This year the Herriman Marching Mustangs are bringing the story of the 47 Ronin to the field. Here is summary of it:

The story of the 47 Ronin is a legendary Japanese tale of loyalty and "the long game." In 1701, a young lord named Asano was provoked by a corrupt official named Kira. When Asano finally snapped and attacked Kira in the Shogun’s palace, he was sentenced to seppuku (ritual suicide) for drawing a weapon. His 300 samurai were suddenly jobless "ronin," and Kira went unpunished, which the samurai saw as a massive injustice.

Led by a man named Oishi, 47 of these ronin formed a secret pact to get revenge. To trick Kira into thinking they had moved on, they spent nearly two years undercover. Oishi pretended to be a lazy drunk in the city, while others took jobs as laborers to gain access to the blueprints of Kira’s mansion. They sacrificed their reputations and families just to keep the mission a secret until Kira finally let his guard down.

On a snowy night in 1703, the 47 Ronin launched a coordinated raid on Kira’s home. They fought through his guards, found Kira hiding in a storage room, and executed him with the same dagger their master had used. Afterward, they marched through the city to Lord Asano’s grave at Sengaku-ji Temple, where they presented Kira’s head as a final tribute to their fallen leader.

Because they had broken the law by carrying out a private execution, the Shogun eventually ordered the ronin to commit seppuku. While they died for their crime, they were honored for their ultimate loyalty to the Bushido code. Today, they are buried alongside their master in Tokyo, and their story remains a powerful symbol of honor and sacrifice in Japanese culture.