Chapter 5: The Revenge

Chapter 5: The Revenge

Oishi sent his men, in four groups, to look everywhere - in the house, the kitchens, the gardens, the courtyards, the guardrooms, under the floors…

In the courtyard by the north wall, three of the ronin found a wood store. One of them, Hazama, went inside, and pushed his spear deep into the wood. There was a sudden cry, from under the wood. Immediately, the three ronin began to pull the wood out, and very quickly they found an old man, dressed in white nightclothes.

‘Old man, what is your name?’ said Hazama.

The old man said nothing. He sat on the snowy ground, with his hands over his face.

‘It’s him,’ said one of the ronin. ‘Quick - blow your whistle.’

When they heard the whistle, all the ronin came running, with Oishi at the front.

Oishi carried a light, and held it near the old man’s face. ‘Yes, it’s Kira,’ he said to his men. ‘See - here, on his head, that old cut. It was a cut made by a sword… Lord Asano’s sword. It’s in the right place.’

Oishi stood up, and bowed deeply to the old man.

‘Lord Kira Yoshinaka, we are the samurai of Asano Naganori. We are loyal men, loyal to our master, and so we are here tonight to take revenge for his death. Lord Asano committed seppuku, and so we ask you, Lord Kira, to commit seppuku too - to die bravely, with honour.’

On the ground in front of Kira, Oishi carefully placed a long knife.

‘Here, Lord Kira, is a knife. Lord Asano’s knife.’

But the old man did nothing. He sat on the ground, shaking from head to toe, not speaking. Again and again, Oishi asked him to commit seppuku. Again and again, he showed him Lord Asano’s knife. But Lord Kira did not move or put out his hand to take the knife. He did not want to take the road to death with honour.

At last, Oishi Yoshio stood up. He bowed again to Lord Kira; then he drew his sword and cut off Lord Kira’s head. The ronin put a coat around the head and tied it to a spear. It was three o’clock in the morning, and their long wait for revenge was finished.

‘And now,’ said Oishi, ‘we must leave at once and take the head to Lord Asano’s grave at Sengaku-ji. We must do this last thing for Lord Asano, and then we are ready for death.

‘But before we leave,’ he said, ‘we must put out the house fires. We don’t want to start a fire in the city.’ The house was full of dead bodies and crying women, and there was no one to take care of things. Edo was a city of buildings made of wood, and fire was a terrible danger.

They put out the fires, and forty-six ronin left the mansion. The forty-seventh ronin, a young man called Terasaka, was now on his way to Hiroshima. Oishi sent him there to take the news of the attack to Daigaku, the brother of Lord Asano.

Two of the ronin carried the spear with Lord Kira’s head, and Oishi walked in front, with Yoshida on one side and Chikara on the other side.

They began their long walk to Sengaku-ji. And in the streets of Edo, people came out of their houses to watch.