In a message dated 09/02/2005 11:56:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
gozen@... writes:
> Looking at the story of just one of the 47 ronin,
> for example, compared to huge story of the Tokugawa shogunate, how could I
> insist that one episode is more important than another, or more
interesting,
> or offers the world more in either sociological education or simple
> entertainment?
From my home email address. I operate all my Yahoo groups from two addresses,
switching back from one to the other.
For whatever it's worth, my own interests in both fiction and history, tend
toward individuals. I see history as made up of individuals facing certain
conditions and making individual choices. I tend to shy away from broad
generalizations based on sweeping tendencies based on large groups of people.
When I wrote "Stray Dogs," it was about a single individual, Fuwa Kazuemon,
who happened to be a real person from history. I was not interested in broad,
sweeping sociological or political statements or conclusions about 18th century
Japanese society or politics. I didn't intend even to discuss whether or not
Lord Asano was "correct" or not in drawing his sword against Kira or in any
discussions as to whether the former Ako retainers should have waited to strike
(as they did) or if they should have all commited seppuku on the spot (as
some, including Yamamoto -- author of "Hagakure" -- had said).
According to Fuwa Kazuemon, a man loyal to his former lord, Lord Asano can do
no wrong, so to HIM, it was obvious that Kira was the "bad guy" in all of
this. My story was clearly using Fuwa Kazuemon's own views of the world at the
time.
And why choose Fuwa Kazuemon? Because I find that he had a remarkable
history. He was thrown out of the Ako clan by Lord Asano 5-6 years before the events
that led to Lord Asano's own death. According to the sources I read, he was
thus consigned to the life of a masterless ronin for these years, with the extra
stigma of having offended his former lord. So it was not likely that a
different lord would take him into a clan. So he faced the hardships that most ronin
faced, povery and living on the edge in marginal occupations to sustain
himself.
But this was the life of quite a few people during that time. What made Fuwa
Kazuemon's life unique and worthy of note? It's because despite all of this,
he maintained his loyalty to the daimyo who had cast him out and consigned him
to exile and poverty. This is loyalty beyond what could be expected of a man
who had been banished from his clan.
Even during the time right after Lord Asano's death and the iminent seizure
of the Ako castle, Kazuemon came to the castle to offer his support -- and was
repeatedly rebuffed by Oishi Kuranosuke (chief retainer of the Ako retainers,
who had taken on the duty of leadership of the Ako ex-retainers at the time).
Even then, he remained loyal. This is true and remarkable loyalty in the face
of such rejection.
Fuwa Kazuemon persisted in spite of all and finally was re-admitted among the
Ako ex-retainers and was one of the 47 (some say it was 46) who took part in
the final attack against Kira, to avenge his lord's death. My sources indicate
that he killed more of Kira's retainers during the attack than any other of
the Ako men. With the other Ako ronin, he committed seppuku in February after
the attack.
Then the question can arise. Why write historical fiction? Why not just write
a non-fictional biography? Partly because I am a fiction writer; it suits my
style of wishing to concentrate on individual humans and get more "into their
minds." There are too many gaps where available historical sources have
failed to record details of this man's life. So as a historical fiction writer, I
do research and come up with speculations that seem logical and appear "right"
to fill in these important details.
Fuwa Kazuemon's life boggles my mind with his extraordinary loyalty. And thus
I am drawn to him as an individual and I wanted to study him. The actions of
individuals do impact other individuals and the ripple can go forth to affect
history in general.
By the way, for those who might be interested. It appears that my 2006 entry
to the Samurai Archives Fiction Contest will be a further tale in the life of
Fuwa Kazuemon.
Nina