Shaved ice in summer, sweet amazake and matcha tea in winter – at Setsugekka, you can taste the changing seasons.
We’d like to take a moment and tell you a story – of snow, moon and flowers…and 47 masterless samurai.

It’s an anecdote that concerns Mangan-ji Temple as well as the Edo Period man of letters, Hosoi Kōtaku.

Kōtaku was born in Shizuoka and moved to Edo at a very young age. At just eleven years old he already stood out as a prodigious talent in poetry, calligraphy, martial arts and knowledge of the classics. He was especially known in the world of calligraphy as one who could move the hearts of many with one stroke of the pen. But he was not only bookish – he was also a talented spearman and contemporary with Horibe Yasube, one of the legendary 47 rōnin involved in the Akō vendetta. As such, he is deeply connected to that infamous event.

The year was 1701, the 14th year of Genroku during the Edo Period. Lord Asano Naganori of the Akō Domain tried to assassinate the noble Lord Kira Yoshinaka at Edo Castle. Asano had been ordered to commit seppuku and dissolve the Akō Domain, leaving his retainers homeless and destitute. Although their faces were stone, Asano’s retainers were enraged. They rallied around Akō chamberlain Ōishi Kuranosuke and swore revenge for their lord.

For a samurai, a lord is tantamount to a father. To murder such a figure in revenge is an unforgivable crime. One that forfeits the killer’s right to life under heaven.

Ōishi doubted his plan before the deed, questioning whether he was truly enacting justice. When he spoke to Kōtaku, the latter said, “Japan is a land of pious loyalty; your foe is irreconcilable with this.” His words steeled Ōishi with grave determination.

Then, on a snowy moonlight night, the 47 rōnin of Akō successfully stormed Lord Kira’s estate and executed him. On their way back from the estate, Horibe Yasube lobbed a spear into Kōtaku’s residence – a silent message communicating the mission’s success, and a sign of their bond and faith in each other.

That spear is kept at Mangan-ji Temple to this day. Spears are usually long-hafted to facilitate combat at a distance; however, the spear used in this vendetta was short, perfect for close quarters such as the halls of an estate. A symbol of tactics married with the will to give one’s life for a cause.

So, Setsugekka – a name symbolic of the classically Japanese beauty of snow, moon and flowers. Determination and instant, striking violence belying emptiness and transience, these are hallmarks of revenge tales.

When the wind caresses the shaking leaves, turn your ears to their whisper. What shape does justice take within you? What do you believe? What would you protect? And to what lengths would you go for these? The wind may pose these questions to you.