The revenge of the forty-seven Rōnin, is an 18th-century historical event and a legend in Japan in which a band of rōnin (leaderless samurai) avenged the death of their master. A noted Japanese scholar described the tale as the best known example of the samurai code of honor, bushidō, and as the country's "national legend."
The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming rōnin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka. The rōnin avenged their master's honor by killing Kira, after waiting and planning for a year.
In Genroku 15, on the 14th day of the 12th month, early in the morning in a driving wind during a heavy fall of snow, Ōishi (the leader) and the ronin attacked Kira Yoshinaka's mansion in Edo. According to a carefully laid-out plan, they split up into two groups and attacked, armed with swords and bows. One group, led by Ōishi, was to attack the front gate; the other, led by his son, Ōishi Chikara, was to attack the house via the back gate. A drum would sound the simultaneous attack, and a whistle would signal that Kira was dead. Kira was beheaded.
The shogunate officials in Edo were in a quandary. The samurai had followed the precepts of bushido by avenging the death of their lord; but they had also defied the shogunate authority by exacting revenge, which had been prohibited. In addition, the Shogun received a number of petitions from the admiring populace on behalf of the ronin. As expected, the ronin were sentenced to death for the murder of Kira; but the Shogun had finally resolved the quandary by ordering them to honorably commit seppuku instead of having them executed as criminals.