Artist: Katsushika Hokusai
Title: Act 11
Date: 1806
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Source:
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
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Description:
The Hokusai's dynamic rendering of act 11 shows the forty-seven warriors' arrival at the enemy's mansion. As some are scaling the wall with a ladder, one samurai is about to break the wooden gate with a large hammer. Forcing their way into the mansion, they subdue Moronao's henchmen and then find him hiding in a charcoal shed. After killing and beheading Moronao, the warriors go to Enya's grave to offer the severed head to the lord's spirit. Although the story of Ch�shingura ends there, the factual account has it that they orderly surrendered to the authority. Gracefully accepting the death sentence, they all committed ritual suicide on the same day. Ch�shingura is staged in Kabuki theaters even today. Performances typically take place in December, the same month when the warriors exacted their revenge.
