Editing Forty-seven rōnin (section)

===Death of Kira===
A renewed search disclosed an entrance to a secret courtyard hidden behind a large scroll; the courtyard held a small building for storing charcoal and firewood, where two hidden armed retainers were overcome and killed. A search of the building disclosed a man hiding; he attacked the searcher with a dagger, but the man was easily disarmed.<ref>Mitford, p. 23.</ref> He refused to say who he was, but the searchers felt sure it was Kira, and sounded the whistle. The ''rōnin'' gathered, and Ōishi, with a lantern, saw that it was indeed Kira—as a final proof, his head bore the scar from Asano's attack.<ref>Mitford, pp. 23–24.</ref>

Ōishi went on his knees, and in consideration of Kira's high rank, respectfully addressed him, telling him they were retainers of Asano, come to avenge him as true samurai should, and inviting Kira to die as a true samurai should, by killing himself. Ōishi indicated he personally would act as a ''[[kaishakunin]]'' ("second", the one who beheads a person committing seppuku to spare them the indignity of a lingering death) and offered him the same dagger that Asano had used to kill himself.<ref>Mitford, p. 24.</ref> However, no matter how much they entreated him, Kira crouched, speechless and trembling. At last, seeing it was useless to continue asking, Ōishi ordered the other ''rōnin'' to pin him down and killed him by cutting off his head with the dagger. They then extinguished all the lamps and fires in the house (lest any cause the house to catch fire and start a general fire that would harm the neighbors) and left, taking Kira's head.<ref>Mitford, pp. 24–25.</ref>

One of the ''rōnin'', the ''[[ashigaru]]'' Terasaka Kichiemon, was ordered to travel to Akō and report that their revenge had been completed. (Though Kichiemon's role as a messenger is the most widely accepted version of the story, other accounts have him running away before or after the battle, or being ordered to leave before the ''rōnin'' turned themselves in.)<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Henry D. II |year=2004 |title=The Trouble with Terasaka: The Forty-Seventh Ronin and the Chushingura Imagination |journal=Japan Review |pages=16:3–65 |url=http://202.231.40.34/jpub/pdf/jr/IJ1601.pdf |access-date=21 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102214721/http://202.231.40.34/jpub/pdf/jr/IJ1601.pdf |archive-date=2 November 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>