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Subject:Re: Japanese Art Thesis - Kuniyoshi
Posted By: Stan Tue, Nov 11, 2014
To know the samurai and what they meant to Kuniyoshi, you have to know the story of the Chûshingura. Start there and work toward your conclusion. From the Kuniyoshi Project website (see link below):
"In 1702, Lord Asano of Akô was provoked by Kira Kozukenosuke Yoshinaka into drawing his sword in the shogun’s palace, for which he was forced to take his own life, and his estate was confiscated. Forty-seven of Lord Asano’s retainers, who were now rônin (samurai without masters), planned, and carried out a successful attack on Kira’s palace. Kira’s head was cut off with the same dagger Lord Asano used to commit seppuku. (The term “hara-kiri”, although more common in English than “seppuku”, is considered in Japan to be a vulgar and disrespectful description of an honorable act.). The 46 surviving rônin were forced to take their own lives. These events were made into the kabuki play, “Kanadehon Chûshingura”."
Cheers,
Stan
URL Title :Chûshingura
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