One Piece | Character Archetypal Interpretation Series
Since entering the Kingdom of Washinoku, many mysterious characters that attract people's reverie have appeared in front of readers in the form of memories or word of mouth, and since landing in The Land of Peace, with the development of more than sixty words, these mysterious characters have gradually become clear, such as Mitsuki Mita, Tenzuki Shiki, Frost Moon Yasuka, Hana no Soldier Goro (Uncle Leopard), and Akatsuki Nine Heroes.
In particular, in the reminiscences of Mitsuki Mita's life, many past histories have been revealed, and all the characters who were once shrouded in mystery in The Land of Washinoku have all come out of the background and become a living character, no longer just existing in the legendary name, especially the Nine Heroes of the Red Sheath. These hidden figures, who were once superior in the eyes of readers, have now become flesh and blood iron men, and like most ordinary people, they also have a weak and perfect past, they are orphan brothers in the middle of the family road, they are aliens who are wandering and dying, rogue swindlers who make a living at the bottom, they are fallen thieves who are abandoned by society, and they are ordinary people who are only striving for the light in their hearts.
Through the memories of Mitsuki Mita, the past of the Akashi Nine Heroes, and their origins as the Akatsuki Nine Heroes, all clearly show to the majority of readers, although there is still a Rumoragi lang whose whereabouts are unknown, but it can not stop the Akashi Nine Heroes from becoming a symbol of loyalty in the minds of everyone.
Based on the understanding of Eiichiro Oda, we know that many of the characters and events in One Piece are based on real materials in reality, and the Akatsuki Nine Heroes are no exception, based on the Ako Yoshishi, or Ako Forty-Seven, who is not known to many People in Japan, but is well known in Japan.
The title of one piece in the Akatsuki Nine Heroes originated from the time when Mitsuki Mita was alive, when Mitsuki Mita, in order to save the hostages taken by the Great Snake, was forced to accept the unfair agreement from the Great Snake, and under the misunderstanding of everyone, he was forced to bend over backwards, until he learned that the wife of The Flower Soldier Goro and his disciples were killed, and he could not bear to decide to take revenge on Kaido, and the nine courtiers under him gave up their lives to follow, and in the legendary hour, eleven people were against Kaido and thousands of people, so the feat was given to the nine family ministers [Akatsuki Nine Heroes] as a feat.
After the death of Mitsuki Mita, the current plot is caused by the revenge of the Lord of the Akatsuki Nine Heroes, it can be said that the plot of the current Wazu no Kuni chapter is a Akatsuki Nine Heroes to avenge the main theme of the loyalty of the Akatsuki Nine Heroes, the bridge section of the Akatsuki Nine Heroes to avenge hikari Mita, which is the main line of the movie "Tadaka Hidden", the prototype of the story is the famous Ako Yoshishi incident in Japanese history.
In March 1701, the fourteenth year of the Edo period, emperor Higashiyama, sent envoys to the Tokugawa shogunate as a courtesy of the shogun in return to the emperor. It did not matter who Emperor Higashiyama had sent as a member of the mission, as there was not much direct correlation between the events that followed and the Emperor's envoys, but the focus was on who the Tokugawa shogunate had arranged for the reception officers to be the reception officers for the envoys sent by the Emperor this time, who was then known as the Imperial Expedition.
In order to receive the envoys who came to Edo from Kyoto, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate at the time, arranged for Asano Nagamasa to serve as the reception official of the shogunate, and he was the cause of the Ako Yoshishi Incident. Asano Nagamasa, the lord of the Akaho Domain, was not a local daimyō who had been serving in the shogunate or the Kyoto Palace for a long time, and did not have a comprehensive grasp of official etiquette, shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi took this into account, and in order not to lose the face of the shogunate in front of the emperor and the secretaries of state, he also arranged for the chief takagae Kira Uenosuke, who was well versed in imperial court etiquette, to assist Asano Nagamasa to avoid the improper number of ceremonies in the imperial service.
Asano Tsukuritoto Oiwa Kira Uenosuke
However, Kira Uenosuke, who was supposed to be his deputy, did not perform his duties because he despised the daimyo of the place, but instead laughed at Asano Nagamasa when he neglected to pay tribute, resulting in Asano Nagamasa being ugly and faceless when he received the envoy. Finally, at the place where the envoys were staying, Asano Nagamasa was once again humiliated by Kira Uenosuke in public, and he could not bear it, so he drew his sword and slashed Kira Uenosuke.
When the shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi learned of this, he was furious, after all, he committed a crime in front of the emperor's mission, and in a fit of rage, he gave the decision to let him commit suicide by cutting himself off and confiscating his family property. As for kira Uenosuke, who had neglected his duties, he was not punished in any way under the advice of the shogun Yanagisawa Yoshiho.
In the end, Asano Nagamasa committed suicide by cutting off his abdomen, confiscating all his family fiefs, and ordering the Asano family's vassals to disband within thirty days, which meant that more than three hundred samurai of the Asano family would become ownerless ronin.
During the festival, he plays the leader of Ōishi Uchizosuke
Shocked to learn of this news, as well as the asano family's boss Ishiuguzusuke, the head of the Asano family, quickly summoned The Asano family to discuss countermeasures, everyone was very dissatisfied with such a verdict and the unfair fate of the master, nervousness and indignation spread among these samurai who were about to become ronin, and there were two opinions in their urgent discussion, one was to resist the shogunate's orders and stick to the city, and the other was to obey the shogunate's arrangements and preserve their strength in order to rise afterwards.
Just as the courtiers were arguing endlessly, the family boss Ishikage Uzumaki once again played an important role. This highest vassal of the Ako Domain, and also the highest ranking chief of the clan, made an important decision, that is, to ostensibly accept the decision of the shogunate, peacefully sacrifice the castle, and disband the original Asano Nagamasa clan, but actually reached an oath with ninety-seven ronin courtiers to assassinate Kira Uenosuke, scattered around the country to hide their identities, and wait for the opportunity to take revenge. Oishi Uchizusuke himself is also involved in the revenge plan, he left his hometown to come to Kyoto, spending all day in the Kazezuki place, so that the originally suspicious Kira Uenosuke gradually relaxed his guard.
Finally, at the end of the following year, in December 1701, Oishi Uchizosuke began to implement his revenge plan. He issued a summons order to the ninety-seven former ministers of the Asano family who had made a joint covenant, and finally gathered the forty-seven nominees who were still determined to avenge the old lord, including the eldest son of Oishi Uchizosuke. After several meetings and discussions, it was finally decided to start operations on the evening of December 14 and break into Kira Uenosuke's home.
Before attacking Kira Uenosuke, they divided into several squads, from different entrances to his house, and after several twists and turns, they found the target person in a hut where coal was stored, removed Kira Uenosuke's first rank on the spot, and successfully achieved the goal of revenge under the careful planning in advance.
Then the forty-seven men carried the head of the enemy to the grave of Asano Nagamasa at Izumi-ji Temple, and replied to their long-deceased lord: The great revenge has been repaid.
The Forty-Seven Righteous Men of Ako did not abscond in order to escape their guilt, only one of them was allowed to escape and survive as witnesses to their righteous deeds, and the others were tied up and waited for the shogunate to fall. After several months of imprisonment, the shogunate eventually ordered all of them to commit suicide by cutting off their stomachs en masse, leaving behind the good name of Ako Yoshishi.
As for the cause of the Ako Yoshishi incident, most people will have some questions after reading it, first of all, as the lord of the Ako Domain, Asano Nagamasa, although he is only a small local domain lord, how can he be considered a daimyō, and his status is not low, while Kira Uenosuke, as the deputy of the reception official, looks down on his nominal superior, and can even humiliate him in public? Secondly, Kira Uenosuke was clearly negligent in his duties, so why did he not receive any punishment?
With these questions in mind, I conduct an in-depth analysis of the causes of this incident.
Kyoto, where the royal family is located
To understand why Kira Uenosuke, who seems to be of low status, can blatantly humiliate Asano Nagamasa, it is easy to understand Kira Uenosuke's identity at a glance. In the introduction of the Ako Yoshishi incident, it was mentioned that Kira Uenosuke was the chief Takaya, what is the chief Takaya? The Takato family was actually an emissary of the shogunate during the Edo period who was responsible for religious activities such as visiting shrines in place of shoguns, as well as exchanges with the Kyoto imperial court, and could be said to be the emcee of the shogunate and a bridge of communication with the imperial court. This kind of position is not a position that ordinary people can hold, and must be qualified by the children of a famous family, and most of the qualified families are related to the Ashikaga family of the shogun of the Omomachi shogunate in the Sendai Muromachi period. The Kira family, on the other hand, was a very high family among the Takayamachi clans, and in the Muromachi period, it was a noble family that had to get off the horse even if the daimyo passed through the gate of this family, and Kira Uenosuke was still the chief of the Takashi family. Therefore, although Kira Uenosuke is Asano Nagamasa's deputy, Kira Uenosuke is much more noble in terms of official position and origin, which is why Kira Uenosuke is so confident.
Of course, this alone was not enough for Kira Uenosuke to do such an arrogant thing, and there was another reason why he was so keen to humiliate Asano Nagamasa.
It turned out that after Asano Nagamasa was appointed as the head of the imperial envoy, he had visited Kira Uenosuke to ask about the reception etiquette, but Kira Uenosuke wanted to receive red envelopes from him, and Asano Nagamasa did not agree, so he was not happy. When Kira Uenosuke was appointed by the shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi to direct the court etiquette of Asano Nagamasa, he was very angry with Asano Nagamasa, and he made it difficult to receive the envoys.
Finally, Asano Nagamasa could not bear to make an impulsive move and was sentenced heavily by the shogun, but the culprit, Kira Uenosuke, was not punished, even if someone mentioned that there had been a similar case before, in which both sides were punished, but there was still no turnaround. In fact, the reason why Kira Uenosuke was able to exonerate himself was on the one hand because of his noble origins, and if he were to be punished, it would cause dissatisfaction among his family and other related forces, and it would easily cause disturbances that were not suitable for quelling. On the other hand, Kira Uenosuke usually used his status as a high family to collect a large amount of ill-gotten wealth by guiding etiquette, and he also knew how to use this wealth to dredge relations, and he had close contacts with the Gosan family, who was also the Tokugawa family, and many shogunate retainers, and this time he spoke for him, and it was Yanagisawa Yoshiho, a shogun who was friendly with him. In the end, Kira Uenosuke was able to retreat completely.
Why the forty-seven righteous men of Ako chose to sacrifice their lives to avenge the lord of the family is difficult to confirm, but through a little analysis of the situation at that time, it is also possible to know part of the reason.
The Asano family can be said to be a famous samurai in the Sengoku period, and its ancestors Asano Nagamasa served the Oda family and the Toyotomi family, and was a foreign daimyō that continued to the Edo period, and being able to serve such a famous family was a dream thing for the samurai at that time, and as a vassal of the Asano family, he was naturally in the same heart as the owner of the family and had a great sense of honor. Moreover, Asano Nagamasa treated his subjects very favorably, and his loyalty was formed.
However, the sudden bad news, along with the death of Asano Nagamasa, followed by the shogunate's disposition of the Asano family, not only made the Asano family's family business city pool in vain, but also the courtiers who were once proud of serving the Asano family were also dismissed as ronin under the pressure of the shogunate, and their social status plummeted, making it difficult for these samurai to accept for a while.
So the fire of revenge arose in their hearts, and killing Kira Uenosuke, the source of all misfortune, in the name of loyalty, was perhaps the most in line with their own identity in that generation.
Ako's assassination sensation caused a sensation in Edo and Kyoto, shaking the country, especially the samurai class, which regarded their actions as a model for samurai. Even the shogunate, which had originally ruled on them, identified the incident that should have been judged as a party-related crime as not a party-forming incident, which shows that the shogunate was also forced by social pressure to be rash.
In fact, even the shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi admired their loyalty and whether to pardon their crimes before the verdict was issued. However, if you think about it, if you forgive them, it will be equivalent to acknowledging in disguise that the previous treatment of Asano Nagamasa was unjust, so I wanted to come forward through the emperor to pardon them. However, the royal family's argument is that if these people are pardoned this time, it is difficult to guarantee that no one among them will do anything illegal after that, so that the royal family and the shogunate that pardoned them will be discredited, and it is better to decide here and leave a good story for future generations. Neither the shogunate nor the imperial family granted a pardon, and the Ako Yoshitoshi went around and detained them for several months before all of them were righteous.
Fragment of "The Last Loyalist"
Later, the forty-seven righteous men of Ako became models of loyalty and righteousness for the samurai, and the local people of Ako Domain built temples for them, and worshipped incense day and night. The Confucian officials in the shogunate also wrote poems specifically for them, praising their righteous deeds and loyalty. Folk also circulate their deeds in various forms, among which the Kabuki "TadatomiZo" was based on them, and one has been handed down to this day, and now there are many novels, film and television works, dramas, anime, etc. created on the theme of Ako Forty-Seven Righteous Men, and have become a household name in Japan.