Sengaku-ji Temple
In 1701, a young provincial baron named Asano Takumi-no-Kami attacked and seriously wounded a royal attendant named Yoshinaka Kira. Asano, for daring to draw his sword in the confines of Edo Castle, was ordered to commit suicide, resulting in his family line being abolished and his estate being confiscated. Forty-seven of Asano's loyal retainers vowed revenge; the death of their leader made them ronin—masterless samurai. On the night of December 14, 1702, Asano's ronin stormed Kira's villa in Edo, cut off his head, and brought it in triumph to Asano's tomb at Sengaku-ji, the family temple, which dates to 1642. The ronin were sentenced to commit suicide—which they accepted as the reward, not the price, of their honorable vendetta—and were buried in the temple graveyard with their lord.
Through the centuries, this story—known in Japanese as Chushingura—has become the last word on the subject of loyalty and sacrifice, celebrated in every medium from kabuki to film. The temple still stands, and the graveyard is wreathed in smoke from the bundles of incense that visitors reverently lay on the tombstones. There is a collection of weapons and other memorabilia from the event in the temple's small museum. One of the items derives from Kira's family's desire to give him a proper burial. The law insisted this could not be done without his head, so they asked for it back. It was entrusted to the temple, and the priests wrote a receipt, which survives even now in the corner of a dusty glass case. "Item," it begins, "One head."
