This is the end of the story of the forty-seven loyal retainers-except that the story has no ending, because we other men, who are perhaps not loyal yet will never entirely lose the hope that we might one day be so, shall continue to honor them with our words.” Jorge Luis Borges

Lord Toranaga 🎉

Because of them the code of honour is still practice in Japan.

Εύχομαι η παγκοσμιοποίηση να μην γίνει ποτέ πραγματικότητα..! Η ομορφιά βρίσκεται στη πολιτισμική διαφορετικότητα του κάθε λαού!

Japan be wilding

today i have exam and i watched this i will write about this in dbms exam

Kurosawa Vibe

I really need to create animations like Ted Ed but have no idea, how ? 😢❤

I'm glad that TED introduced Japanese history to people of other countries. However, I say this because I have high expectations of you, the armor is unnatural, and the costumes and background are clearly not Japanese. If you want to visualize the history of the country, you should ask animators from real and original country. If it is not it would be a misrepresentation of the historical perspective, so I feel uncomfortable that people like TED are neglecting this point. Disappointing...

Todays people don't understand loyalty, honor, and purpose.

1:03 quills?

Madness! I thought 💭 Hollywood made that up. He’s really called oishi?! ( delicious 😂)

Asano had every right to be pissed off at Kira, but he shouldn't have attacked him like that, he just made things worse for himself!

Kira Yoshinaka... Sounds like Yoshikage...

Amazing video, but the audio is a bit weird, like it was mixed badly, maybe it’s my headphones, but I just tried other videos with this same voice narrator and they were fine.

This video reminded Keanu Reeves to me as well. 😆 And me anymore... 👑

You should've used the death not- Oh wait, wrong Kira

F O R G I V E N E S S

Now I'm curious what happened to the other 253+ Ronin that didn't try to seek revenge. Can a Ronin pledge loyalty to another Lord and become a Samurai once again?

What happened with Kira's samurais?

As japanese person i love this video!

Is it Seppuku, or Hara-kiri?

Oh, how strange those clothing look!🙄

Shor-Sword

Who really was guiles de rais

Raccoon shape-shifting with testicles video suggested at the end had me click on that IMMEDIATELY!

They got their revenge and surrendered to authorities right after, badass

❤️

Every anime story ever:

hmmm I follow a channel focussed on japanese history and he says loyalty lasted only until someone offered better pay ç.ç

❤❤❤

शुद्ध शाकाहारी अपनाए अण्डा मांस शराब का सेवन न करें क्योंकि सतयुग आ रहा है बाबा जी का कहना हैं शाकाहारी रहना है जीव जंतुओं पर दया करे