There's this story in Chinese culture about a monk who fights a large white snake, which for many years took the shape of a woman. It had some parallels in this movie, but by using a Japanese cast here, and a Japanese storyline, they more or less closed the door on marketing this film in China. But wouldn't there have been more money to be made by making this a Chinese story? Isn't China a larger market than Japan?
sharechina has better film infrastructure in place than japan.
shareThe Chinese had just done that movie - THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE in 2011 with Jet Li
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1857913/?ref_=nv_sr_1
It was also done as an animated feature way back in 1958, called PANDA AND THE MAGIC SERPENT.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051694/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
47 RONIN is based on a true story, but here, they decided to fantasize it.
Exactly the last thing Big G said, this is a true Japanese story, and a story that plays a major role for Japanese societies ideals...
i will forever think its *beep* that they Americanized it, but ill look for another version, I come back here b/c ive just read the tale of the 47 ronin
There's also
The Legend of the White Serpent (1956) Toho and Shaw Brothers collab
Madam White Snake (1962) - opera version by Shaw Brothers
Snake Woman's Marriage (1975) - Taiwanese
Green Snake (1993) - Hong Kong
and about 7 TV series from 1990 to an upcoming one.
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China may be a larger market, but The US has strong cultural connections with Japan, and this is the story they wanted to adapt.
Also, I imagine it would have been difficult to find many recognizable mainland actors, or Chinese-American actors that speak Mandarin/Standard Chinese.