“Frailer far than the tender flowers That are soon scattered by the wind, Must I now bid a last farewell And leave the genial spring behind?” And calmly he put an end to himself. He was in his thirty-fifth year. In the scene of Hangwan’s death in the fourth act of the _Chushingura_, Hangwan is made to wait impatiently for Oboshi’s arrival and to see him when he had just thrust the dirk into his body; but as a matter of fact, Yuranosuke and his son were at the time at Ako, in the province of Harima. The lamentations of Kaoyo in the same scene are equally fictitious. For Takumi-no-Kami’s wife was in his mansion at Teppozu near the River Sumida, and upon hearing of his death, she shaved her head at once and became a nun under the name of Yosen-in, and spent the rest of her life in prayers for her husband. The mansion in Yedo was confiscated. Takumi-no-Kami’s domain was also to be forfeited. When his death became known at Ako on the nineteenth of the third month, that is, four days after the attack, Oishi Kuranosuke, who was in charge of the castle, convoked a meeting of all the retainers of Ako and informed them of the whole affair. From sympathy for his lord’s feelings at the time of his death, he said to them that as it was the loyal subject’s duty to die if disgrace fell upon his lord, they must discuss how they should put an end to themselves. Some of the loyal retainers exclaimed with indignation that they should proceed at once to Yedo and cut off Kozuke-no-Suke’s head to appease their lord’s angry spirit, while others as firmly urged that they should not surrender the castle, but hold it to the last against the government officers until they were killed to a man. After heated discussion, it was finally decided to surrender the castle. And when, on the eighteenth of the following month, the officers came to take possession of it, the retainers remained quiet, and after putting their account-books in order and making an inventory, they formally made over the castle to the officers on the nineteenth in the grand hall of the castle. The retainers then all dispersed and became _ronin_. It will be seen that the incidents in the fourth act of the play have no foundation in fact beyond the suicide of Takumi-no-Kami. It is only important as introducing Yuranosuke, the hero of the play, and showing the great confidence placed in him by both his lord and his fellow-retainers. PREPARATIONS FOR THE REVENGE.