The 47 Ronin

    "May I show you Sengakuji?" asked an Eating Out Club tomodachi referring to the temple that is the resting place of the 47 ronin. Touching her nose she indicated herself nihon style rather than with a Western tap on the chest. Hai, how often the #96 bus swept past Sengakuji on the hill in Takanawa about 10 minutes before the Manor stop yet I never stepped out. Cinema buffs familiar with the 1962 Inagaki film know the tale of the samurai who avenged the murder of their daimyo (feudal lord) over 300 years ago. Hard to imagine posh Takanawa with its private schools and fancy supermarkets was once the site of bloodshed.

    In a torrential downpour tomodachi waited like a shimmery apparition beneath a flowery kasa (umbrella) at the # 96 bus stop. Leading across the busy zaka (hill) she told the story of how a Tokugawa daimyo came to blows with the sensei of Imperial protocol in the shogun's palace. "The sensei tried to embarrass his student, the daimyo, who pulled his sword in anger and nicked the sensei's shoulder," she said. After committing this crime the daimyo was forced to commit seppuku (disembowelment or hara-kiri) and his men became ronin (samurai without a lord). After plotting for many months on the 14th December 1702 the ronin broke into the sensei's home, and the tale ends with mass seppuku. "On weekends especially nihonjin from outside Tokyo travel to pay their respects to the ronin," she explained."On December 14th busloads of visitors fill the temple."

    Thanks to the rain the temple was deserted. Inside the courtyard to the left up we climbed up to an incense selling concession; sold in a bundle and prelit, the seller handed it over on a bamboo tray. "Just leave one stick at each grave, we still have many to go," advised tomodachi san, allowing me the honor. Afterwards we toured the small museum with its ronin artifacts (Y500) and watched a short video about the temple. "Are you ready for some fresh mochi from my local shop?" asked tomodachi, referring to the treacherously chewy rice cake. Hai: Mission completed, two 21st century tomodachi walked to a building of mansion flats for afternoon tea.