Friday, December 28, 2018

Chukon giretsu: Jitsuroku Chushingura

Chūkon giretsu: Jitsuroku Chūshingura is a 1928 Japanese silent film directed by Shozo Makino. It's based on the legend of the 47 ronin.


I can't find a version that has subtitles, but I enjoyed watching it anyway. Familiarizing yourself with the story beforehand helps. You can read the Wikipedia summary of the legend:
The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming rōnin) after their daimyō (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to perform seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. After waiting and planning for a year, the rōnin avenged their master's honor by killing Kira. In turn, they were themselves obliged to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. This true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the tale grew during the Meiji era, in which Japan underwent rapid modernization, and the legend became entrenched within discourses of national heritage and identity.

Fictionalized accounts of the tale of the Forty-seven Rōnin are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays, including bunraku and kabuki. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era, which forbade portrayal of current events, the names were changed. While the version given by the playwrights may have come to be accepted as historical fact by some, the first Chūshingura was written some 50 years after the event, and numerous historical records about the actual events that predate the Chūshingura survive.

The bakufu's censorship laws had relaxed somewhat 75 years later in the late 18th century, when Japanologist Isaac Titsingh first recorded the story of the forty-seven rōnin as one of the significant events of the Genroku era. To this day, the story continues to be popular in Japan, and each year on December 14, Sengakuji Temple, where Asano Naganori and the rōnin are buried, holds a festival commemorating the event.

10 comments:

  1. In Japan I went to the emperor's shrine from the Meiji era. So I can see why this film was made because it must have been both good and bad to modernize so quickly. Especially for such a traditional and were mono culture like Japan. Fascinating. Happy Friday. Hus-Erika

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    1. It must've been difficult to have such sudden westernization, I agree. It's interesting to see films that deal with the stress of those changes.

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  2. I saw this film at the Japanese Temple and information centre here, we have a large amount of Japanese living in Duesseldorf. Valerie

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    1. Cool! The story is important to Japanese history and has been adapted for film starting in 1907 and into the present day. I wish I could've found this 1928 version with subtitles....

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  3. I read a novel that told the story of the 47 Ronin.

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  4. When I was researching the quiltlet I created for Erika, I ran across the 47 Ronin in one of the books I purchased at the art museum sale. I found this very interesting and thank your for spotlighting it.

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    1. It is an interesting story, isn't it! I enjoy hearing about events from other cultures' histories :)

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  5. Sounds fascinating with the historical basis of the film 😁. Thanks for sharing and happy weekend! J 😊 x

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    1. Subtitles are always better lol, but if you know the story it's interesting to follow along to see how they approached it back then.

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