... the death of their lord (Asano). Censorship rules banned the depiction of contemporary political acts and necessitated the subterfuge of setting the scene in the past. It was a Chikamatsu play of 1706 that determined the choice of period and several of the main characters in the Chushingura. En'ya Hangan...

... and several of the main characters in the Chushingura. En'ya Hangan and Ko no Moronao, historical characters of the fourteenth century, stand in for Asano and Kira, respectively, and the ronin are introduced under slightly altered names. Oishi, for instance, is called Oboshi Yuranosuke. The first four acts...

... and lacking in dimension. But the variety of incidents involving the people who are swept up in the train of events touched off by Hangan's suicide make for exciting drama, and the cumulative effect is powerful. When the lines are declaimed by skilled narrators in the puppet theatre or spoken by actors...