n.
Japanese masterless samurai .
Because samurai received their livelihood from their lord in return for service, a masterless samurai was essentially a vagabond unless he could enter the service of another lord. R 014D; nin could be disruptive to society; at the beginning of the Tokugawa period (the early 17th century), r 014D; nin led unsuccessful revolts against the shogunate. The most famous r 014D; nin were the 47 whose actions were celebrated in the kabuki play Ch 016B; shingura . By avenging their lord's death in defiance of a shogunal order forbidding the vendetta, the 47 r 014D; nin , who were subsequently forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide), came to be seen as embodiments of the ideals of bushid 014D; , the warrior's code.