Jennifer Bassett "47 Ronin: a Samurai from Japan"
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Jennifer Bassett
The story of the forty-seven ronin is a very famous one in Japan. It is a true story about real people, but many of the facts are now lost in time. Soon after the ronin took their revenge, the story was retold in plays, known as Cbushingura. Since then the story has been retold in song, story, drama, television plays, visual art, and many films. Each time the story is retold, the details change. But one thing does not change - this story is still as famous in Japan today as it was 300 years ago.
The story begins in Edo (now modern Tokyo) in spring 1701, in the Shogun’s palace. Lord Asano is taking lessons in palace ceremony from Lord Kira, one of the lords in the Shogun’s palace. Kira has only hard words for Asano, and by the end of that terrible day, Lord Asano is dead. Asano’s samurai are now ronin - samurai without a lord or master. They have no home, no place in the world. They have only loyalty to their dead lord.
This is the true story of the forty-seven ronin...
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Text Analysis: Unique words: about 400 Total words: 6,150
Hard words: argue, armour, arrest, attack, beat, blow, bow and arrow, brave, captain, castle, ceremony, code, commit, courtyard, crime, diamyo, draw, drum, fierce, gate, government, grave, guard, honour, kneel, league, lift, lord, loyal, mansion, master, message, officer, order, palace, powerful, present, price, priest, punishment, revenge, ronin, ruler, samurai, seppuku, servant, serve, Shogun, spear, spy, sword, take care of, temple, tie, tie up, warrior, weapon, well, whisper, whistle, wood store
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