The three great Adauchi in Japanese history are; the Soga Brother's revenge of their father's death (early Kamakura Period); the Shiju Hichi (47) Shi (Ronin) revenge of their Lord Asano Takumi no Kami and the Iga Ueno Kagiya Adauchi by Watanabe Kazuma with the aid of Araki Mataemon against Kawai Matagoro and his supporters.
"Adauchi" is interpreted as 'vendetta' in most Japanese-Western dictionaries, however there seems to be a silent difference between the Italian vendetta and the Japanese adauchi. Adauchi in almost all cases involve someone in the immediate family, though cases such as the 47 Ronin did occur from time to time.
Every year, about the beginning of December, there is a large play-up of the adauchi of the 47 Ronin of their Lord Asano. The 47 Ronin lead by Oishi successfully avenged their master's grudge against Kira Kozuke no Suke on the 14th of December in Genroku 15 (1702). On this day, many many people flock to the Sengakuji Temple to offer and burn incense before the tombs of the 47. So much so that the entire temple area seems like it is encased in fog.
Early in the days of the establishment of the Edo Tokugawa Shogunate, it issued an edict for the rule in carrying of katana and this ruled that the length of the katana be under 2 shaku 3 sun 5 bu and the wakizashi under 2 shaku. The following list we give here are the katana, wakizashi and yari carried by the 47 Ronin on the night of December 14th of 1702 when they broke into the estate of Kira. It can be noted that most of the swords used by the avengers are extremely long, much longer than the presecribed length allowed.
Since the samurai of the Kira estate were known to carry swords of the prescribed length, the 47 purposely used longer blades which are to their advantage. However, in the case of the yari, they used the very short ones, te yari, much to their advantage in fighting within the closed confines of an estate. It is also noted that some of the men are very old aged whereas the length of the swords they used are quite long and makes one wonder how they managed to hold and fight with these long swords for such a long time, for when they finally found Kira and beheaded him, it was supposed to have been daybreak.
The information is given in the sequence: name of ronin; age; katana length; wakizashi length; other weapons carried. Only 33 warriors are documented.
YOSHIDA CHUZAEMON KANESUKE, age 64
katana length 2 shaku 2 sun
wakizashi length 1 shaku 1
sun
naga yari (long yari)
HARA SOEMON MOTOTOKI, age 56
katana length 2 shaku 9
sun
wakizashi length 2 shaku
te yari
KATAOKA GENGOEMON TAKAFUSA, age 37
katana length 2
shaku 7 sun
wakizashi length unknown
te yari
MASE KYUDAIU MASAAKI, age 63
katana length 2 shaku 1
sun
wakizashi length 2 shaku
bow and arrow
ONODERA JYUNAI HIDEKAZU, age 61
katana length 2
shaku 9 sun
wakizashi length 1 shaku 9 sun
te yari
HAZAMA KIHEI MITSUNOBU, age 65
katana lenght 2
shaku 9 sun
wakizashi length 2 shaku 1 sun
ISOGAI JYUROZEMON MASAHISA, age 25
katana length 2
shaku 9 sun
wakizashi length 2 shaku
te yari
HORIBEI YAHYOE AKIZANE, age 77
katana length 3
shaku
wakizashi: none
naginata
CHIKAMATSU KANROKU YUKISHIGE, age 34
katana length
2 shaku
wakizashi length unknown
long yari
TOMIMORI SUKEEMON MASAYORI, age 34
katana length 2
shaku 8 sun
wakizashi length unknown
long yari
SHIOTA MATANOJYO TAKANORI, age 35
katana length 2
shaku 4 sun
wakizashi length 1 shaku 6 sun
HAYAMI TOZAEMON MITSUTAKA, age 42
katana length 2
shaku 7 sun
wakizashi length unknown
bow and arrow
AKABANE GENZO SHIGEKATA, age 35
katana length
unknown
wakizashi length unknown
OKUDA MAGODAIU SHIGEMORI, age 57
katana length 2
shaku 4 sun
wakizashi length 1 shaku 6 sun
YADA GOROEMON SUKETAKA, age 29
katana length 2
shaku
wakizashi length 1 shaku 6 sun
OISHI SEZAEMON NOBUKIYO, age 29
katana length 2 shaku 9
sun
wakizashi length 1 shaku 9 sun
long yari
OISHI SHIKARA YOSHIKANE, age 16
katana length 2 shaku 2 sun
wakizashi length 1 shaku 1 sun
short yari
HORIBE YASUBEI TAKETSUNE, age 34
katana lenght 2
shaku 8 sun
wakizashi length unknown
NAKAMURA KANSUKE MASATOKI, age ?
katana length 2
shaku 4 sun
wakizashi length unknown
long yari
SUGANOYA HANNOJYO MASATOSHI, age 44
katana length 2
shaku 8 sun
wakizashi length unknown
FUWA KAZUEMON MASATANE, age 34
katana length
unknown
wakizashi length unknown
KIMURA OKAUEMON SADAYUKI, age 46
katana length 2
shaku 6 sun
wakizashi 2 shaku 1 sun
OHIBA SABUROBYOE MITSUTADA, age 51
katana length 2
shaku 4 sun
wakizashi length 2 shaku
bow and arrow
OKANO KINUEMON KANEHIDE, age 24
katana length 2 shaku
4 sun
wakizashi length unknown
jyumonji yari
KAIGA YAZAEMON TOMONOBU, age 54
katana length
unknown
wakizashi length unknown
OTAKA GENGO TADAO, age 32
katana length 2 shaku 6
sun
wakizashi length 9 sun 5 bu
OKAJIMA YASOUEMON TSUNEKI, age 38
katana length 2
shaku 8 sun
wakizashi length 1 shaku 4 sun
YOSHIDA SAWAUEMON KANESADA, age 29
katana length 2
shaku 9 sun
wakizashi length 1 shaku 8 sun
long yari
TAKEBAYASHI TADAHICHI TAKASHIGE, age 32
katana length
2 shaku
wakizashi length 1 shaku 6 sun
long yari
KURAHASHI DENSUKE TAKEYUKI, age 34
katana length 2
shaku 8 sun
wakizashi length 2 shaku
HAZAMA SHINROKURO MITSUKAZE, age 24
katana length 2
shaku 2 sun
wakizashi length unknown
te yari
MURAMATSU KIHEI HIDENAO, agae 62
katana length 2
shaku 8 sun
wakizashi length 2 shaku 4 sun
long yari
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