Terasaka's link to the 47 Ronin tale

It’s fairly common knowledge that Assassination Classroom is based loosely off the historical tale of the Forty-Seven Ronin. Every member of 3-E besides Ritsu takes their family name from one of the Ronin and multiple other characters take their names from other people involved – down to Yasui the home economics teacher on the main campus. If you are interested in the overall tale, here is an overview. 

It’s not intended to be a one-to-one parallel, of course. However, some of the characters bear more resemblance to their namesakes than others. Terasaka is among those with the most links between character and historical figure and it is those I will be exploring as I find them incredibly interesting. 

For clarity, I will refer to Terasaka’s namesake ‘Terasaka Kichiemon Nobuyuki’ as Kichiemon, Yoshida’s namesake ‘Yoshida Chuzaemon Kanesuke’ as Chuzaemon, and Itona’s namesakes ‘Horibe Yasubei Taketsune’ & ‘Horibe Yahei Kanemaru’ as Horibe. 

What makes Kichiemon immediately fascinating is that he was the only one out of the Forty-Seven Ronin to survive, not committing seppuku with the others. This is because he is said to have “disappeared” by the end of the operation and wasn’t chased after. A wealth of discourse exists on why he disappeared (from him being “cowardly” to being sent on a “secret mission”), but the most plausible reason, in my opinion, is that he was simply dismissed by his superiors and sent back home to report to the others’ families, and he wasn’t chased up due to his low rank. His low status compared to the others is crucial to his treatment by his peers, superiors and history. 

Kichiemon was the lowest ranked of the Ronin (a mere foot soldier or ‘ashigaru’) which corresponds to Terasaka being not only the lowest ranked in 3-E grades-wise but also the lowest in his grade due to the nature of the E-Class system. Like his namesake, he is the lowest of the low, and therefore disregarded.  

Kichiemon had an unusually close relationship with his commander – Yoshida Chuzaemon Kanesuke. The recorded nature of this relationship leaves little doubt in my mind that it partially inspired Terasaka and Yoshida’s relationship in AC, just with the roles swapped. Kichiemon served Chuzaemon’s family from the age of eight, later formally joined Chuzaemon’s platoon, and had a relationship with him that was more like that of a family member or personal servant than commander and soldier. He was noted as always being by Chuzaemon’s side, even described as his “shadow”. The reason Kichiemon was involved with the league at all despite his status was due to Chuzaemon’s personal request. These themes of loyalty and inseparability are core to Terasaka and Yoshida’s relationship in AC, except with the roles switched. Kichiemon remained in the service of Chuzaemon’s family for decades after the events. 

Due to Kichiemon’s status as the only surviving Ronin and the supposed mystery surrounding his ‘disappearance’, he has been the subject of many legends. The most dominant was told by Sugimoto in Ako Shoshuki and says that Kichiemon was sent back to Ako and then Hiroshima to report to families and their lord Asano Daigaku. It claims that once Kichiemon learnt of the Ronins’ fate, he begged to be sentenced to seppuku to die alongside them, only to be denied and instead stationed at Sengakuji to tend to their graves. The narrative of him travelling to Hiroshima under orders and begging to be executed is consistent with most tellings of the legend. 

Themes of self-sacrifice align neatly with Terasaka’s character. During Vision Time, once Terasaka realises what he has done under Shiro’s influence, he wastes little time in putting himself in the line of fire instead of his classmates. This occurs again during the Island Arc where he was poisoned but ignored it as to not let his classmates down and to recover the antidote for them, and again during Horibe Itona Time. Self-sacrifice coloured as something honourable is prominent with Terasaka and parallels the legend of his namesake begging to commit seppuku pretty clearly. 

An addition to the legend made by Katashima in Sekijo Gishinden sees Kichiemon stay with the Horibe family for some time before returning to Edo. There isn’t much relevance beyond that, but it hints towards the relationship between Terasaka and Itona in AC and how it is similarly one of being invited to stay, despite anything else. It can be read as Terasaka inviting Itona into his “home” (3-E) despite Itona’s status, like how Horibe’s wife invites in Kichiemon despite his low rank. 

Dramatisations of the Chushingura were extremely popular following the events and remain popular today. While Asano Daigaku ruled, names had to be changed due to censorship. As a result, the fictionalised Kichiemon was commonly known as “Teraoka” or “Terai”. Both names are referenced in AC by belonging to characters bearing physical resemblance to Terasaka – Takaoka and Terai (the baseball club’s coach). Takaoka’s similarities to Terasaka are even lampshaded with Terasaka receiving the codename “Pseudo Takaoka”. Ironically, as Takaoka’s name was in part inspired by Teraoka, a fictionalised Terasaka Kichiemon, Takaoka is actually the “Pseudo Terasaka”. 

Common themes with Kichiemon’s fictionalisation in drama were those of proving oneself despite your status and atoning for previous misconduct. Both can apply to Terasaka’s character arc in AC. Terasaka, along with the rest of 3-E, must prove himself as “worthy” both as an assassin and student. His arc revolves around his desire to redeem himself after the events of Vision Time and his previous behaviour towards his classmates and friends. 

Kichiemon remains a popular and contested figure in Japanese media due to the legends surrounding him as the Forty-Seventh, only surviving Ronin. It is not at all farfetched, in my opinion, to assert that the clear parallels between him and Terasaka were intentional. 

Sources