Act: 11, Scene 1 print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, based on kabuki play Kanadehon Chūshingura, the inspiration behind Muramasa: The Demon Blade’s hero Kisuke.

Kanadehon Chūshingura is a fictional account of the historical revenge by the Forty-seven Ronin, also known as the Akō vendetta. Wikipedia has a decent summary:

“The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (became ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzukeno suke. The ronin avenged their master’s honor after patiently waiting and planning for over a year to kill Kira. In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku — as they had known they would be — for committing the crime of murder.”

It’s totally badass, right? Unfortunately, Kisuke’s plot has hardly anything to do with the Forty-seven Ronin.

Momohime, Muramasa’s princess heroine, is based on another kabuki production, Sakurahime Azuma Bunsho, a “riches-to-rags tale of obsessive love, reincarnation and revenge.” The story is much too complex to cover here, so please read this review at The Japan Times Online.

As you’ve likely seen already, Momohime is featured on the cover of this month’s issue of Play magazine:

Vanillaware founder/president/artist George Kamitani supplied the artwork, obviously inspired by Katsushika Hokusai’s tentacle-filled and very NSFW ukiyo-e woodcut “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife”.

1UP alum Shane Bettenhausen, representing Muramasa’s publisher Ignition Entertainment, posted an illuminating article on the cover’s conception. Play’s feature on the game is nuts — 18-pages long (13 of which is an interview with Kamitani), 25 percent of the entire issue.

On a related note, Eegra, the premier website in making you feel bad about liking games, has an apt parody/critique of Play’s Muramasa cover.

Preorder: Muramasa: The Demon Blade

See also: More Muramasa media

tags / kanadehon chushingura / kabuki / utagawa kuniyoshi / forty-seven ronin / sakurahime azuma bunsho / play / ignition entertainment / vanillaware / ec / muramasa: the demon blade