Which incident in 18th century Japan that involved a group of revenge-seeking leaderless samurai has been dramatized in several accounts and was called the country's 'national legend'?
"Forty-seven rōnin The revenge of the , also known as the or ""Akō vendetta"", is an 18th-century historical event in Japan in which a band of ""rōnin"" (leaderless samurai) avenged the death of their master. The incident has since become legendary. 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"
"start of the eighteenth century when a group of samurai found themselves left masterless, ""rōnins"", after their ""daimyō"" was forced to commit the ritual suicide of seppuku for the crime of drawing a sword and injuring a man in the Imperial Palace. Kira Yoshinaka had made a series of verbal insults towards the samurai’s master, inciting his attack, but Kira was left unpunished. Because of that injustice, the ""rōnin samurai"" plotted to assassinate Yoshinaka for over two years. The rōnin, led by Oishi Kuranosuke, realized they would be monitored for signs they were planning to enact an attempt at revenge."
"Sakai incident The was the killing of 11 French sailors from the French corvette ""Dupleix"" in the port of Sakai near Osaka, Japan in 1868. On March 8, 1868, a skiff sent to Sakai was attacked by samurai of the Tosa clan; 11 sailors and Midshipman Guillou were killed (a monument in Kobe is now erected to their memory). At the time, the port of Sakai was open to foreign ships, and the Tosa troops were in charge of policing the city. The French captain Dupetit Thouars protested so strongly that an indemnity of 150,000 dollars was agreed upon, and"
"Bombardment of Kagoshima The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , took place on 15–17 August 1863 during the Late Tokugawa shogunate. The Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and in retaliation bombarded the town. The British were trying to extract a payment from the ""daimyō"" of Satsuma following the Namamugi Incident of 1862, in which British people were attacked (one killed, two wounded) by Satsuma samurai for not showing the proper respect for the ""daimyō""s regent, Shimazu Hisamitsu. Following the Namamugi Incident on September 14, 1862, Lieutenant-Colonel Neale, the British Chargé"
"Quoting the ""Moniteur"", the London ""Morning Post"" described the executions: This incident was dramatised in a short story, ""Sakai Jiken"", by Mori Ōgai. Sakai incident The was the killing of 11 French sailors from the French corvette ""Dupleix"" in the port of Sakai near Osaka, Japan in 1868. On March 8, 1868, a skiff sent to Sakai was attacked by samurai of the Tosa clan; 11 sailors and Midshipman Guillou were killed (a monument in Kobe is now erected to their memory). At the time, the port of Sakai was open to foreign ships, and the Tosa troops were in"
"On the 8 March 1868, a skiff sent to Sakai was attacked by samurai retainers of the ""daimyō"" of Tosa; 11 sailors and Midshipman Guillou were killed (a monument in Kobe is now erected to their memory). The captain Dupetit Thouars protested so strongly that the culprits were arrested, and 20 of them were sentenced to death by seppuku. However, the execution style was so shocking to the French that after 11 were carried out, the French captain requested grace for the survivors. This allowed the French and Japanese parties to reconcile, and is now known as the ""Sakai incident"","
"time a European saw formal seppuku was the ""Sakai Incident"" of 1868. On February 15, eleven French sailors of the ""Dupleix"" entered a Japanese town called Sakai without official permission. Their presence caused panic among the residents. Security forces were dispatched to turn the sailors back to their ship, but a fight broke out and the sailors were shot dead. Upon the protest of the French representative, financial compensation was paid and those responsible were sentenced to death. The French captain was present to observe the execution. As each samurai committed ritual disembowelment, the violent act shocked the captain, and"
"watching from afar the lights and smoke of the fires consuming the shops and residences of the entire city of Kamakura that his family had ruled for 150 years, he and his whole family, composed of over 870 people, committed suicide. This tragic act that ended the Hojo's power forever took place here. Erected in March 1918 by the Kamakuracho Seinendan Ashikaga Takauji, the first of the Ashikaga shōguns, was ordered by Emperor Go-Daigo to transfer the temple and the Hōjō's remains to a new location, renaming it Hōkai-ji. Because the neighborhood was said to be still haunted by the"
"the event apparently gave the Japanese an exaggerated impression of the fighting qualities of the Portuguese, as well as appealing to the Japanese samurai mentality due to Pessoa's rather un-Christian act of suicide. As such, stories of the event were told and retold again over the next hundred years, often in an exaggerated and wildly inaccurate manner, and found themselves embedded as part of local folklore. A direct reference to the event can be found in 1808, during Japan's period of self-imposed isolation, when the British frigate ""HMS Phaeton"" entered Nagasaki harbour to prey on Dutch vessels in an offshoot"
"in the book Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune. Genpei War The (1180–1185) was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late-Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1192. The name ""Genpei"" (sometimes romanized as ""Gempei"") comes from alternate readings of the ""kanji"" ""Minamoto"" (源 ""Gen"") and ""Taira"" (平 ""Hei""). The conflict is also known in Japanese as the , after the two Imperial eras between which it took place. It followed a coup d'état by"
"a result of their involvement in this incident. The shogunate followed the incident with a retaliatory armed expedition, the First Chōshū expedition, in September 1864. Kinmon incident The , also known as the , was a rebellion against the Tokugawa shogunate that took place on August 20, 1864, near the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. The rebellion reflected the widespread discontent felt among both pro-imperial and anti-foreigner groups, who rebelled under the ""sonnō jōi"" slogan. ""Sonnō jōi"" had been promulgated by the Emperor Kōmei as an ""Order to expel barbarians"". Thus, in March 1863, the rebels sought to take control of"
"especially the multi-hued lakes of Goshiki-numa. (caldera) 1888 eruption of Mount Bandai The 1888 eruption of Mount Bandai was a major volcanic eruption which occurred during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. The eruption occurred on July 15, 1888, and pyroclastic flows buried villages on the northern foot of the mountain, and devastated the eastern part of Bandai region, Fukushima Prefecture north of Tokyo. At least 477 people were killed and hundreds more were injured and rendered homeless in what became the worst volcanic disaster in recent Japanese history. Mount Bandai is a stratovolcano. Its last eruption had"
"used to defend the port, and is reported to have attributed his future career as head and ""father"" of the Imperial Japanese Navy to this moment. Bombardment of Kagoshima The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , took place on 15–17 August 1863 during the Late Tokugawa shogunate. The Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and in retaliation bombarded the town. The British were trying to extract a payment from the ""daimyō"" of Satsuma following the Namamugi Incident of 1862, in which British people were attacked (one killed, two wounded) by Satsuma"
"Shishigatani incident The Shishigatani incident (鹿ケ谷事件, ""Shishigatani jiken"") of June 1177 was a failed uprising against the rule of Taira no Kiyomori in Japan. The conspiracy was discovered, and its perpetrators arrested and punished before any part of their plan was put into action. The incident is also known in Japanese as ""Shishigatani no Inbō"" (鹿ケ谷の陰謀), the Shishigatani Conspiracy or Plot. The name comes from the location where the conspirators met, a mountain villa belonging to Jōken Hōin, in the Shishi Valley (""Shishigatani"") in the Higashiyama area of Kyoto. This is the most famous of a number of conspiracies and"
"Kinmon incident The , also known as the , was a rebellion against the Tokugawa shogunate that took place on August 20, 1864, near the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. The rebellion reflected the widespread discontent felt among both pro-imperial and anti-foreigner groups, who rebelled under the ""sonnō jōi"" slogan. ""Sonnō jōi"" had been promulgated by the Emperor Kōmei as an ""Order to expel barbarians"". Thus, in March 1863, the rebels sought to take control of the Emperor to restore the Imperial household to its position of political supremacy. During what was a bloody crushing of the rebellion, the leading Chōshū"
"Namamugi Incident The (also known sometimes as the Kanagawa Incident, and as the Richardson Affair) was an assault of British subjects on armed retinue of Shimazu Hisamitsu in Japan on September 14, 1862, which occurred six days after Ernest Satow set foot on Japanese soil for the first time. Failure by the Satsuma clan to respond to British demands for compensation resulted in the August 1863 bombardment of Kagoshima, during the Late Tokugawa shogunate. In Japanese the bombardment is described as a war between the United Kingdom and Satsuma Domain, the Anglo-Satsuma War (""satsu-ei sensō""). Four British subjects (a Shanghai"
"into a samurai family of Satsuma Domain (modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture). When, in 1862, Lord of Satsuma Shimazu Hisamitsu learned that radical elements among the Satsuma samurai were meeting at the Teradaya Inn in Kyoto and plotting against the shogunate, Narahara was among a number of samurai dispatched to put an end to the plots, suppress the radical movement, and bring the rebel samurai home. The ensuing skirmish, in which a number were killed, has come to be known as the Teradaya Incident. Another major incident involving samurai of Satsuma occurred several months later, at Namamugi, near Yokohama. In the so-called"
"a tree, which Okamoto the chance to sever his head with a single blow from his ""katana"". Sŏ's head fell down by the Nam river, which as it was a great honor for a samurai to take the head of their enemies, led Okamoto to order a search to find Sŏ's head, to have salted and taken back to Japan. The Korean commander, General Kim, committed suicide. As usual, the Japanese took no prisoners, killing almost everyone both military and civilian, and the Nam river ran red with blood as thousands attempted to swim across the Nam, only to be"
"Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion or was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and became home to unemployed samurai after military reforms rendered their status obsolete. The rebellion lasted from January 29, 1877, until September of that year, when it was decisively crushed and its leader, Saigō Takamori, committed seppuku after being mortally wounded. Saigō's rebellion was the last and most serious of a series of armed uprisings against the new government of the Empire of"
"Kikuchi over for execution.""[3] -Minamoto no Yoshitsune At the end of the twelfth century events far away in eastern Japan led to the establishment of Japan's first military government, the Kamakura Bakufu, which, during the initial stages at least, ran in tandem with the old imperial administration. The wars surrounding the birth of this new regime saw the Kikuchi clan coalesce into a powerful warrior league, or bushidan. In 1181/2, their leader Kikuchi Takanao, joined with Ogata no Saburo Koreyoshi of Bungo, another important local warrior, in rebellion against the Taira, which converted them into de facto allies of Minamoto"
"suicide at their family temple, Tōshō-ji, whose ruins have been found in today's Ōmachi. Almost the entire clan vanished at once, the city was sacked and many temples were burned. Many simple citizens imitated the Hōjō, and an estimated total of over 6,000 died on that day of their own hand. In 1953, 556 skeletons of that period were found during excavations near Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's Ichi no Torii in Yuigahama, all of people who had died of a violent death, probably at the hand of Nitta's forces. The fall of Kamakura marks the beginning of an era in Japanese history"
"be a hotbed of unrest against the central government through the 1870s, culminating with the Satsuma Rebellion. Saga Rebellion The was an 1874 uprising in Kyūshū against the new Meiji government of Japan. It was led by Etō Shinpei and Shima Yoshitake in their native domain of Hizen. Following the 1868 Meiji Restoration, many members of the former ""samurai"" class were disgruntled with the direction the nation had taken. The abolition of their former privileged social status under the feudal order had also eliminated their income, and the establishment of universal military conscription had eliminated much of their reason for"
"samurais who come together to overthrow a despotic lord for the greater good of society. Miike’s version benefits from a far more generous budget, with a wonderful attention to period sets and costumes and some inventively choreographed fight scenes."" 13 Assassins (1963 film) In 1844, the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan is in a period of transition, and one of the high ranking lords, Lord Matsudaira, has become tainted by his dissolute and reprobate misconduct. Many leaders in the governing community of the current government feel that the code of honor, bushido, of the samurai is being disgraced by Matsudaira. His"
"efforts of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, they were eventually abandoned (after the loss at the Battle of Bonari Pass) by the forces of the former Bakufu under Ōtori Keisuke. Aizu, now fighting alone, had its forces besieged at Tsuruga Castle, the seat of the Aizu domain, in October 6, 1868. This was the start of a month-long siege. A detached unit from the Byakkotai (""White Tiger Company"") — young, predominantly teenage, samurai — are famous for having committed seppuku (a form of ritual suicide) on Mount Iimori, overlooking the castle. Because of the smoke from the burning castle town, which"
"intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan, the most famous incident being the killing of the English trader Charles Lennox Richardson. Other attacks included the shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki. ""Rōnins"" (masterless samurai) also rallied to the cause, assassinating Shogunate officials and Westerners. This turned out to be the zenith of the ""sonnō jōi"" movement, since the European powers responded by demanding heavy war reparations, followed by the British bombardment of Kagoshima when these were not forthcoming. While this incident showed that Japan was no match for Western"
"trial and execution of the perpetrators, which never took place). Satsuma prevaricated and Britain eventually engaged Satsuma a year later in what subsequently became known to the Japanese as the Anglo-Satsuma War. A squadron went to Kagoshima, capital of the Satsuma Domain to demand reparation for the Namamugi Incident. Meeting further prevarication, they seized several Satsuma vessels as hostage against payment, and were unexpectedly fired on by Satsuma forts. The squadron retaliated, and the naval bombardment of Kagoshima ensued. This claimed five lives among the people of Satsuma (which had largely been evacuated before the unheralded attack on the British"
"the child emperor, rather than allowing him to be captured by the opposing forces, and most members and generals of the Taira clan followed them in despair. Antoku came to be worshipped as Mizu-no-kami (""god of water”). This crucial battle was a cultural and political turning point in Japanese history: Minamoto Yoritomo became the first Shōgun, or military ruler, of Japan. Dan-no-ura marked the beginning of seven centuries during which Japan was ruled by warriors and Shōguns instead of Emperors and aristocrats. Heikegani Heikegani were used by Carl Sagan in his popular science television series """" as an example of"
"in his memory. Saigō Takamori was labelled as a tragic hero by the people. Swedish power metal band Sabaton created a song about the battle, titled ""Shiroyama"", released on 12 August 2016 as a single and on 19 August 2016 as part of their studio album ""The Last Stand"". Battle of Shiroyama The took place on 24 September 1877, in Kagoshima, Japan. It was the final battle of the Satsuma Rebellion, where the heavily outnumbered samurai under Saigō Takamori made their last stand against Imperial Japanese Army troops under the command of Generals Yamagata Aritomo and Kawamura Sumiyoshi. The battle"
"the imperial palace in Tokyo, the country was jolted by the sensational news that Maresuke had committed suicide along with his wife. What made the news sensational was that Maresuke had disemboweled himself in the ancient samurai tradition of ""junshi"" to follow his lord in death. Carol Gluck wrote, ""On first hearing it did not seem possible that one of the best known figures in Meiji national life had committed ""junshi""…. In a nation in the midst of a solemn celebration of its modernity, its foremost soldier…had followed a custom that had been outlawed by the Tokugawa shogunate as antiquated"
"Straits, drowning the child emperor rather than allowing him to be captured by the opposing forces. The conflict between the clans led to numerous legends and tales. The story of Emperor Antoku and his mother's family became the subject of the Kamakura period epic poem ""The Tale of the Heike"" (Heike is an alternate reading of the Japanese characters for ""House of the Taira""). Antoku's tomb is said to be located in a number of places around western Japan, including the island of Iwo Jima, a result of the spreading of legends about the emperor and the battle. Before his"
"associated with suicide of samurai wives. The term was introduced into English by Lafcadio Hearn in his ""Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation"", an understanding which has since been translated into Japanese. Joshua S. Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the term ""jigai"" to be the female equivalent of seppuku. The first recorded act of seppuku was performed by Minamoto no Yorimasa during the Battle of Uji in the year 1180. Seppuku was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands, and to attenuate shame and avoid possible torture. Samurai could also be ordered by their ""daimyō"" (feudal lords) to carry"
"Genpei War The (1180–1185) was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late-Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1192. The name ""Genpei"" (sometimes romanized as ""Gempei"") comes from alternate readings of the ""kanji"" ""Minamoto"" (源 ""Gen"") and ""Taira"" (平 ""Hei""). The conflict is also known in Japanese as the , after the two Imperial eras between which it took place. It followed a coup d'état by the Taira in 1179 and call to arms against them led"
"Honnō-ji Incident The refers to the forced suicide on June 21, 1582, of Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga at the hands of his samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide. This occurred in Honnō-ji, a temple in Kyoto, ending Nobunaga's quest to consolidate centralized power in Japan under his authority. Oda Nobunaga was at the height of his power, having destroyed the Takeda clan earlier that year at the Battle of Tenmokuzan. He had central Japan firmly under his control, and his only rivals were the Mōri clan, the Uesugi clan, and the Hōjō clan, each weakened by internal affairs. After the death of"