The tale of the 47 Ronin. I had read a historical fiction novel based off of the story. The basics of it is there was Lord Asano, who when aggrevated by a Lord Kira's taunting, drew his sword. Now this is a terrible offense being that this was at a peaceful meeting. No usually, both would be forced to commit seppuku(a ritual suicide). But only Lord Asano was forced to and his family's power taken away. His now masterless samurai swore revenge. After a number of years 47 of them carried out their revenge by killing Lord Kira. It was debated for a year on what to be done before the ronin were told to commit seppuku.

Now people go to their graves to pray. The forty seven ronin are icons of what it was to be a samurai, loyal to their master to the bitter end.