EPISODE 36 The 47 Ronin (Part 1)

History on Fire

Daniele Bolelli

Society & Culture

4.7 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2018

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Death poems Are a delusion. You just die.” Zen monk Kanzawa Toko The tale of the 47 Ronin is one of the most renowned revenge tales to ever come out of Japan. It is the subject of countless books, plays, and movies. It is also a story that has ignited never-ending debates. Some people argue that the 47 Ronin were paragons of virtue—perfect embodiments of the loyalty and honor that should be expected from the samurai. They offered the answer to the riddle that was plaguing the samurai at the beginning of the 1700s: what does being a member of a warrior class at a time of enduring peace? Other people instead look at the same story and walk away feeling like the 47 Ronin were violent thugs animated by questionable motives. In this two-part series of History on Fire, we dive deep into legend & history to find answers. In this episode: -A crash course in Japanese history -The transformation of the status of the samurai -The curious institution of seppuku -Ritual disembowelment as a way to say ‘sorry’ -Death poems -The ‘Kaishakunin’—a pal who would cut your head off to spare you the prolonged agonies of ritual disembowelment -The “Dog Shogun” -Asano Naganori: “Given to pleasure in preference of the sober business of government.” -The consequences of pulling a blade inside the Shogun’s palace -Bonus revenge story: two angry sisters against a samurai Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Whether you like history or not, if you care about bravery, wisdom, passion, larger than
0:06.9	life characters and some of the most emotionally intense moments in human experience, you've
0:12.0	come to the right place.
0:13.8	The Niali Balelli is a university history professor, writer and martial artist, and he
0:18.6	shall be your guide in a journey to the place where history and epic glide.
0:48.6	Welcome to episode 36 of History on Fire.
1:05.9	Today is the beginning of a new series, it's just going to be two episodes, I'm actually
1:10.0	going to plan into doing one, but it turns out I need a little extra time to finish the
1:14.7	research and make sure I do a good job so I'd rather break it up into it.
1:19.1	So without further ado let's jump into thanking the good folks who make this episode possible.
1:25.6	Of course you guys, thank you for listening, without that there wouldn't be any podcasts,
1:31.0	so thank you very much for that.
1:33.2	Thank you for telling people and all the other good stuff, leaving reviews on iTunes,
1:38.3	that kind of thing.
1:40.4	Also this episode is brought to you by Blue Choo.
1:44.0	In case you're not yet familiar with the product's offer, that bluechoo.com, what we're
1:48.7	talking about is the first chewable with the same FDA approved active ingredients as
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2:07.4	twice as fast as a pill.
2:09.9	Now I mentioned it, this is the second episode of that sponsor.
	...

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