Asano Naganori

Monument at the location of the Corridor of the Pines at the Imperial Palace (formerly Edo Castle) in Tokyo

Asano Naganori (浅野長矩 September 28, 1667 – April 21, 1701) was the daimyo of the Ako han in Japan (1675 - 1701). His title was Takumi no Kami (内匠頭). He is known as the person who triggered a series of incidents retold in a story known as Chushingura, one of the favourite themes of kabuki, joruri and Japanese books and films.

He was born in Edo as the eldest son of Asano Nagatomo. His family was a branch of the Asano family whose main lineage was in Hiroshima. His grandfather Naganao was apponted to the position of daimyo of Ako with 50 thousand koku. After Naganao died in 1671, Nagatomo succeeded to the position but died after three years in 1675. Naganori succeeded to his father at the age of nine.

In 1680 he was apponted to the office of Takumi no Kami, the head of carpentry at the imperial court, but this office was nominal as were other offices granted to samurai at that time and only had an honorific meaning. As a daimyo with a small fief, he was appointed several times to temporary minor offices of the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1683 he was first apponted to be one of two officials to host the emissaries from the imperial court to the Shogunate. It was the first time he met Kira Yoshinaka, the highest-ranking koke, the head of ceremony matters at the Shogunate, who instructed officials in the manner of hosting noble guests from Kyoto.

In 1694 he suffered from a serious illness. He had no children, thus no heir at that time. When a daimyo died without a determined heir, his house would be abolished by the Shogunate, and his lands confiscated; his retainers would become ronin. To prevent this, he adopted his younger brother Asano Nagahiro titled Daigaku and Nagahiro was admitted as his heir by the Shogunate.

In 1701 he was appointed for the second time to the same office. It is said that he was then on bad terms with Kira Yoshinaka and tension between them increased.

Grave of Asano Naganori at Sengaku-ji

On the day of his death, he drew his sword and attempted to kill Kira in the Corridor of the Pines at Edo Castle in what is now Tokyo. He wounded, but failed to kill, Kira. On the same day, the fifth Tokugawa shogun Tsunayoshi sentenced him to commit seppuku, which he did after writing the death poem "kaze sasou hana yori mo nao ware wa mata haru no nagori o ika ni toyasen" which translates as:: I wish I could enjoy,: the rest of Spring,: as the cherry blossoms are yet in bloom,: in spite of the spring breeze: which is attempting to blow off all their petals.

He was buried in the graveyard of Sengaku-ji. His retainers became ronin when the Shogunate confiscated his fief. Under the leadership of Oishi Kuranosuke they avenged the death of their lord by killing Kira at his mansion in Edo on December 15, 1702. These former retainers became famous as the forty-seven ronin, and the vendetta ranks as one of the three most famous in Japan.