Asano Naganori was a man who truly apprehended the code of being a samurai and was always hot-tempered towards those who broke the law. After such an incident of betrayal by a high-ranked court official named Kira. Asano’s response ended in the government forcing him to commit seppuku (suicide), as he apparently assaulted Kira on official grounds after being harassed. However, this incident made 47 of some 300 Samurai (who became Ronin) under him hold a gruesome grudge against the court official. Then after one and a half years of waiting and preparing the 47 ronin avenged their lord by beheading Kira (though they offered him to commit seppuku to retain honour, which he refused). They did not tolerate the law of the country (clans), but rather upheld the neo-Confucian law which is the core of who a samurai really is. The unspoken law of being Japanese. The Bushido code.
According to the Bushido Shoshinshu written in the 17th century by Taira Shigesuke, a Samurai and military strategist of the Edo period.
As long as you keep death in mind at all times, you will fulfil the ways of loyalty and familial duty. You will also avoid myriad evils and calamities, you will be physically sound and healthy, and you will live a long life. What is more, your character will improve and your virtue will grow.
If people comfort their minds with the assumption that they will live a long time, something might happen, because they think they will have forever to do their work and look after their parents-they may fail to perform for their employers and also treat their parents thoughtless.
But if you realize that the life that is here today is not certain on the morrow, then when you take your orders from your employer, and when you look in on your parents, you will have the sense that this may be the last time so you cannot fail to become truly attentive to your employer and your parents. This is why I say you also fulfil the paths of loyalty and familial duty when you keep death in mind.
Killing the official fulfilled their duty but they did not have an ultimate path calibrated for the forthcoming future, though foreseen the consequences already before them by their action. Knowing what they did was against the laws of Japan and knowing their action would only condemn them much closer to death. They sat before their master’s tomb and prayed peacefully and patiently until the local police or whatever the equivalent existed to arrest them. However, the government decided to allow them to retain their honour by allowing them to commit suicide.
The soul that is now left buried in the tomb of the 47 Ronin next to their master, their leader, their hero. And at the core of these Ronin lies the true Japanese spirit of valour. The qualities that, a true Japanese citizen used to possess. The indiscriminate will of courage, duty, honour and loyalty. For their nation, their master and their emperor. Putting the needs in front of their own. These Ronin were more committed to fulfilling their duty than surviving. Sacrificing their own life for this grander theory, this grander society, for the greater good.