One day in the spring of 1701, Asano Naganori, a minor daimyo charged with making the arrangements for the reception of the imperial emissary, suddenly rushed at Kira Yoshinaka, the shogunal advisor on etiquette, in Edo Castle and swung at him with a short sword — injuring but not killing him — before being restrained.

Forty-Seven Samurai: A Tale of Vengeance and Death in Haiku and Letters, by Hiroaki Sato.
264 pages