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sending hordes of unemployed samuraironininto major cities like Edo. There, they entered disreputable pleasure districts and spent their meager funds (as they now lacked stipends from their masters) before turning to whatever they could for money, in some cases. While not all ex-samurai abandoned their Bushido Code so easily (and indeed, not all the ronin in Yotsuya are evil), enough must have to have influenced their dark portrayal in Nanboku's work. Within, these masterless samurai travel the country, flouting tradition and committing murder, until at last heavenly justice strikes them.

Despite the differences however, the two works do share their similarities. Calls from beyond the grave (Enya's last wish and Oiwa's curse) echo through characters' actions in both, and in the end, the loyal ronin always do vanquish the disloyal (Yomoshichi was, himself, one of Enya's retainers). In a way, then, both works are a part of the same fantastic tradition, highlighting the atmospheres in which they were written through exaggeration: the 47 retainers were certainly not always as virtuous as they were painted in Chushingura, and it is doubtful any ronin was quite as evil as Iemon in Nanboku's Edo. But through their over-the-top images, these plays have firmly planted their characters and the morals they represent in the minds of countless generations.
Thus their inherent connection. Perhaps the presenters of the two plays desired to teach the moral lessons of loyalty and honor to audiences when both were performed together. Chushingura highlighted these qualities in heroic men, an inspiration. On the other hand, Yotsuya vilified the lesser ronin, seeming almost a scare tactic (What person would wish to incur the wrath of spirits as Iemon had?). Together, working with the same basic history and mythology surrounding the death of Lord Asano (Enya, in the plays), they present a sort of moral coin, showing both good and evil, and teaching the same lessons.

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